Member Management offers two types of membership structures: individual memberships and group memberships.

• An organization can have both individual and group memberships or use just one of the membership structures.
• A user can have only one membership (i.e., a user cannot have an individual membership and a group membership).

This article focuses on group memberships; you'll learn how to:

• Manually approve account requests
• Purchase a group membership from the user perspective, and manage its members
• Create a group membership as a Super Admin, and manage its members
• Email users about their group membership
• View a group's membership history
• Cancel group memberships
• Find group memberships by searching and filtering the list
• Export the list

To learn about individual memberships, see Member Management - Manage Individual Memberships. 

Before we begin...

NOTE: It's important to understand the difference between the terms users and memberships.

- Users are the individuals who have accounts in your Thrive Community. This account grants users a profile, as well as the ability to interact with other users and consume/contribute content. User records are managed on the Admin > Users > List page.
- Memberships refer to the paid (or free) memberships that users have purchased and which grant them additional benefits on your Thrive Community. Think of a membership as a layer on top of a user account. Memberships are managed on the Admin > Membership > Individual/Group Memberships pages.

Approve account requests

• All users must have an account in your Thrive Community before they can receive the benefits of a membership. This means that users who are added to a group before having a community account will need to create an account before they'll receive their member benefits. In the meantime, they'll be able to engage with any public content in your Thrive Community, if any exists.
• With this in mind, when you license Member Management, new-account approval is automatically enabled in your account. This means that, by default, a Super Admin has to approve all new account requests.

To review and approve/reject account requests:

1. In the Admin Toolbar, click Admin.

2. Navigate to Users > List. You are on the Users: Enabled list page.

3. Click the down arrow to the right of the page title and select Pending Approval.

The list displays all users who have requested an account.

4. Select a user record and click Approve.

The user record now displays (and can be managed) on the Users: Enabled list page. Also, the user can now gain membership in your community.

TIP: If you reject an account request, the user record is moved to the Users: Rejected list page and can be managed there.

To learn about the other options and managing users in your site, see Manage Users.

Access the Group Memberships list

1. In the Admin Toolbar, click Admin.

2. Navigate to Membership > Group Memberships.

You are on the Group Memberships: Active list page.

TIP: Refer to the View users by status section below for information on the Pending and Expired/Failed lists, which are accessible from the dropdown shown below.

TIP: On list pages, click a column header to sort on that column; click again to reverse the sort order. Click the columns count below the list to add and remove columns in the current view.

Create group memberships

There are two ways a group membership can be created:

• When a user purchases one of your group memberships, they'll fill out a short form and create the group. This user will also become the group's Membership Contact, and be responsible for payment and managing its members (though a Super Admin can help, if needed). In addition, only the Membership Contact will receive renewal emails for the group membership.
• Super Admins can create group memberships in the Admin interface. All groups must have a Membership Contact, so they'll assign one at the time of creation, and this user will be notified via an email notification.

Let's walk through these two scenarios in more detail.

User purchases group membership

The various Membership Types that your organization offers display on the Membership Plans page.

NOTE: If you offer individual and group memberships, they're available on their own pages.

When the user selects a group membership, details of that membership display on a new page; the user is required to give the group a unique name. If available, they can also provide a discount code to lower the cost.

• When the purchase is complete, the group is created and the purchasing user becomes the Membership Contact for that group membership. Learn more about Membership Contacts below.

Membership Contacts

• The Membership Contact is responsible for payment and managing group members.
  • The Membership Contact can add/remove users from the group. (A Super Admin can also manage group members.)
• If a group has to change the Membership Contact, a member must contact a Super Admin. The Super Admin can update the Membership Contact, who will then will receive an email notification.
• The Membership Contact manages group members from their profile, on the My Account > Membership page, as shown below.

Membership Contact - Invite users to the group

On the Account > Membership page, click Invite. There are two methods to invite users to a group:

• CSV Upload (bulk upload)
• Manual Entry

CSV Upload

Use the CSV Upload option to upload a CSV file of email addresses.

• If a user already has an account in the community, they will automatically be added to the group and receive all the benefits associated with membership.
• If a user does not have a community account, a spot is "saved" for them in the group. They must register for a community account using the email address the Membership Contact entered in the CSV. When their account is approved, they will automatically be added to the group and receive all the benefits associated with membership.

NOTE: Make sure your CSV file does not contain more email addresses than the maximum number of members allowed in the group. For example, if the group has a maximum of 20 members, your CSV must have 20 or fewer addresses.

Manual Entry

You can manually invite users to join a group in two ways (maximum of 20 at a time):

• Enter users who are already in the system by searching by their name. With this method, because the user already has an account, they will automatically be added to the group and receive all the benefits associated with membership.
• Enter email addresses of individuals who do not yet have community accounts. With this method, because these users do not already have an account, a spot "saved" for them in the group. They must register for a community account using the email address the Membership Contact entered. When their account is approved, they will automatically be added to the group and receive all the benefits associated with membership.

