Tiered Dues Billing

Many associations are moving to a system of membership billing that is referred to as a “tiered dues” model, which is a way of packaging membership dues based on member involvement instead of based on employee counts or business type.

These packages often include pre-paid event tickets, advertisement and sponsorship opportunities, and itemized benefits. The member will benefit in knowing the total cost of their membership upfront and it is easier for them to see what value the association brings to them by choosing their package based on their desired involvement. Read this article from ACCE discussing this tiered dues model.

Our integrated billing solution handles the billing portion of the tiered dues model by assigning a bundled fee to the member. This allows the billing to be properly allocated to the proper billing account, while only displaying a single “membership fee” name on the member’s invoice.

In addition, you may choose to use the optional Bundled Fee Tracking in place of a your own separate spreadsheet for tracking the usage. See below.

Or some associations use Custom Fields on the Members->General tab to assist in tracking. Custom Fields may be included in reports, mail merge emails, and be displayed in the Member Information Center.

“Big-picture” steps for handling tiered dues

1.	Create a membership type for each of your tiers. (Recommended if events are included in your tiers)

2.	Create a bundled fee item for each of your tiers.

3.	If events are included in your tiers, create an event discount by membership type for each identified event. (The discount should be for the same amount that is specified within the bundled fee.)

4.	Assign the appropriate bundled fee item(s) to your members.

5.	Remove any previous membership dues from their account (if applicable)

6.	Invoice your members this bundled fee using the same process you’ve always used for invoicing membership dues.

Note: The invoice will display the title of the Bundled Fee (not the individual items) but your internal bookkeeping records will report back to the income accounts that are associated with each item in the bundle.

7.	When the member uses their benefits, record their use on the members account for your record-keeping or track using Custom Fields.

 

Optional: Tracking Tiered Due Usage

Once a bundled fee is assigned to a member, then there will be a Bundled Fee Tracking link available under Members->Account tab->Membership Fees and Dues area where you may record the use of the individual items that comprise the bundle.

1.	Click Members in the left-hand menu and select the desired member.

2.	Click the Account tab.

3.	Open the Membership Fees and Dues area.

4.	Make sure that a Bundled Fee Item is assigned to this member. (This is what triggers the Bundled Fee Tracking button to appear.)

5.	Click Bundled Fee Tracking button.

6.	The list of items that are currently assigned to this member will display in the top part of the window (Monthly Newsletter Recognition shown below).

7.	Enter the Quantity Used, the Date Used, and Comments.

8.	Click Track Usage.

9.	The information will appear down in the Bundled Fee Usage section at the bottom of the window.

Note: The Bundled Fee Usage will remain available even if the Bundled Fee item is no longer on the Members’ Account.

Hint: Think of the Bundled Fee Usage section as a spreadsheet; the top section where you click Track Usage is there to help you create an entry into the “spreadsheet” below. At this time, no automatic calculations are being done to give the remaining quantity used. Feel free to delete and add entries in the Bundled Fee Usage section in order to display the needed tracking data.