The members within a particular member type can be either companies or individuals. This refers to the record that has the member type assigned, but other records can be set to inherit benefits if applicable. Beyond the category setting, there are also options to set a related record as the billable party for dues invoices and/or to charge dues based on the number of people inheriting from a company.
The following can be used as a general guideline when considering which member type category you'll need for your association's members:
Trade associations will be able to nest individuals underneath companies so that they can inherit member benefits.
Hybrid associations will want to use different member types for their individual vs company-oriented memberships.
Societies can set member types to individuals and even use our hybrid functionality if they decide to start offering company memberships to sponsors or other businesses.
How to choose the right Member Type Category
First, you'll need to decide if the Member Type is for companies or people. The best place to start is to ask yourself: Who does the membership belong to?
If the person moved to another company or retired and no longer had a parent company, would the membership stay with the original company or the person?
>> If the answer to the above is the person, then you should select Individual People as the Member Type Category.
Individual People
This type of membership belongs to the person.
If applicable, membership benefits can flow from this person to "children" records, and the number of people who can inherit benefits can be unlimited or limited.
If the benefit flow is limited, it will be a fixed number that represents the maximum amount of people that can inherit benefits from their parent member.
The dues amount will be fixed, no matter how many "children" inherit benefits (up to the maximum if applicable).
If necessary, the person's membership dues can be billed to a related record (their parent or grandparent can be set as the default billable party for their dues invoices).
If applicable, the person's membership can be dependent on having a related record that is also current (but in a different member type). If this requirement isn't met, then the person's membership status will change from Current to Pending.
>> If the answer to the above is the company, then you have two options to choose from (see below). Consider if membership benefits will flow to any related records in the member's family tree. Most commonly this is people inheriting benefits from a company member, but other scenarios could apply (such as sub-companies and their related people).
Companies
This type of membership belongs to the company.
The member benefits flow to people under these companies can be unlimited (this is the default) or limited.
If the benefit flow is limited, it will be a fixed number that represents the maximum amount of people that can inherit benefits from their parent member. Learn more about setting a limit on the number of people who can inherit from the company's membership. Please note - when there's a limit set on benefit flow, people with management access (like the Primary Contact of the company) will have access in their Member Compass (on the People tab) to control which related people in the family should receive benefits.
The dues amount for this member type category will be fixed, no matter how many "children" inherit benefits (up to the maximum if applicable).
Example 1: If the member type has a maximum of 5 people allowed to inherit benefits from a company member, then a company with 1 inheriting person will pay the same amount on their dues invoice as another company that has 5 inheriting people.
Example 2: If the member type has unlimited benefit flow, then a company with 1 person inheriting benefits will pay the same dues as another company that has 500 people inheriting benefits.
If necessary, the company's membership dues can be billed to a related record (their parent or grandparent can be set as the default billable party for their dues invoices).
If applicable, the company's membership can be dependent on having a related record that is also current (but in a different member type).
For example, a property member may be dependent on having a management company member in its family (usually as its parent). In this example, if the management company is Expired then the property would be Pending (which means no member benefits until their parent becomes Current).
Companies with Individual Seat Dues
This type of membership belongs to the company.
Member benefits can flow to related records:
The member benefits extended to people under these companies can be unlimited or limited.
Restriction settings allow for a minimum and maximum Seat Count, but one or both of these options can be left unrestricted.
Member benefits can flow to children or grandchildren.
The seat-based dues amounts for this type of membership can be variable, which is determined by the dues rules setup.
Seat Dues Example 1: The first inheriting person may cost $50, and then the second and third cost $25 each, the fourth person is free, and so on.
Seat Dues Example 2: The price per person is $100 each if they have 1-5 people, but it goes down to $75 per person if they have 6+ people.
This Member Type Category allows people with management access to add and remove seats in their Member Compass.
If necessary, the company's membership dues can be billed to a related record (their parent or grandparent can be set as the default billable party for their dues invoices).
If applicable, the company's membership can be dependent on having a related record that is also current (but in a different member type).
For example, a property member may be dependent on having a management company member in its family (usually as its parent). In this example, if the management company is Expired then the property would be Pending (which means no member benefits until their parent becomes Current).
>> If you are considering using the "Companies with Individual Seat Dues" member type category, check out this article for more information.