This document outlines the settings and processes we have tested to ensure that your membership dues billing runs smoothly. Most of this guide focuses on fixed renewal membership billing (i.e., memberships that are all billed at the same time once per year), but almost all of the processes are also useful, even if you bill your members monthly. Steps that are specifically for fixed renewal memberships are clearly labeled.
If you have questions about whether a particular setting or workflow is right for your association, use the provided notes section and contact our support team to discuss your questions. If you have successfully run billing in the past using different settings and processes, continue to do what works best for you.
Table of Contents
Glossary
Association dues/membership = any fees for a membership that a member pays on a regular basis
Fixed Renewal membership = a membership type where all members are billed at the same time
In-App Training
Click the “Need Help?” sidebar on the right side of any GrowthZone screen to open our new Resource Center. You’ll find interactive guides and training to help you configure the system, as suggested below. Look for the “Show me in GrowthZone” link in this document. That link will take you to an in-app guide to walk you through those steps in more detail.
1. System Setup
1.1 - Finance General Settings
Setup> Finance, General Settings
These settings enable and disable different features in the system. Since these dues are typically billed once a year, these suggestions favor giving your team control over your billing instead of automating the process.
Ensure you have a Logo for Invoices and Statements
The logo indicated on the Finance General settings is used in the < logo > merge field on your invoice and statement templates. If you need precise placement and sizing, insert your logo directly onto your invoice template(s) in Setup - Document Generation. Note: In this case, you would need to remove the < logo > merge field from your template.
Disable Automated Billing
Automated Billing is useful if you frequently bill your members for a small set of items. For less frequent and larger billings, Automated Billing can make your processes more complicated by requiring you to constantly monitor when your members receive invoices. When enabled, this feature hides advanced controls to set the invoice date and due date of your dues invoices.
Set Lead Time Days to Greater Than Zero
This field restricts access to the Invoice Before Autopayment feature when it is set to 0. The exact value of this field only matters if you are using automated billing. Since we’re not using that, you can set this to 15, which is a reasonable default value if you choose to use automated billing in the future.
Enable Invoice Before Autopayment
With Invoice Before Autopayment enabled, invoices indicating that the invoice will be paid by payment profile (on a specific date) will be generated when running your upcoming billing. You can set the date that these automatic charges will happen when generating your membership dues invoices.
Disable Auto-Apply Credits to Newly Created Invoices
This should be disabled if you frequently credit members for specific items. If this is enabled when running your billing, credits for things like event registrations or sponsorships will be applied to membership dues. Members may have been planning to use a credit for something similar in the future and could be unpleasantly surprised when they discover it was already used.
Enable the New My Billing Info
We encourage you to enable the Use the new My Billing Info tab (if you haven’t already). When enabled, your members will see a “My Billing Info” section in their Info Hub left-hand navigation. This makes it easier for members to view their open invoices, make payments, and download receipts.
2. Membership Pricing Changes and Configurations
2.1 – Fixed Renewal Memberships: Enforce Date Rules
Setup> Memberships, Membership Settings
This setting prevents you from unintentionally changing the Next Bill Dates for scheduled billing items linked to memberships that renew on a certain date. This will prevent most situations where a member does not receive a membership dues invoice when they should have.
2.2 – Fixed Renewal Memberships: Membership Type Settings
Setup> Memberships, Types> Select desired membership name
Fixed renewal Membership Types for association dues should be set to have everyone renew on the start date of the membership period. Even if you bill for memberships in advance or in arrears, this date should be the start date of the membership term (often the start of your fiscal year or the start of a new year).
Term Length Should be 12 Months
All association dues membership types should be set to a term length of 12 (months).
Renewal Pricing Should be “Do not recalculate price” You may have previously configured your membership types to recalculate. This year we have a new feature specifically built to help out with any dues increases for your 2023 membership year. We strongly suggest setting your membership to “Do not recalculate price” so that you can use this new feature.
End Type Should be Manually Ended
GrowthZone can automatically drop members who have not paid for a set number of days after their original invoice date. We strongly suggest setting your membership to “Manually ended” for association membership types.
Fixed Renewal Memberships: Set Renew Everyone On
This setting helps the system follow the membership year as defined by your association. This setting is also required to use the new feature that increases dues for your 2023 membership year.
2.3 – Fixed Renewal Memberships: Membership Pricing Changes
Setup> Memberships, Types> Select desired membership price
This feature allows you to define when to charge increased membership dues and have the system automatically bill at that new rate for charges on or after a certain date. You can set this for 1 or more fee items on a membership. This feature does not yet work with formula-based pricing.
To set new prices for a membership on a certain date:
Edit the membership type’s pricing
Enable “Change Prices On…”
Pick your desired date for new pricing to start.
