In Part 1 of our Getting Started guide, we walked you through signup for an account and connecting a gateway for online payments. Now it’s time to import your members, create your application forms, and set up your website!

Configuring Your Memberships

Member-related settings in WildApricot can be accessed from the admin dashboard under the “Members” menu in the sidebar.

Setting up Membership Levels & Renewal Policy

Let’s begin by setting up your membership levels or subscription tiers. From the admin dashboard, hover your mouse over “Members” in the sidebar and click on “Levels” in the dropdown menu. You can also click on “Members” in the sidebar and then on “Levels” in the menu at the top of the screen.

On this new screen, you’ll see a list of your existing membership levels – new accounts will show three sample accounts. Click on the “Add level” button at the top of the screen to add a new level, or on one of the existing levels to modify it. You’ll then see three tabs:

The General Tab

The General tab is where you’ll add the basic information about the level. Here the available options:

• Name: Enter the name for this membership tier
• Type: Is this an individual membership (one person per membership fee), or a bundle membership (multiple people per membership fee).
  • If you select Bundle, you’ll then be asked of the member limit per bundle.
• Membership fee: Enter in the fee (if any) that the applicant will be charged for membership. If this is a recurring fee, we’ll configure the schedule on the next tab.
• Taxes: Indicate whether to tack on taxes (tax configuration is done under account settings)
• Payment method: Indicate if membership payments are online only, offline only, or if applicants can select either option.
• Description: A short description or instructions for this level. This field is optional.
• Level security options: You have two options here:
  • Public can apply: Check this box to apply this option to be available on the application form. More on this later.
  • Member can change to: To allow members to switch membership levels themselves, check this box and select the levels they can switch to.

The Renewal Policy Tab

The Renewal Policy tab is where all things renewal related are located. Here the available options:

• Renewal period: Here you can indicate if members need to renew. All other options are disabled if set to “Never”. The available renewal periods are:
  • Monthly on either join date or on the 1st or 15h of the month
  • Quarterly on either the join date or the 1st or 15th of the selected months
  • Twice a year on either the join date or the 1st or 15th of the selected month
  • Every 1 to 6 years on either the 1st or 15 of the selected month
• Automatic recurring payments: Select if members should be automatically renewed and charged at the end of the renewal period. If disabled, members will need to  manually renew.
• Limit renewals: Here you can disable the ability for members to renew themselves or prevent members from manually renewing for more than one renewal period.
• Renewal reminders and actions: In this section you can enable up to 3 renewal reminders to go out before and on the renewal date, and up to two grace period emails to go out after the renewal date to those who have not renewed. You also have the option here to specify what the system should do if the member does not renew within the allotted grace period.
• Renewal notification: Here you would indicate who gets the renewal notices – it can be any combination of the member/bundle member, the bundle coordinator, and/or the WildApricot administrators.

The New Applications Tab

Under the New Applications tab is where you’ll configure settings related to prorating, application approval and activation, and member/administrator notification. Here the available options:

• Prorate application fee
  • Automatically prorate fee/selected costs: Prorate fees the specified number of days or months before a fixed renewal date
  • Charge full regular fee AND extend renewal by one additional period: Charge full fee and extend starting the specified number of days or months before a fixed renewal date
• Membership application review or Bundle coordinator application workflow settings:
  • Membership applications must be approved by administrator: Indicate whether an application must be approved by an administrator before becoming active
  • Payment has to be received in full before membership is activated: Indicate whether to wait until applicant pays the membership fee before setting them as active or to set them as active regardless of payment status.
• Application initiation email: Set whether initiation email should go out to applicant and/or an administrator.
• Member activation email or Bundle coordinator activation email: Set whether membership activation email should go out to member / bundle coordinator and/or an administrator.
• Bundle member activation email: For bundle memberships, specifies who should get an email notification when a new member is added to a bundle’s membership.

Customizing Database Fields & Member Application

The next step is to set up the fields for the information you wish to collect from members, and then select which of those fields should appear on the application form. You can either set up your membership fields before you import existing members and contacts, or you can import the members first, and create any missing fields during that process.

