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 Novi website - without ever calling the association's office.

While this level of automation and 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.

Sections in this article:

Member types can be set to require admin approval before the member is officially added to the roster.

Only member types marked to Allow Frontend Registrations or Allow Frontend Registration Only with Secret Link are eligible for this feature.

The setting can be found on the Member Type record > Settings tab > Signup Process section. Click the box to add a check and click the Save button to enable the feature.

If membership needs approval, admins can turn on a Pending email to be sent to members to let them know their membership is being reviewed.

>> Turn on email notifications for new membership

Member types can be set to collect application information and 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 when the application feature is enabled.

The setting when enabled can be found on the Member Type record > Settings tab > Signup Process section. Click the box to add a check and click the Save button to enable the feature.

Pending members will see the following messaging in their Member Compass:

Pending applicant members will see the following messaging in their Member Compass:

When a prospective member signs up, Novi creates a member record and a user account for the person who completed the form. Novi will not grant membership benefits to that company or person when approval is needed, and the record will not be counted in membership reports.

New signups are placed into a queue on the Recent Signups page.

On the Recent Signups page, admins can take actions depending which setting was implemented on the member type.

Admins approve, move to Prospect, or deactivate records. Once approved, the member will have access to all appropriate benefits and will begin to be counted on membership reports.

Example from Recent Signups:
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Approval can also be marked directly on the Pending record.
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Admins "Create Membership" or "deactivate" member records. Once approved, a dues invoice will be generated, the member will have access to all appropriate benefits and they will begin to be counted in member reports.

Approval can be granted to applicants under the Details tab of the applicant's record by clicking "Convert Applicant to Member" button.

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

Unique welcome emails should be sent as a one-off email.

For members added on the backend by an admin into a member type that requires approval, admins can choose to auto-approve the member or not, if the settings allow for it. 

If the member is not auto-approved by an admin, 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.