Enter new prices in the “Price on <Date from step 3>” column.
Note: Leaving a field blank in this column will carry the current price forward. (If using levels, see note below.)
Save your changes.
The above steps will need to be completed for each affected membership type.
For those Associations utilizing Levels within Membership Types: You will need to set the "Change Pricing on..." date within the Membership Type pricing screen and then make the necessary pricing adjustments on the Level(s) itself.
Note: In order to utilize this feature, please ensure:
Your membership type is set to a specific “renew everyone on” date (noted in section 2.2 of this guide)
Membership recalculation is disabled (noted in section 2.2 of this guide)
Formula-based pricing is disabled
3. Verifying Your Data
3.1 Fixed Renewal Memberships: Review Next Bill Dates
Setup> Membership, Review Next Bill Dates
We’ve built a tool to help associations identify members (if any) that may have the wrong next bill dates for their annual scheduled billings. When you previously set the “renew everyone on” date in step 2.2, the system is able to use that information to identify next bill dates that potentially do not align with the expected date. This tool can be a great way to double check that members will be billed/charged on the dates that you expect.
To utilize this new tool:
Open the Review Next Bill Dates tool under Setup.
Review those members listed (if any).
Note: Members listed here have next bill dates that are not expected. Meaning the current Next Bill date is different from the “Renews on…” date set on each membership type. Notice the “Current Next Bill Date” and “Proposed Next Bill Date” column.
Filter results (if needed) by Status, Membership Type, or Current Next Bill Date. Then click “Load” to see the proposed results.
Click “Update,” which will kick off a mass change for those filtered results to have their Current Next Bill Date changed to the Proposed Next Bill Date. This will update all scheduled billing with incorrect next bill dates, even though only the first 500 are listed. If you have more than 500 listed, use the Download button at the top of the screen to review all scheduled billing items that will be changed.
3.2 – Review Reports to Validate Membership Billing
Reports> Search for desired report
Use the reports listed below to confirm that your data is complete and accurate. Verifying this data, while sometimes time consuming, can help catch unintended issues prior to running your billing. Remember to save your reports so that you can easily run them each time you prepare to generate your upcoming billing.
TIP: In most reports, you can add your report results to a list, for an easy way to communicate to those specific members. For example, use the Stored Payment Profiles report to create a list of members with expired credit cards, and email them asking them to update their payment profile in the Info Hub.
Confirm All Active Members Have Scheduled Billing
Use the Membership Report for verification. See View Report of All Active Members Without Recurring Billing. If the member does not have a scheduled billing use the upgrade/downgrade options to assign a scheduled billing.
Confirm All Scheduled Billing is Set for the
Correct AmountUse the Membership Report to verify that active memberships have the correct scheduled billing amounts. See View Report of Active Members Scheduled Billing Accuracy. If the scheduled billing amounts are not correct, use the adjust membership option to update the schedule.
Confirm Dropped Members Do Not Have Scheduled Billing
Ensures that you do not bill dropped members or non-members for unexpected items. While rare, if a dropped member or non-member has a scheduled membership billing, please contact our support team for help fixing this. Use the Membership Report for verification. See View Report of All Dropped/Non-Members With a Recurring Billing.
Confirm Members Have an Email Address to Receive Their Invoice
Use the Membership Report for verification. See View Report of Active Members Missing Billing Contact and Billing Email. If the membership does not have a billing contact and/or address information, use the adjust membership option to assign this information to the membership.
Check for Expired Payment Profiles
Use the Stored Payment Profile report to check expiration dates. If updates are needed, contact your members to access the Info Hub to update.
4. Communication and Messaging Review
4.1 - Review Invoice Template
Setup> Document Generation Templates> edit/copy desired invoice temple
We suggest creating a new invoice template for each year’s association dues billing so that you have a chance to review your dues deductibility statement and update other policies that may have changed since last year. See View/Modify Invoice Template for instructions if you wish to review and update your template.
TIP: Copy an existing invoice template (or create a new template) each year to includes that year’s disclaimers, dues deductibility statements, and other required disclosures to keep track of your messaging on each year’s invoices.
4.2 - Review Email Template to Send with Invoices
Setup> Email Templates> edit/copy desired email template.
Creating a new email template for each year’s association dues billing makes it easy for you and your staff to collaborate on your billing preparations. Using a new email template can help trigger discussions around dues deductibility statements or other policies that you want your members to see both in their dues email and on their invoice document. See Working with Email Templates if you wish to review and update your email templates.
TIP: Copy an existing email template (or create a new one) each year to include that year’s disclaimers and other messages. This can make it easy to compare differences year over year and re-use as much prior work as possible.