NOTE: Regardless of method, the system will check to see if the group has a limited number of spots. The Membership Contact will be prevented from adding more members than allotted for the Membership Type. For example, if the group has a maximum of 20 members, you'll only be able to invite 20 or fewer addresses.

Membership Contact - Manage group members

On the Account > Membership page, you can manage the group's members in the following ways:

• Use the filter dropdown to view all members, only members who already have a community account, or only users who do not yet have a community account. This makes it easy to pinpoint, say, all users you need to email to create an account so they can receive their membership benefits
• Use the sort dropdown to sort the member list A-Z or Z-A.
• Each group member includes an ellipsis (...) menu you can use to copy their email address, copy the invitation that was sent, or remove them from the group.

IMPORTANT: Group members can only see other members who have a community account.

User privacy settings apply to group membership, in that users who choose to hide themselves will only be visible to Super Admins (they will be hidden from the Membership Contact).

Super Admin creates group membership

When adding a group membership via this list, what you're doing is creating a group and assigning an existing user as the Membership Contact, who will then be responsible for managing the group (though Super Admins can do so, if needed).

IMPORTANT: Generally speaking, the group membership "flow" is that a user purchases one and becomes the Membership Contact. This "power" user will then invite others to join and manage said memberships. However, there may be instances when a Super Admin needs to use this process to fix or edit someone's membership record, help someone who's having trouble purchasing a membership on their own, or grant a membership for free.

To create a group membership:

NOTE: This can be done on any of the Group Member list pages; the new member record will be added to the Active list, irrespective of which list you're on when you create the record.

1. On the Admin > Membership > Group Memberships page, click the (+) to the right of the page title.
2. First, select the Membership Type to assign this group. You can choose from any of the group Membership Types you've created. Doing so will display several additional fields (more on these below).
3. Give the group membership a unique name.
4. Next, select the user who will manage this group membership (this individual is known as the Membership Contact).
5. If you want to add users to the group now, you can do so via the Add Users dropdown. Otherwise, the Membership Contact can add users at a later time from their profile.

6. Now, it's time to configure the additional fields that displayed upon selecting a Membership Type earlier.

• Did this member make a payment for this membership - Toggle to Yes or No, as appropriate. If yes, you'll be able to indicate how much they paid in the Price Paid field.
• Price Paid - Displays only when the "payment" question is toggled to Yes. This value is used only in the member's record for record-keeping purposes.
• Start Date - Click the calendar icon to select the date on which the membership started or will start.

NOTE: If you manually type a date into the field, it must match the required format: Sat, Feb 18, 2022.

• End Date - This is determined by the Membership Type that was selected; it cannot be changed.
• Notes - Provide any necessary/helpful notes about this membership in this text field. These are internal-only notes meant for record-keeping. Refer to the View membership history section below for more information.

7. Click Save at the bottom of the dialog to create the group membership. Because you've created the group this way, you may want to reach out to the Membership Contact and explain their role in the management of it.

View groups by status

NOTE: This section is only applicable to Super Admins.

The Group Memberships page lists group memberships by their current status: Active, Pending, and Expired/Failed. To access each list, click the dropdown to the right of the page title, as shown below.

Listing groups by their membership status makes it easy to understand where in the membership cycle each group's membership resides, which in turn makes it easier for your organization to manage them.

Status overview

• Active - Lists groups with currently active memberships (i.e., not pending or expired). If a group's membership renewal fails but their membership is still currently active, it will remain in this list until the membership period of over.
• Pending - Lists groups whose membership payments are processing (initial purchase, renewals, and auto-renewals).
• Expired/Failed - Lists groups with an expired or lapsed membership (i.e., groups who failed to complete a payment before their membership period ended).

Email group members

NOTE: This section is only applicable to Super Admins.

The Member Management system will automatically send emails to group members for several key reasons, such as notifying them of their new membership or to remind them of an upcoming renewal deadline.

However, in cases where a member may not have received one of these automatic emails or lost track of it, you can manually send these messages as well. This makes it easy to reach out to members who may have lapsed memberships or pending renewals.

To email a member:

1. Select a group in the appropriate list (Active, Pending, or Expired/Failed).
2. Click Manage Group Members.

3. In the resulting dialog, select a member and click Email.
4. Enter a subject and your message in the associated fields.
5. Click Send to send the message to the selected member. It will be delivered to both their profile inbox and their personal email address in a matter of minutes.

Add/remove members to/from a group

NOTE: This section is only applicable to Super Admins.

To add or remove a member from a group membership to grant or revoke membership benefits:

1. Select a group in the appropriate list (Active, Pending, or Expired/Failed).
2. Click Manage Group Members.

Add a member

1. Click the (+) icon to display the Add Users dialog.
2. Click the text field and begin typing a user's name; they will automatically populate if they exist in the system (i.e., they must have an account).
3. Repeat this process to add multiple users at once.
4. When finished, click Save to immediately add these users to the group membership.

Remove a member

1. Select a member and click Remove.
2. In the confirmation prompt, click Yes.

View group membership history

NOTE: This section is only applicable to Super Admins.

