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Build a membership management app
Keep each member's level and renewal date in one record, let those dates decide who is current, and give current members pages and a directory the public can't open.
Built around a purpose
Levels, renewal dates and a directory members opt into.
For the volunteers who run a club, society or association from a treasurer's spreadsheet and an email list, where nobody is sure who has paid this year and the printed directory is out of date. That might be a photography society, a running club or a neighborhood association with a few hundred members on two or three levels.
For illustration: a photography society in San Diego, California has about 240 members on three levels: individual, family and student. The treasurer tracks join dates and dues in a spreadsheet, and the secretary keeps the email list. The last printed directory is two years old. The newsletter archive and competition rules sit in a shared folder that anyone with the link can open.
A members' area that opens only for current members, a directory where each person shows just the fields they chose, and a renewals list the treasurer works from each week. Every membership carries its level, its renewal date and the status those two decide, so a family renews once while each adult keeps their own sign-in.
Member sign-in, the membership records behind it and renewal email are backend capabilities, so this is an app with data. Model and service usage is metered separately. Build and preview it on any plan. Putting it live needs Go or Pro. See pricing
Define every level in a sentence
Write who qualifies for each level and what it includes. Family, for example, covers two adults at one address and their children under 18, and student needs a current student ID checked once a year. Use those sentences on the join page, in the renewal email and in the treasurer's notes, word for word.
Choose one renewal rule and a grace period
Decide whether everyone renews on one date, such as January 1, or on the anniversary of joining. Then decide how long a member stays in grace after that date, such as 45 days, before they count as lapsed. Describe in Studio that status follows from the renewal date and the dues recorded, so nobody types it by hand.
Separate the membership from the people on it
In the treasurer's sheet a family often sits on one row, with two names in one cell. Make one membership record that holds the level and renewal date, and one person record for each adult and child on it. The family then renews once, while each adult signs in and makes their own directory choices.
Let each member pick their directory fields
List what an entry could show: name, neighborhood, the kinds of photography someone does, and a website. Show a field only after the member turns it on, keep email and phone numbers off by default, and take lapsed members out. Don't copy the old printed directory in; ask every member to opt in again.
Put the members' pages behind sign-in
Move the newsletter archive, the competition rules and the meeting minutes into the members' area. Keep the join page, the meeting calendar and a contact address public. Then retire the shared-folder link, because anyone who was ever sent it can still open the files there.
Give the treasurer a renewals-due list
List members due to renew in the next 30 days, members in grace, and members who lapsed this year. Show each one with the date that put them there. The app can email the first group a renewal message you write, on a schedule you set. The treasurer still records cash and check payments taken at meetings.
Scope the first version
What a first version includes.
Memberships and people
A membership record with its level, join date, renewal date and status, linked to a person record for each adult and child on it. Addresses and emails belong to the person; dues belong to the membership.
Level definitions
One record per level with who qualifies, what it includes and how long it runs. The join page, the renewal email and the treasurer's list all quote these terms.
Status set by dates
Current until the renewal date, in grace for the period you chose, then lapsed. Beside each status, the renewal date and the last payment recorded, so when a member asks why they lapsed, the treasurer can point to both.
Opt-in directory
One entry per member showing only the fields they turned on, with the date they last changed that choice. Members search it by name, neighborhood or kind of photography, and search looks only at the fields on show.
Members' area
The newsletter archive, competition rules and meeting minutes, open to current members after sign-in. A lapsed member still reaches their own record and the renewal page.
Renewals list
Three groups: due in the next 30 days, in grace, and lapsed this year. Each can be sorted by date or level and has a place to record a payment taken in person.
Join and change-of-details forms
The join form quotes the level terms, lists each person on the membership with their own directory choices, and leaves the membership pending until the treasurer records the first dues. On the second form a member updates an address, an email or their directory entry, and the secretary sees each change with its date.
Test it in the preview
Before you share it.
- Sign out and open the members' area, then a single newsletter from the archive by its direct address. Both should send you to sign-in rather than show the page or the file.
- Set a test member's renewal date to yesterday, then to 50 days ago. The status should read grace and then lapsed. At lapsed, the members' area should close to them while their renewal page stays open.
- Sign in as a member who chose to show only name and neighborhood. From a second member's account, search the directory for the first member's email address. Nothing should come back, and their entry should show those two fields only.
- Join as a test family with two adults and a child. The membership should stay pending until you record the dues, and then both adults should show as current under one renewal date.
- Send the renewal email to yourself with a sample member's details. Check the name, level, date and link, and that the link opens that member's renewal page. Test every message the app sends before it reaches members.
- Sign in with the account the treasurer will use and confirm it shows dues and renewal dates for everyone. Then sign in as an ordinary member and confirm you see only your own.
Together in your app cloud
The pieces behind the possibility.
Choose the models and services that support the experience you want to create.
Authentication
Give the right people access
Database
Keep data and context for apps and agents
File storage
A home for your documents and media
Email
Keep conversations moving
Shape the details
Make it work for your world.
- Pick one renewal model and keep it. Anniversary renewals spread the treasurer's work across the year, while one date for everyone is easier to explain at a meeting. Mixing the two leaves lapsed meaning different things for different members.
- Keep the date each member made their directory choices, and ask again when you add a field such as a profile photo. A member who agreed to show their neighborhood last year has not agreed to show anything new.
- Officers change every year or two. Write the level definitions, renewal rule and grace period on a page inside the app, so the next treasurer reads the rules instead of inheriting them by word of mouth. Before each handover, export your app's data and code so the group keeps its own copy.
- Members and officers sign in to the published app, with the access you describe for each collection. When a new treasurer takes over, repeat the treasurer check above with their account, and confirm the outgoing treasurer's account now shows only their own membership.
- Decide who a member contacts when they can't sign in, and list that person beside the public contact address and in each renewal email. Try that route with one volunteer before renewal season starts.
A little more context
Good questions.
Are members Exepad account seats?
No. Members are people using the app you publish, and their sign-in to it is separate from your Exepad account, where the app is built and changed. See Pricing for what each plan includes.
How do members pay their dues?
Through the payment page or method you already use, cash and checks included. The treasurer records each payment against the membership, and the renewal date moves the way your rule says; test that with a payment for each level.
Can the app send renewal reminders?
Apps can send email and run tasks on a schedule you set, so a reminder can go to members whose renewal date is near. Write the message yourself, send it to a test member first, and confirm the list it goes to holds only members due to renew. An email can land in spam or go unread, so the renewals-due list stays the record the treasurer works from.
How is this different from a customer database?
A customer database keeps one clean record per customer, with where it came from and what they agreed to. A membership app adds levels, renewal dates that decide who is current, a directory members opt into, and pages only current members can open. If members also buy from you, or you run classes and events for them, see the guides below.
Explore Pricing for plans, included capabilities, and usage details.
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