Membership Types

Membership Types are how you describe each kind of membership your club offers, such as Active, Associate, or Junior, and how each one works behind the scenes. Setting one up unlocks the parts of Clubistry that make running a membership easier, including online dues and renewals, online applications, and member-only access to certain pages. For each membership type you set the role it grants, its pricing, when renewals are due, the reminder schedule, the messages members see on their dashboard, and whether it is connected to your payment system. You can adjust these settings later, so it is fine to start with your best guess and refine as you go.

Who can use this page?

Membership Types is intended for Administrators and Super Admins.
This resource appears under Membership Tools in the Club Management Portal.
Member Managers do not manage membership types from this page.

Finding membership types

Search the Membership Types list by ID, name, membership period, or period type.
On the index view, review columns such as Name, Membership Period, Period Type, Memberships Expire, and Connected to Stripe.
Open a membership type record to edit pricing, renewal rules, reminders, messaging, and notes.

Creating a membership type

Open Membership Tools > Membership Types.
Click Create.
Enter a clear Name that distinguishes this membership type from similar options.
Select the Role associated with this membership type, or create the role from this screen if needed.
Enter Dues Price, Processing Fee, and Late Fee.
Choose Membership Period and Period Type.
If the membership uses calendar-based renewals, enter the due day and, for annual memberships, the due month.
Set Renewal Period - Days Before Due Date.
Set Grace Period - Days After Due Date if your club offers one.
Add any reminder schedules, member dashboard messages, and admin notes.
Save the membership type.

A few things that help while you fill this in:

A Role is required, even when several membership types share the same role. This is what connects the membership to the right access and roster behavior.
Give each type a clear, specific name when you offer similar options, such as monthly and annual versions of the same membership. The name is how you will tell them apart later.
On calendar-based forms, Clubistry shows calculated helper dates as you set due dates, so you can see when renewals open, when the grace period ends, and when reminders will go out before you save.
If your club is set up to take online payments, saving a new membership type creates the matching product and prices in your payment system for you.

General settings

Name is the internal label used in the Club Management Portal and related admin areas.
Role links this membership type to the role used for that membership option.
The same role can be reused by multiple membership types, such as monthly and annual versions of the same membership category.
If you have seen older references to a separate Title field, that wording is outdated. The current Membership Types resource uses Name.

Pricing

Dues Price is the base membership amount.
Processing Fee is added for online payments.
Late Fee is added when payment is made after the due date and during the grace period.
A free membership is perfectly fine. Just enter 0 in the pricing fields.
When dues plus processing add up to 0, Clubistry can mark renewals for that type as paid automatically, so members are not asked to pay nothing.

Renewal schedule and period type

Membership Period options are Annual and Monthly.
Period Type options are Calendar and Anniversary.
Calendar means all members of that type renew on the same due date.
Anniversary means each member renews based on that member's joined date.
For calendar annual memberships, both a due month and due day are used.
For calendar monthly memberships, the due day is used each month.
For anniversary memberships, the month and day are taken from the member's joined date instead of the calendar due-date fields.
The Memberships Expire display helps summarize the due-date pattern for calendar-based membership types.

Renewal and grace timing

Renewal Period - Days Before Due Date controls when the renewal window opens.
Grace Period - Days After Due Date controls how long the member can remain late before the grace period ends.
If your club does not offer a grace period, leave the grace period field empty.
Due Date Reminders schedule reminder emails a set number of days before the due date.
End Of Grace Period Reminders schedule reminder emails a set number of days before the grace period ends.
This page controls the timing of those reminders, but the email content is managed under Membership Tools > Reminders/Notifications.
Other renewal-related emails, such as start of renewal, start of grace period, and membership lapse emails, are also configured under Reminders/Notifications.

Member Dashboard messages

General Message is shown on the Member Dashboard when the member is currently paid.
Renewal Message is shown when the member has an unpaid renewal.
Late Message is shown during the grace period when the member is late.
Lapsed Message is shown after the membership is lapsed.
These messages are membership-type specific, so different membership types can show different dashboard content.
Supported message variables are {first_name}, {last_name}, {renewal_start_date}, {membership_due_date}, {late_end_date}, {membership_type}, {membership_status}, {amount_due}, {dues_price}, {processing_fee}, and {late_fee}.
Admin Notes are internal only and are not shown on the website.

Stripe connection

Membership types store Stripe product and price IDs when they are connected to Stripe.
If Stripe payments are active, creating a membership type attempts to connect it to Stripe automatically.
When you change the membership type name, dues price, processing fee, or late fee, the Stripe product or prices are updated.
The index and detail views show whether the membership type is connected to Stripe.
Administrators can use the Connect to Stripe action if a membership type did not connect automatically.
For Administrators, Connect to Stripe may appear as an inline action on the list page.
For help with inline buttons and action menus, see Actions.

Relationship to members, applications, and rosters

Application forms point to a membership type.
When an application is approved, the resulting member record gets that membership type and the role associated with it.
Membership types drive renewal calculations for members assigned to them.
Membership types can also be used in roster settings to control which membership types appear on member and board rosters.

Good to know when you make changes

Editing a membership type is safe, and Clubistry helps protect work that is already in progress. Here is what to expect so you can change settings with confidence.

If members with this type have open unpaid or late renewals, the renewal-timing fields are locked so you cannot change due-date rules in the middle of an active renewal. Once those renewals are settled, the fields open back up.
When you change renewal timing, Clubistry recalculates renewal dates for the members who use that type, so everyone stays in sync with the new rules.
When you change pricing on a type connected to your payment system, Clubistry creates the new prices and keeps the old ones on record. Past payments are not affected.
Moving an existing member from one membership type to another is a good moment to double-check that member's status, renewal timing, and role, since switching a current member works a little differently from approving a brand-new application.
A membership type touches several parts of your site, including applications, renewals, who appears on rosters, dashboard messages, and payment setup. That is by design, and it means one well-chosen membership type does a lot of work for you.