Managing Automatic Renewal Notices

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The vast majority of clubs and associations send out renewal notices. (Some clubs generate and send invoices while others do neither, preferring instead to collect renewals at the first meeting of the “season”.) ClubExpress supports all of these options:

• Select Do not take any action if you don’t want the system to handle renewals for you. You will be fully responsible for notifying members that it’s time to renew. No emails or letters will be sent.
• Select Send one renewal notice if you want to system to generate a single renewal notice, If you select this option, you will be prompted to enter the number of days before expiration that the notice should be sent and the delivery method.
• The default is Email, or regular mail if no email specified. This option sends emails where possible and a printed renewal notice if there is no email address. (Our current policy is to charge the club the current 1st class postage plus an additional 40¢ to cover printing, folding, enveloping, sealing and delivery.)
• Select Email only (no regular mail) if all members have an email address and you don’t want to pay for printed notices. This option will not send a notice to members without an email address.
• Select Regular mail only (no email) if you only want printed notices to be sent. (Our current policy is to charge the club the current 1st class postage plus an additional 40¢.) We discourage the use of this option, especially for the first notice. If your members are generally diligent about renewing, you may choose this option for the second or third notices as a final reminder for the stragglers.

Note that the notice is not an invoice; it’s a reminder to the member to log into the website and step through the renewal wizard. Members might change their membership type or select different additional charges, so there’s no way to determine in advance a final invoice price. Renewal notices are sent using the From: email address defined on the Control Panel – Club tab – Setup section – Name and Description.

This option is also appropriate for a state or national association where the majority of members renew through local clubs or chapters. It’s a reminder that the national dues need to be paid. Renewal notices can be customized to include any language you require, for example, a reminder to renew through your local club.

• Select Send two renewal notices if you want the system to send an initial notice and then a reminder to everyone who has not already renewed. You will be prompted to enter the number of days before expiration and the delivery method for each notice.
• Select Send three renewal notices if you want an initial notice and two reminders. With this option only, the third notice can be entered with a negative number of days; the system will send this notice after the expiration date but before the actual expiration. (You would use this option if you have configured an expiration lag period, so that memberships expire some number of days after the actual expiration. However, the system will not send a renewal notice to an expired member so the expiration lag period must be greater than the negative number of days otherwise these expired members will never receive their third notice.)
• Select Set Renewal Flags Only (no notices sent) if you want the system to turn on the “Renew Now” text without sending out renewal notices. This option is appropriate if you want to handle your own renewal notices and to have the “Renew Now” text visible when members login.

Renewal notices are sent Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays. The date the notice is sent is based on the date specified in your club's settings.

Note that there are also options to renew and even to charge members automatically; these can be found in the Member Type Add/Edit screen because they are defined at the individual member type level.