We have heard from many of our association partners that they're seeing a significant increase in the number of new members signing up for membership on their website - without ever calling the association's office.

While this level of automation & self-service is welcomed with open arms by both staff and members alike, many organizations have business rules in place that require formal approval before a company or person can officially join the association.

AE Tip™: These settings grant additional control to admin users. They also can drastically increase staff workload. Please think carefully before enabling these options.

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Each Member Type in Novi AMS can be customized to publicly show on the "Join" page. Those same member types can be set to require admin approval before the member is officially added to the roster.

Only Member Types that are marked to Allow Frontend Registrations are eligible for this feature.

The setting can be found on the Member Type record > Settings tab > Signups section. Place a check in the box and click the Save button.

AE Tip™: The applicant feature should be reserved for organizations with strict join policies that require thorough vetting for membership. If the majority of members in a member type are approved, the application process is not recommended for use in that member type.

This feature can be added for you by the Novi team. Please contact us via Intercom if you would like this changed for your association/chamber.

Member Types in Novi AMS can be set to collect application information but not run dues or grant membership benefits. If the Require Application Before Processing Dues setting is checked, the system will also require that the New Members Require Admin Approval setting be checked as well.

The setting can be found on the Member Type record > Settings tab > Signups section. Place a check in the box and save the record.

Pending members whose membership is only awaiting membership approval will see the following messaging in their Member Compass:

Pending members whose membership application who are pending will see the following messaging in their Member Compass:

When a prospective member signs up on your website, Novi will create a member record and a user account for the person who completed the form. Novi will not grant member benefits to that company or person, and the record will not be counted on your roster.

These new signups are placed into a queue on the Recent Signups page. Don't worry, Novi will alert all admin users in your navigation that there is work to be done.

On the Recent Signups page, admin users can take actions depending which setting was implemented on the Member Type.

As soon as a member has been approved, the system will send the member a welcome email letting them know that their membership has been approved. If the pending member was an applicant, they will then be billed for dues.

For members added on the backend by an admin, the admin can choose to auto-approve the member or not, if the settings allow for it. 

If the member type requires approval before receiving benefits, you will have the option to auto-approve this new member or not. If the member is not auto-approved, they will appear as a pending member in Recent Signups. If the member type does not require approval (on the Settings tab), the Auto-Approve option will not be displayed.