4.3 - Review Member-Facing Automated Messages
Setup> Email Templates> edit/copy desired template
The following emails will be sent to members throughout the invoicing and payment process. Review the templates listed below to make sure they accurately describe your association’s processes and that they follow your brand standards.
The Online Payment Receipt email template is sent when the system successfully charges a saved credit card or if a member pays an invoice with a credit card.
The Recurring Charge Failed email template is sent if a member has saved a credit card but eCommerce has an issue charging it.
Note: Whether you've created a new email template or just want to double-check which email template will be sent out, be sure you set the correct email template in the Automated Messages area of setup. Click here for more information on automated messages.
4.4 - Ensure Staff Enable Billing Related Notifications
Account Menu (Top, Right) > My Notifications
Auto Payment Failed - Sent if eCommerce cannot charge a saved credit card.
Charge Capture Failed - Very rare; this is sent if eCommerce successfully authorizes a charge with a card but cannot capture the payment. (Credit Card Lingo 101: An authorization is sometimes called a “hold” on a credit card and is used to check if a card is valid and if the card can accept a charge for the total amount. A capture is a request to move money from the credit card bank (e.g., Visa) to eCommerce).
Duplicate Charge Detected - Sent if a member tries to pay the same amount twice in a short period of time. There are guardrails in place on the invoice payment page and in the Info Hub to prevent this from occurring, but sometimes members find a way.
Failure to Send Receipt - Sent if a GrowthZone issue prevents a member from receiving a receipt. Members can access receipts from the Info Hub, or you can email the member a receipt from the Contact → Billing tab → Actions button next to the payment.
5. Run Upcoming Billing
You are now ready to generate your invoices for membership dues! Review the critical steps listed below
to get started. The steps below use an example of a membership year that begins on January 1st and is billed several months in advance. Adjust the dates as needed for your association and by-laws.
5.1 - Filtering Scheduled Billing Items:
Billing > Upcoming Billing tab
Click on the Customize Results button to filter to the memberships you want to generate invoices for.
Set the Month dropdown to the first month of your membership year (example: 1/1/2023)
Select your Association Membership Type(s) from the Membership dropdown.
Notes:
The system will only generate invoices for the scheduled billing items displayed from your filtering.
If using the “Change Pricing on…” feature (from Section 2.3 of this guide), please know on the Upcoming Billing Tab, you will still see the old pricing listed in the amount column. There will be an icon next to the amount indicating that the price will change. The effective date pricing will be used when you run the billing.
TIP: Start by generating an invoice for just one member by searching for them on the Upcoming Billing tab. Running the billing for a small subset allows you to review the invoice prior to running it for all members.
5.2 – Generate Invoices
Billing > Upcoming Billing tab
Click on the Actions button and choose Run Upcoming Billing. There are a few fields on this screen you’ll want to set:
Enable the Advanced Options checkbox.
Set your desired Invoice Date (example: 10/1/2022)
Set your desired Due Date (example: 11/1/2022)
Set your desired Scheduled Payment Date (example 11/1/2022) This is when your members with saved credit cards will be charged for their association dues.
Select the Invoice Template you
created/reviewed earlier.Then, click Run to generate your invoices.
For additional instructions and information, visit the Generate Invoices for Upcoming (Recurring) Billing in
our Knowledge Base.
6. Deliver Invoices
Once invoices have been generated, you will be able to deliver the invoices from the Sales/Invoices tab with the Billing module. Members who have saved a credit card to use with dues billing will receive an invoice noting that their credit card will be charged on the Scheduled Payment Date you selected when running billing. All other members will receive a traditional invoice.
Note: We recommend utilizing the Sales/Invoices tab to deliver your invoices. However, if you have previously sent invoices from the Pending Delivery tab, feel free to continue using that process. Just be sure to clear it out of the Pending Delivery tab before running upcoming billing.
6.1 - Filter to Select Invoices
Billing > Sales/Invoices tab
To deliver the newly generated invoices, go to the Sales/Invoices tab, and customize your filters to the following:
Set the Invoice Date that you used in step 5.2 (example: 10/1/2022).
Set the Fee Item to be one of the line items of your membership. This will include all of your membership dues invoices but exclude any other invoices created with the same invoice date.
6.2 - Email Invoices
Billing > Sales/Invoices tab
After filtering the invoices, prepare to send them by clicking on Actions and selecting Email Invoices/Statements.
Set the Template field to the email template you previously created.
Set the From email address where you would like to receive billing questions or notices about bounced emails from this round of invoices.
Check Select All to send all membership dues invoices (if shown). Critical if handling more than 500 invoices. This ensures that all of your members receive their invoices at the same time.
Review the message to make sure everything looks correct.
Click Send to email your invoices.
After Billing
Review the Membership Post-Billing guide for help with collections, late fees, and drops.
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