Data Files templates / Clubs and societies

Membership

Members, what they have paid and the renewals coming due.

Download 4 KB2 tables, 1 queries, 1 reports, empty and ready for your own records.

Overview

Membership is for a club, society or association that has members who join, pay and renew: a sports club, a choir, an allotment society, a residents' association or a small professional body.

It keeps each member's name and how to reach them, the type of membership they hold, when they joined, when their renewal is due and whether they are still active. Every payment a member makes is kept as its own record, so you can see what each person has paid over the years.

Each payment points at the member who made it. One member has many payments. A query lists the active members by their renewal date, and a report adds up what each member has paid.

In Rutba Data Files it is on the start screen, under ready-made databases.

It suits, with small changes

A sports or social club
A choir, band or drama group
An allotment or gardening society
A residents' or parents' association
A small trade or professional body
A gym or dance class with members who pay by the year

Read on

Tutorial: the everyday tasks: 5 everyday tasks, step by step, each naming what to open.
Tables, fields and relationships: every field of 2 tables, and how they are related.
Queries, forms, reports and print templates: what each one shows, its criteria and calculated columns, and when to print it.

Things you should know

Your records live in one file on your computer. Keep copies: File, Save As makes one, and a copy on another drive or in your own cloud storage keeps it safe if this computer is lost. Close the database before copying the file by hand.
Every change to the design (a new field, a renamed table) is a numbered step that Data Files keeps, so you can see what was changed and when.
Member on a payment is a list of names on the Payments form, taken from the Members table by first and last name. Add the member before their first payment. In the Payments table's rows the same field shows the member's number instead.
Renewal Due is not moved on by itself when a payment comes in. Move it on a year on the member's record each time they renew.
A member who has payments cannot be deleted while those payments point at them. Untick Active instead, which also keeps your records of who paid what complete.
Membership Type is typed text. Type each type the same way every time (Junior, not Juniors) so you can choose by it in a query.
Members' details are personal data. Keep the file somewhere only the committee can open it, and keep a copy with File, Save As.

Starting with your own records

Enter your Members first, with the type each holds, the day they joined and when their renewal is due. Then add their Payments, choosing each member from the list. If you are moving from a paper list, start with the current members and add past payments only if you need them.

Making it yours

Every change to the design is a numbered step in Data Files, so a change can be seen and undone.

Keep the fee for each type: add a Membership Types table with a name and an annual fee, and change Membership Type on Members into a field that points at it.
Record how they paid: add a Method field to Payments (Cash, Card, Bank transfer, Cheque) and a query that totals each method.
Note consent for mailings: add a Mailing Consent field (Yes/No) and the day it was given, and choose by it before you send news.
Track attendance: add an Events table and an Attendance table that points at both Members and Events.
Keep an emergency contact for a sports club: add Emergency Name and Emergency Phone fields to Members.
Add a Left On date to Members alongside Active, to see how long people stay.

Questions people ask

How do I see who has not renewed?: Run Renewals due. Anyone whose Renewal Due date is before today has not renewed yet, and they are at the top of the list.
Can I record a family on one membership?: Enter one member for the person who pays, with Membership Type Family, and put the other names in a field you add, or enter each person and record the payment against one of them.
What if a member pays in instalments?: Record each instalment as its own payment with the same words in For. The report adds them up under the member.
How do I give everyone the same renewal date?: Type the club's renewal day in Renewal Due for each member, such as 1 April. The query lists them all together on that day.
Why is a member missing from Renewals due?: Their renewal is more than 30 days away, or Active is unticked, or Renewal Due is empty. Change the 30 in the query's Days Left criteria to look further ahead.
How do I see one member's payments quickly?: Open the Members form at that member: their payments are listed below their details.

Data Files is free

It comes with Rutba Office, with no account and no trial.

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