Special Section on Membership Enrollment

TO RAPID RENEW (TO ACTIVATE RETURNING MEMBERS)

• Login into the membership site
• Click Rapid Renew
• Leave the search field blank
• Click search – this will bring up all past members from the last two years
• Click on the box next to the returning members name
• Click all names that have made a payment to the PTA
• Click Update renewals at bottom

TO ADD/REMOVE OR UPDATE YOUR ACTIVE BOARD

• Click on Search Active member
• Enter last name
• Click search
• Click on their name
• Click more info
• Click individual
• Click on board position
• Click save

TO UPDATE AN ACTIVE MEMBER RECORD

• Log into the membership site
• Click Search Active Members
• Either add name or leave the search field blank
• Click on name
• Click Edit
• Make changes
• Click submit

TO EMAIL YOUR ACTIVE MEMBERSHIP

• Log into membership site
• Click Membership Reports
• Click "Current Members" under Email Members (bottom blue box on left)
• Leave search field blank, click search
• Search results comes up
• Click Email Members
• Add Subject Line
• Add Message
• Click Send
• This will send to all active members.

MEMBERSHIP ENROLLMENT PROCESS

The membership enrollment website is located by clicking on “membership enrollment” in the top right corner of the WSPTA website. Your PTA president, treasurer and membership chair received a login and password for the membership enrollment website, along with detailed instructions on how to navigate the website and enter your new members and renewals for next year. Membership enrollment instructions are located here.

INSTRUCTIONS TO ACTIVATE RETURNING MEMBERS (USING RAPID RENEW FUNCTION)

• Login into the membership site
•  Click Rapid Renew
• Leave the search field blank – click search – this will bring up all past members from the last two years
• Click on the box next to their name
•  Click Update renewals at bottom

HINT: Do rapid renew of returning members and officers before entering new members. Work in small numbers by renewing 10 to 20 members at a time. This way in case you lose your internet connection before clicking on the renewal button, you will only have to go back and reactivate a few instead of the whole list. Please check to make sure the email addresses are current.

ENROLLING NEW MEMBERS (NOT MEMBERS LAST YEAR)

1. From the main screen click on Sign Up New Members. The following instructions are for enrolling
2. NEW PTA members.
3. Leave the Preferred boxes (mailing or billing) blank. They are not used.
4. After entering a member’s information, click the Submit button at the bottom of the screen.
5. The “Confirm Information” screen appears next. If the information is correct, click Submit. If not, click Edit to go back and revise.
6. This screen also allows you to add additional information by clicking on More Info. Both of these sections have optional fields.

• Individual: This page provides a list of Officer/Chair Info (e.g., president, secretary, treasurer, LU chair, etc.). Click in the box to the right of the applicable officer/chair held by the member and then click Update.
• Misc_Info: This is where you can enter Child/Teacher/Misc-Info. After you enter the pertinent information, click on Update to submit.

Also on this screen you should see two links that say Sign Up Another Member, Review Today’s Sign-Ups.

• To continue entering members click the Sign Up Another Member link.
• To view your entries click Review Today’s Sign-Ups.

USING THE CLONE FUNCTION

The Clone Member feature is a useful tool when enrolling several members from the same household. Note: state and National PTA fees are due for each member.

To sign up a new member with the same contact information as this member, go to Sign Up New Members and click on Clone Member, then type in the information you need for the new member.

NOTE: If you find you have inadvertently entered a member twice, please email the ID numbers to support@wastatepta.org to have the duplicate removed. For security purposes, the enrollment program does not allow for deletions except by a staff member.

INSTRUCTIONS TO ACTIVATE YOUR BOARD

First, to Rapid Renew (returning members):

• Login into the membership site
• Click Rapid Renew
• Leave the search field blank – click search – this will bring up all past members from the last two years
•  Click on the box next to their name
• Click Update renewals at bottom

Then you can add or update your board by:

• Click on Search Active member
• Enter last name
• Click search
• Click on their name
• Click more info
• Click individual
• Click on board position
• Click save

HOW TO SEARCH AND EMAIL ACTIVE MEMBERS

The easiest way to begin is with the Search feature. This allows you to review which members are currently listed as active in your database and helps eliminate accidentally entering duplicates. This is also where you would begin when you need to select a member whose address, phone, board position, etc. needs updating/editing.

This feature allows you to perform a search for one particular member, or a complete list of all your members, or members whose last name contains characters you enter.

Search of all active members:

Click on Search/Email Active Members from main menu.

