I originally wrote the membership documentation when the feature was released in 2014. At the time, I had two primary concerns: making sure people understood that membership could be assigned for any action taken on a website and explaining the way expiration dates are set on donation pages.
Highlights of the updates to our membership documentation:
- Importing membership HOWTO includes a complete explanation of why importing paid memberships is difficult and a few suggestions on how to do it yourself.
- Charge for membership HOWTO now includes information on processing paid memberships through the control panel.
- I also added to the paid membership HOWTO information on creating a webpage that offers multiple paid memberships. These instructions were originally written to help customers transition from the deprecated paid membership paid type, but y'all have pointed out that it is super useful for anyone encouraging more than one type of paid membership on a website.
- While I was writing these things, a customer pointed out that monthly installment memberships renew with each payment. To be clear: the expiration date for a membership paid via installment payments will never be correct. For now, I'd recommend not accepting installment payments for memberships if expiration date is an important aspect of your membership tracking. And add your voice to the installment membership issue if you'd like to get this fixed.
- I updated the setting up memberships HOWTO. I think it has a better separation of content now. Of particular note are a few things that can get lost in the deluge of information: first, there is a sentence using liquid that you can add to an action page autoresponse to let a supporter know she has just been granted membership and when that membership expires. Second, there's a bunch of detail on how memberships work within a single person or organization's profile, including when you merge profiles.
Finally, on a personal note: I've been using NationBuilder for five years, first as a customer and now as an employee. The system is a bit second nature to me, though I believe I keep learning better ways to write about it. If you find something confusing, please comment on the HOWTO you're reading. Or if you're working on something and can't figure out how to do it, please post a question.
