Adding members manually

Overview

There are three ways a member record can be added into the Wild Apricot database:

• Automatically, via online self-service- see Online member application form and Member applications workflow
  • Bundle administrators can also add members to their bundles from within their profiles, see Bundles - Member View
• Manually via import, by administrators, see Import Guide
• Manually one by one, by administrators (described on this page)

To add a new member record go to the Members or Contacts tab and click on [Add member]:

On the following screen fill in the member's details:

• Membership level - this is a required field, see Membership levels
• Password - You can assign an initial password if you want, but the member can always set this password themselves using 'Forgot password'.
• Common fields - Appear on all forms and apply to everyone (members + non-members), see Customizing your contact database fields 
• Membership Fields - Additional fields used by members only, see Customizing your member database

When manually adding members in admin backend, only one of "Email", "First name", "Last name" or "Organization" is required, the rest of the fields can be left empty. It is possible to add a member without email, however email is required to log into the site.

How duplicates member records are prevented 

• Wild Apricot uses email address as a unique member identifier, so the system will not allow 2 different members to use the same email address.
• If you enter an email address that is already in your database (even if its Archived ), you will see an "Email in use" error message with a link to the existing person's record.

Convert contact into member

• A non-member contact is just a contact with no membership assigned (i.e. does not belong to any membership level).
• To convert a non-member contact into a member, go into that contact record and on  the Membership screen click Assign membership. 

Approving member and dealing with membership invoice and payment

If the member is joining a paid membership level you will have the option of generating an application invoice or simply activating them without an invoice (use the 2nd option if the member is not paying for this member application):

The 3 options here are:

• Activate without invoice - the member is activated and their account is up to date.
• Generate invoice - creates a member application invoice (which will need to be paid for)
• Cancel - will cancel membership and this record will become a regular contact

Generating and paying the application invoice

• If you choose to generate an invoice you will have the option of recording the payment right away (assuming you already received the payment).
• Alternatively you can leave the invoice as unpaid and the member will be able to pay for it later, see View account history and pay invoices.

• Comments for payer: Use this area to put up an message you want the member to see when they view the invoice online.
• Internal Notes: are only visible to the administrator

You can then email the invoice to the member if you want (especially if its not paid, you need to notify the member the invoice is ready)