1. To view a list of all members, leave all the fields blank and click on Search.
2.  The results on your screen should show a list of all your active PTA members (alphabetically), 100 at a time.
3. You can:

• Review the active names for the purpose of knowing which members you do not need to reactivate;
• Click on an individual’s name to display the members’ address, contact information, board position, etc.; or
• Create and send an email to all members (provided you entered an email address for them) by clicking on Email Members at the top and middle of the screen.

NOTE: To enter your LU email address, click on the ID number located under the Your Profile menu. You can also update your LU’s address and pertinent contact information.

Search for one PTA member only:

1. To review information on one PTA member, either enter their Member ID number (You can find the member ID number by pulling up the membership roster from Figure 4), or type in the member’s last name and click on search. You can also type in the first several letters of a last name to see all members with last names starting with those letters. This is a way to more easily find someone if you aren’t sure how the name is spelled.
2. The returned results on your screen should show the name of the person you were searching for. To review their contact information, click on the name.

UPDATING OR CHANGING MEMBER INFORMATION

You can make email address, phone, etc. changes to a member’s information at any time. However, if you discover duplicate entries, email the ID numbers to support@wastatepta.org to have the duplicates removed.

• To update or change a member’s information, first retrieve the active member list by clicking on Search/Email Active Members on the top menu bar.
• At the search screen, type in either the member’s ID number or their last name followed by a comma and then their first name. (You can also search by typing the first few characters of the last name). Click on the Search button to continue.
• If the search displays the correct member, click on the member’s name. Be sure to select the right member.
• When the screen comes up with the member’s information, click on either:
•  a) Edit to change the member’s personal information (i.e., phone number, address, or email) or,
• b) More Info branches into two optional fields:
• o   Individual: This page provides a list of Officer/Chair Info (e.g., president, secretary, treasurer, LU chair, etc.). Click in the box to the right of the applicable officer/chair held by the member and then click Update.
• o   Misc_Info: This is where you can enter Child/Teacher/Misc-Info. After you enter the pertinent information, click Update.

After completing all edits, click on Submit to update the record.

REPORTS AVAILABLE THROUGH THE ONLINE ENROLLMENT PROGRAM

There are several reports available on the online enrollment program. When looking at the membership screen look to the lower left hand side; you’ll see a Membership Reports menu. Note: Sometimes information will stop streaming to the screen in the middle of a report. If you notice this click refresh until the complete report is displayed. Following is a list of the reports and their descriptions.

• Statement of Fees Due: Lists the enrolled members for whom WSPTA has not yet recorded receipt of state and national dues. (These are members for whom you still owe payment to the state office according to the database; but the payment might be in the mail so to speak. If you think some or all of these have been paid you can check with the state office to see if the payment is in the queue waiting to be entered.) See more about this below under membership remittance instructions.
• Legal Information: Displays legal facts that the WSPTA has on file for your PTA, including: IRS, Secretary of State, Membership history, etc…
• Membership Roster: An alphabetical roster of all PTA members in your unit. You should see the total number of members enrolled this year and last year at the bottom of the report. NOTE: If you find you have entered a member twice, please email the ID numbers to support@wastatepta.org to have the duplicate(s) removed. For security purposes, the enrollment program does not allow for deletions except by a staff member.
•  Board Roster: Provides a roster of the LU officers and chairs that were enrolled. If information is incorrect, email support@wastatepta.org or call the WSPTA office to make corrections.
•  Paid Memberships Is a list of members for whom state office has recorded receipt of state and national dues for the current year. You should see the total amount paid, total count paid, and number of members enrolled last year at the bottom of the report.
•  Exports – Current or Expired Members: This is useful in designing documents using mail merge. You can also create sign-in sheets for meetings, and envelopes using this information. Click on the export of your choice, then click LU_Export.csv and select Open then Save As. It is best to save the file to your desktop or to a convenient and easily accessible location. You can then open the file using a spreadsheet program like Excel.

NOTE: It is important that you keep the officer information, including email address, accurate and up-to-date as this information directly effects who receives WSPTA mailings for your PTA.

USING EXCEL SPREAD SHEETS AND OTHER SUGGESTIONS FOR MANAGING YOUR MEMBERSHIP LISTS

• Once you have downloaded the Excel spreadsheet of all your active members, here are a few ways you can use this spreadsheet.
• Sort by teacher: This will help if your PTA is promoting a classroom membership contest as part of your membership campaign. Track the teachers who join to qualify for 100% Teacher Membership Award
• Sort by grade level: Track PTA parents by grade level (e.g., room parents, yearbook, etc.)
• Alphabetical: Verify members when conducting meetings that require voting; Verify members when hosting events/activities that provide reduced fees for members.
• Maintain current copy in secretary, treasurer and membership chair notebooks.
• Sort by student
• Sort by committee: Track committees and members
• Track volunteers by interest (e.g., phone bank, baking, sewing, assist in school office, sporting events, concession stand, school store, library, etc).