Importing Your Members & Contacts

To import your members, you’ll need the members stored in either a .xls, .xlsx, .csv, or .xml spreadsheet file. If you are updating  existing records in your WildApricot database, WildApricot will use the WildApricot User ID or contact email address to match and update records. For new records, omit the WildApricot User ID, and it will be automatically generated. For all contacts, you should have columns for Email, First name, and Last name (or organization name in place of name). For member records, you must have a column that holds the exact name of the membership level, and ideally columns for Membership enabled (set to Yes), Member since, Renewal due, and Membership status (Active/Lapsed). For more information on the fields and field types you can import, see: Importing Contacts and Members.

To upload your spreadsheet,

1. From the admin dashboard, hover your mouse over “Contacts” in the sidebar and click on “Import” in the dropdown menu. You can also click on “Members” in the sidebar and then on “Import” in the menu at the top of the screen.
2. Click the Choose file or Browse button (depending on your browser).
3. Click on the Upload button and WildApricot will analyze your file.
4. On the next screen, you will be asked whether or not your file contains a header row. If your uploaded file is a CSV, you will also be asked what kind of CSV it is and the date format being used. The selected options will likely be correct, but double check if you are unsure or convert your file to a different file format and re-upload.
5. On the next screen is where you’ll map your columns to existing fields in your WildApricot database or create new fields if needed. On this screen, each column from your import file is shown, along with the values for the first three records. If your import file has a header row, the column headings will be used to identify each column. If not, default column names will be displayed.
   
6. To import a column into your WildApricot database, ensure the Import checkbox is checked. If the Import checkbox is unchecked, the column name will be crossed out, and the column values will not be imported.
7. Under Map To, select the existing field you wish to map the column to, or select NEW field – for all contacts to add the field as a common field, or NEW field – only for members to add the field as a membership field.
8. Once all the fields you want to import are configured, click Next.
9. On the screen, you will see how many records will be processed and will have the option to add a note about the import – it’s a good idea to add a descriptive note such as “Initial Import”.
10. Click on Start Import to begin processing the files. You can stay on this page until it completes or navigate elsewhere. Upon completion, you will see the import details, including the number of new records imported, the number of existing records updated, and any errors that occurred.

Modifying Database Fields

The fields in WildApricot are split between two sections: Contact Fields, found under Contacts > Contact Fields and Membership Fields, found under Members > Membership Fields. Contact fields are used to store information about all contacts in your database, whether they are members or non-members. This section manages the general contact information that applies to everyone in your system. Membership fields on the other hand are specifically for storing information about your members. Use these fields to capture member-specific information that is relevant only to your members and not to the general contact list.

Adding a New Field

1. To add a new field, click on the “Add new field” button.
2. You can then set the field type and adjust its settings.

Modifying an Existing Field

1. To modify a field, click on its name in the list.
2. Once selected, you can change various settings for the field, but you cannot change its type.
   

Deleting a Field

1. To delete a field, click on it in the list, then click the “delete” link on the right.
2. Note: You cannot delete system fields like Member ID, First name, Last name, Organization, Email, and Phone.
3. However, you can hide certain system fields (except Member ID and Email) by selecting “For administrator access only” in Options.
4. After deleting a field, click “Save all changes” to confirm the deletion.
5. Warning: Deleting a field will remove all data stored in that field for all contacts.
   
   

Reordering Fields

1. To change the order of fields, you can either drag and drop them within the list or use the green up and down arrows next to the field name.
2. These options appear when you hover your mouse over the field name.
   
   

Field Types in WildApricot

When creating a new field in WildApricot, you need to choose a field type. Note that once a field type is set, it cannot be changed. If you need to modify it, you’ll have to delete the field and create a new one.

