Hi Everyone,

 I'm in a University setting so we don't have "Memberships" per se.  We want to track our Giving Clubs using the Membership Module.

 Has anyone used the Membership Module in this manner?  I'd love to hear how you managed your clubs using this tool.

We want to track by fiscal year and it will be possible for a constituent to move up to a higher giving club in the same fiscal year, as we will be using cumulative giving (cash gifts only) per FY.  I'm attempting to adapt this module the best I can for our needs, but could use some advice.

Thanks for your help!

 Donna Woods, Database Manager, University of Baltimore, Baltimore, MD

I am at a museum and we do have memberships, however, for all donors $1k and over, they automatically receive memberships in our Major Giving Societies (formerly called Giving Circles, but we just reorganized the whole thing and thought it would be less confusing to use a new name on the new system).  I set up Program as Major Giving Society and Category as the different levels we have.  Then I link to a gift as soon as someone reaches the $1k level.  If they give enough cumulatively in a year (granted this is a new system, so we haven't worked out all the kinks yet) then I would upgrade the membership at the appropriate time.  We do offer membership benefits at this level (unless, of course, the gift comes via a foundation, in which case there is a checkbox under the Benefits window that allows you to waive benefits).

I would test it out on a few records, get comfortable with the setup and then decide how to go about putting it to use throughout the database (depending on how many, I'd think about grandfathering everyone into the new system, or starting fresh with the fiscal or academic year).

 Hope this helps!

Jennifer