To make sure your membership program is a success, plan the basic structure before you set it up in Bloomerang CRM.
To understand how membership programs work and how they benefit your organization, view About Memberships. To add membership management to your subscription, email [email protected].
Note: If you currently use custom fields to track memberships in Bloomerang CRM, view Move from Custom Membership Tracking to the Membership Management Add-On.
In this article:
Checklist
Use this checklist to plan your membership program. You might have additional considerations based on the unique needs of your organization and supporters.
Component | Decisions | Considerations |
Membership Programs | Does our organization need one program or multiple programs? | You can create an unlimited number of membership programs. For example, you might have separate Individual and Corporate programs. |
Membership Levels | How many membership levels should each program have? | You can create an unlimited number of levels in each membership program. For example, you might have these levels: Gold, Silver, Bronze, Senior 55+, Student. Consider the needs and interests of your supporters. |
Membership Level Amounts | Should we have one flat-rate level for all members? Should we have tiered membership levels with different amounts? Should we have discounted levels for special groups like students and seniors? | On the membership form, donors see each level and amount. Donors cannot enter a custom amount. Consider the budgets of your supporters. |
Membership Benefits | What benefits will we offer? If we have multiple levels, how will benefits differ for each level? Where on our website will we explain the benefits of each level so supporters know how to choose? How will we provide and manage benefits? Are the benefits tax deductible? If not, what is the non-deductible amount? | To help supporters choose a level, create a membership benefits page on your website. On that page, describe each membership level and insert the Bloomerang-hosted membership form. The membership form doesn’t include a description of each level. |
Membership Level Names | What should we name each membership level? Will our supporters respond better to creative names that reflect our branding or conventional names? | Program, level, and group names must be unique:
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Confirmation Emails | Should we use the default confirmation email or create a custom email? | Bloomerang CRM emails a confirmation to members who join online. You can select one confirmation email for a membership form. You can use the Bloomerang CRM default confirmation email or create a custom confirmation email. |
Payment Receipt Emails | Should we email receipts to members for yearly membership payments? Should we use the default payment receipt email or create a custom email? | If you enable online payment confirmation receipts, Bloomerang CRM emails a receipt to members when membership payments are processed. You select one receipt (default or custom) to send for all membership payments. If you enable online payment confirmation receipts, but want to send personalized payment emails for each membership level, we recommend that you create email templates and select the Acknowledgement purpose. |
Acknowledgements | After sending a receipt, should we also send a personalized acknowledgement? | You can use Journey Automation to automatically email an acknowledgement for the initial membership payment. You can also use Journey Automation to automatically email an acknowledgement for each renewal membership payment. |
Fund, Campaign, and Appeal | Which fund should we use for membership transactions? (Optional) Which campaign and appeal should we associate with membership transactions? | Consider whether to create a campaign and appeal for each membership drive. Campaigns can track membership drives. Appeals can track how you cultivate new members and encourage renewals, such as membership forms, emails, and letters. |
Membership Forms | Do we need more than one online membership form? Which email address should we send membership notifications to? | Each membership form is tied to a specific membership program. If you have multiple membership programs, create a form for each program. For example, create a form that links to the Individual program and another that links to the Corporate program.
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Custom Fields on Membership Forms | Should we add any constituent or transaction custom fields to membership forms? | If your organization identifies a business need to track additional membership-related data, you might add custom fields to membership forms. |
Payment Methods | Should we accept EFT (bank account) payments? Should we accept Apple Pay? | By default, membership forms accept credit cards and digital wallets (Apple Pay and Google Pay). To accept EFT, enable that option in the form settings. Apple Pay: Apple must verify your domain. After verification, donors who have Apple Pay and Apple Wallet enabled and use a supported web browser automatically see Apple Pay on membership forms. If Apple already verified your domain when you set up online giving forms, you don’t have request verification again for membership forms. Google Pay: You don’t have to complete any steps to accept Google Pay. Donors who have Google Pay enabled and use a supported web browser automatically see Google Pay on membership forms. |
Membership Form Hosting | Where on our website should we insert the membership form? | All membership forms are hosted by Bloomerang. To insert the Bloomerang-hosted form on your website, copy a code snippet from Bloomerang CRM and paste it into your website code. |
Success Page | What success page should members see when they join online?
| When you create a membership form in Bloomerang CRM, you select a success page option. To redirect members to a custom success page, you enter the full URL of that page in the form settings. |
Next Steps
After you’re done planning, set up your membership program in Bloomerang CRM.
Your next steps depend on the following:
If your organization is new to membership management in Bloomerang CRM, start by creating a membership program.
If your organization uses custom fields to manage memberships in Bloomerang CRM, move to built-in membership management