At any time, you can view a snapshot of a group membership's history by selecting it in the list, followed by More > View History.

The resulting dialog will show:

• A timestamped breakdown of each Membership Type, including the date of initial purchase and any subsequent edits to them.
• The admin associated with any actions is also listed.
• The Print Invoice button to give Admins the ability to print an invoice right from this page.

See Member Management - Profile Membership Page to learn how to view a member's history from their profile, including payment invoices.

Cancel membership

NOTE: This section is only applicable to Super Admins.

In time, there may be instances where you need to cancel a group's membership (e.g., they purchased the wrong membership, someone requests a refund, etc.). 

To do so:

1. Select the group and click More > Cancel Membership.

2. In the resulting dialog, provide a note explaining why the group membership is being cancelled. This note is stored in the group's membership history for record-keeping purposes. Refer to the View membership history section below for more information.
3. If a refund was processed through the payment provider, set the toggle to Yes and then enter the refund amount in the Amount Refunded field. This is also stored in the member's membership history for record-keeping purposes only; the actual refund needs to be processed via the payment provider. 

Search & filter

NOTE: This section is only applicable to Super Admins.

At the top right, you can use the search and filter options to quickly find user records.

• Click the magnifying glass icon to expand a search field, allowing you to find members based on values in the Group, Membership Contact Name/Email, and Membership Type columns. The list will automatically update with each typed character and display all records (visible and hidden) that contain a match. Click the X to clear the search field to restore the original list.
• Click the filter icon to open the Filter dialog and refine the list by Membership Types, Start Date, End Date, and/or Has Renewed values. If the filter icon is solid orange (i.e., filled in), the list is refined by an active filter. Click the filter icon and click Clear Filter > Apply to restore the original list.

Export the members list

NOTE: This section is only applicable to Super Admins.

You can export a list of the member records for each of the Members List pages.

• Click the export icon at the top right to export the list of your group membership records to a CSV file.

Export file notes

The export file:

• includes all of the list columns,
• reflects any current search criteria, and
• reflects any current list filtering.

See Member Management - Reporting to learn more about this export.

Reactivate expired group memberships

NOTE: This section is only applicable to Super Admins.

Expired group memberships can be reactivated at any time. During the reactivation process, you can either:

• keep the group membership's details the same (apart from setting a new start/end date)
• or update its details before reactivating.

To reactivate a group membership:

1. On the Expired/Failed list, select the group membership to reactivate.
2. In the dialog, make any desired updates (e.g., its name, Membership Type, Membership Contact, add or remove users, etc.
3. When finished, click Save.

Upon saving:

• The Membership Contact will receive an email about the reactivation.
• The group membership will move to the Active list.
• Any updates made will be reflected in the group membership's details.
• All group members will once again receive their group benefits for the new membership term.
• This "transaction WILL NOT be reflected in Stripe.

Best practices for group memberships

Group memberships in the Pending and Expired/Failed status cannot be edited, meaning Super Admins cannot perform actions such as updating a group membership's dates or its Membership Contact.

Because of this, keep the following best practices in mind when managing group memberships.

Working with Expired/Failed group memberships

In the Admin Interface, on the Membership > Group Memberships page, you can click the dropdown to view your Expired/Failed group memberships.

Note that you cannot edit an Expired/Failed group membership. This is intentional by design, but does come with limitations regarding Membership Contacts:

• If one of your group memberships is in the Expired/Failed state and has a Membership Contact whom you need to remove from the group and add to another, create a case and request Higher Logic to move this Contact for you.

• A Membership Contact will only be "trapped" in a group membership if it is within an active Grace Period. Once the Grace Period is over, the Membership Contact can then be reassigned.

Unique names for group memberships

Each group membership must have a unique name (the system will not allow two group memberships to share a name).

• Best practice: Come up with a naming structure for your group memberships, such as appending the term. For example, Gold Members 2024-2025, Gold Members 2025-2026, etc.

Add an expired Group's members to a new one

If a group membership expires, you do not need to remove its members before adding them to a new one.

TIP: You can also reactivate expired/failed memberships, and this process allows you to update the group's members by adding or removing them, as needed. Refer to the Reactivate expired group memberships section above to learn more.

In this scenario:

• Either the Membership Contact, or a Super Admin impersonating the Membership Contact, can Invite users to the new Group (see Membership Contact and the subsequent Membership Contact - Invite users to the group to learn how).

TIP: If the previous Group's member list is large, consider exporting the members and uploading them to the new Group. To do so:

1. While managing the group membership from the Expired/Failed list, click Manage Group Members.

2. In the dialog, click the download icon to export the members to a CSV file.



3. Only the Membership Contact can invite members to the new Group. However, Admins can impersonate this individual and upload the list you previously downloaded. After impersonating the Membership Contact, refer to the Membership Contacts section earlier in this article for help with this process.

Related articles

• Member Management - Membership Types
• Member Management - Profile Membership Page