PTA MEMBERSHIP CARDS

Once your members have been entered into the membership database, those members will receive a welcome email to indicate that they are now PTA members. The welcome letter will include their unit name and number, information about affinity programs and the link to activate their membership to take advantage of those programs, and a blank membership card they can print at home (and cut out and fill in) if they would like to carry a card with them in their wallets. Of course, in order for members to get the welcome letter, their email address must be accurately entered in the database. This welcome letter for any member whose email address is not in our membership database will be sent to the “primary email address” for the unit (usually the membership chair or president or a master email for the unit). Be sure to keep your email information up to date and accurate in the database, and to tell the state office your PTA’s preference for the “primary email address”. 

MEMBER REGISTRATION INFORMATION, HINTS, AND TIPS

• Remember you can save entry time by using rapid renew to register those who were members in the past few years. We suggest you do rapid renew first to reduce the number of members you have to enter as new. Only members who have not yet been activated will show on the rapid renew list. Active members (those already registered) will show on the roster and when you search for members.
• This year officers should be treated like all other members in that you need to register them once they have paid their dues. The easiest way is to use rapid renew.
•  Email is an important way to communicate with members. Please take time to enter email addresses accurately. Only one email address should be entered for each member. Email addresses should have no spaces, only one @, no repeating periods (..), it should be just like you would enter it when sending an email to that person.
• Is this a duplicate? When looking at the rapid renew list you might see the same name, address, etc. listed more than once, and think this is a duplicate. It is possible that the same person was entered more than once in prior years. Only activate a member once - you don't want to pay for the same person twice.
• You can look under Membership Reports on the member enrollment web site for some new reports, including a list of enrolled members state shows as not yet paid (payment not yet entered, it takes some time to keep up).

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS:

Membership Duplicates

QUESTION:
We are told to email the WSPTA office to remove any membership duplicates. What are membership duplicates?

ANSWER:
A membership duplicate is a member who was inadvertently entered twice, so his/her name is listed twice on your online membership roster (see reports above). If you find you have entered a member twice, please email the ID numbers to support@wastatepta.org to have the duplicate(s) removed. For security purposes, the enrollment program does not allow for deletions except by a staff member.

Sending in Remittance Forms Electronically

QUESTION:
Our membership service fee remittance form is several pages long, is there a way to send this to the WSPTA office electronically to eliminate the added expense of postage?


ANSWER:
Yes. Please write the weekly LU Remittance date on the memo line of your PTA check and mail the check to the WSPTA office using the regular mail. Forward the Local Unit Remittance form to dhines@wastatepta.org with a cc to mmason@wastatepta.org, stating at the top of the email the dollar amount of the check mailed and the check number.

Clarifying the Due Date for the Remittance of State and National Service Fees

QUESTION:   

Would you please clarify what the due dates for state and national membership fees are? The email sent to local units about the membership remittance fees, states that the local unit will be billed weekly, if they input any new member during the week (there is no due date on this e-mailed remittance form).  Money Matters shows the remittance dates as Oct, Jan, & May 25th.  

ANSWER:

The service fee remittance due dates are still the same as before (October 25, January 25, and May 25). These are the only times your PTA is required to pay state and national service fees for members, although your unit may choose to submit service fees more often if you’d like. The reason for the monthly email remittance forms is that it gives timely information about member registrations in smaller groupings that should be easier to reconcile, and provides units options of when to pay, as follows:  

•  Some units find it useful to pay membership dues each month. They appreciate that the weekly remittance form provides a concise list of members they have just recently entered making it easier to reconcile while it is fresh in their mind, and is documentation of the payment amount.

• Some units prefer to pay the dues once a month when they get together with the co-signer to pay bills. 

• Some units will choose to wait to pay dues until shortly before October 25th. They may use the weekly remittance form for reconciliation as mentioned above, or they may use the new statement described below.

The member web site now includes a new report called “Statement of Fees Due” which lists enrolled members for whom payment has not yet been received and recorded in the WSPTA membership database. Local units may use this report instead of the remittance forms as documentation supporting dues payment, and use the remittance form for weekly reconciliation of entry, or not at all.

Membership Cards

QUESTION:

When do we receive the membership cards?

ANSWER:

We do not have “paper” membership cards this year.  Each member enrolled will receive a welcome email that will include their membership card which they can choose to print & fill out themselves. If a member does not have an email then that membership card will be sent to the unit primary email address to print and distribute to the member.

Welcome Emails

QUESTION:

Why do I keep getting welcome emails for other people?

ANSWER:

If a member has no email on file then the welcome letter goes to the President of the PTA (or primary email address listed on file) for distribution to the member.