Field Type	Description
Text	For short entries (up to 200 characters).
Multiline Text	For longer entries (up to 3,000 characters).
Multiple Choice	A set of checkboxes (up to 100 characters per item).
Radio Buttons	A set of mutually exclusive options (up to 100 characters per item).
Multiple Choice with Extra Charge (Membership Fields Only)	Optional extras displayed as checkboxes with an additional cost.
Radio Buttons with Extra Charge (Membership Fields Only)	Mutually exclusive options at an additional cost.
Number	Accepts numeric data and allows database filtering by numeric values like age or membership years.
Numeric Extra Charge (Membership Fields Only)	Allows users to add a monetary amount to a membership or event registration. Recognizes two decimal places and is exportable as numeric data.
Extra Charge Calculation (Membership Fields Only)	Lets you charge extra fees based on values entered by users, such as revenue or staff numbers.
Dropdown	A list of mutually exclusive choices.
File Attachment	Allows users or admins to upload files. Supported types: TXT, PDF, DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX, PPT, PPTX, ZIP, CSV, JPG, JPEG, GIF, PNG, TIF, TIFF.
Picture	For displaying photos, logos, or avatars. Supported types: JPG, GIF, PNG, TIF. Images resized to a maximum of 110 x 110 pixels.
Rules and Terms	A checkbox with a link to terms of use, bylaws, or other conditions.
Date	Displays a calendar for selecting dates.
Section Divider	Used to group and separate fields, appearing as a heading if fields are below it.

Remember, you cannot change the type of a field once you save it. Plan carefully when setting up new fields to avoid having to recreate them.

Customizing Automated Emails

WildApricot has three categories of automated emails:

• Membership Workflow Emails
  These emails are related to membership activities such as new member welcomes, membership renewals, and membership expirations.
• Event Workflow Emails
  These emails are related to events such as event registrations, announcements, and reminders.
• Financial Workflow Emails
  These emails related to financial transactions such as payment confirmations, invoices, and receipts.

We are going to focus on the first type for now. The default membership templates can be found under Members > Member Emails. You can also set up emails for specific membership levels when creating or modifying a membership level – if a level has a custom email template set up, that will be used in place of the default one.

Click on the email you wish to modify email, then you will be able to edit personalize email body and subject with text, images, and links. Additionally, you can use macros to insert dynamic content such as member names, membership levels, event details, and other dynamic information.

Membership Application Emails

Application Initiation	Sent when a member application is submitted and requires payment or administrator approval.
Member Activation	Sent for membership activation.
Bundle Coordinator Activation	Sent to admins when a new bundle is created.
Bundle Member Activation	Sent to confirm bundle membership activation.

Renewal Emails

Renewal Reminders

Reminder 1	Sent before the renewal date according to level settings.
Reminder 2	Sent before the renewal date according to level settings.
Renewal Day Notice	Sent on the renewal date.
Grace Period Email Notice	Sent to members who have not renewed on time.
Lapsed Email Notice	Sent to members who have not renewed on time.

Renewal Notifications

Renewal Pending	Sent after renewal is initiated and payment is required.
Renewal Confirmed	Sent after renewal is paid or confirmed manually by an administrator.
Recurring Renewal Failed	Sent when an online recurring payment for renewal fails.
Credit Card Expiry Notification	Sent two weeks before and on the date of credit card expiry (applies to Wild Apricot Payments, Authorize.Net, Moneris, Payflow Pro, and Stripe).

Building Your Website

WildApricot includes a fully featured, no-code drag-and-drop website builder. Through its visual interface you can create pages and manage content, upload media files and documents, and restrict access based on membership levels.

Changing Website Theme

WildApricot comes with 12 pre-built themes, each with several variations to select from (for a total of 74 theme options). When opening a new WildApricot, a theme is automatically selected for you based on the organization type you chose on the signup form. You can switch to a different theme by going to the “Website” section of the dashboard (from the sidebar) and then clicking on “Theme” in the top navigation bar. After selecting a new theme and clicking “Apply selected theme” you will be able to preview how the theme looks before committing to the change.

Customizing Page Template

Page templates are reusable designs that you would apply to your pages. You would use them to build the structure of your pages and is where you would place common elements like the header, menu, and footer. This would not be where you build your complete page – you would add page-specific content to the placeholders when adding or modifying a page. You can have as many page templates as needed – for example, you may have one for the home page, one for internal pages, and one for member-only pages. To add or modify a page template, navigate the “Website” section of the dashboard (from the sidebar) and then clicking on “Page Templates”.

• To modify an existing template: Click on the template name in the sidebar (the template with star is the default template for new pages), and then click the “Edit” button.
  
  
• To create a new template: Click the “Add template” button at the top of the screen.
• To duplicate a template: Click the template name in the sidebar and then on the down arrow next to the “Add template” button, next click “Duplicate template” from the flyout menu.

When creating or modifying a template, you will be presented with these settings in the sidebar:

• Template name: This the name for the current template – be sure to give it a descriptive name to indicate where the template will be used.
• Master layout: Some website themes have a few different layouts to select from, for example ones that include a mobile-only panel or a collapsible sidebar area.

You would modify the template in the same manner as you would edit a page, by dragging gadgets and layouts from the sidebar (from under the “Gadgets” and “Layouts” tabs) and dropping them where you would like to have them placed. More information on gadgets can be found below.

Adding and Modifying Web Pages

Inside the Website section of the dashboard, navigate to the “Site Pages” tab to browse your existing site pages, modify them, and add new ones.

• To edit a page: Navigate to the page you wish to edit from the link on the webpage or from the list of pages in the sidebar, then click on the “Edit” button at the top of the screen.
• To add a new page: Click on the “Add Page” button at the top of the screen
• To duplicate a page: Navigate to the page you wish to duplicate, then click on the down arrow next to the “Add Page” button, next click “Duplicate page” from the flyout menu.

When creating or modifying a page, you will be presented with these settings in the sidebar:

• Page Name: Enter the name of the web page, to be shown in the menu.
• Page URL: This is the path to the webpage, the part that comes after the .com, .ca, .org, etc.  The path cannot contain spaces. A good choice is to set it to the page name, which WildApricot will automatically do for you on new pages.
• Page Template: Select the page template you wish to apply to this page (see the Customizing Page Template section above).
• Position in Menu: This is where you would like the page to appear in the navigation – you can set it as the new home page, select a page for it to be placed after or as a child page of, or set it to not appear in the menu (accessible only by a link or direct URL).
• Access Level: This is where you can restrict pages if needed.
  • Set to Public to publish it for everyone to access.
  • Set it to Admin Only if you are still drafting it or if the page contains content only administrators should see.
  • Set it to Restricted to limit access to logged in members of specific membership levels or specific membership groups.

About Page Gadgets & Layouts

Gadgets and Layouts make up the building blocks of a WildApricot website. You would use layouts to structure your page and then add gadgets to those layouts to insert content. You would access these from the Gadgets and Layouts tabs when editing a web page or page template.

With layouts, you have the option of adding a layout with one to four columns by dragging the corresponding gadget to the page. Once on the page, you can drag the column borders to adjust the size. With a layout selected, you can set the column spacing, margins, and padding in the sidebar.

There are many gadgets to choose from, though some may not be available when editing a page template. You would drag and drop the gadget you need onto the page, and then either interact with it directly or adjust its settings in the sidebar.

The main gadgets you’ll be using are:

• Content: This is the gadget you’ll use to enter in your page copy. It’ll allow you to add and format text, insert images, website links, and file download links.
• Membership Application: This gadget generates a membership application form, you’ll use it on your sign up page. In the settings you can select which membership levels appear in that particular form.
• Member Directory: This generates a searchable directory of your members, based on the membership levels you have selected in the sidebar settings, and based on each member’s individual privacy settings. 
• Event Calendar: This gadget displays your events, either in a calendar format or in a list.
• Horizontal Menu / Vertical Menu: This adds an automatically generated horizontal or vertical menu bar. This should be added to your page template rather than directly to each page.
• Login form / Login button: This inserts a login button or form to your site. Once logged in, this is also where the link to the member’s profile is as well as the log out link. You may also want to add this to your page template.

Making Your Site Multilingual

Your organization may need to offer your website in two or more languages. WildApricot does not contain the ability to offer your website in multiple languages out of the box, however the EZ WildApricot Web Designer from NewPath Consulting coupled with our translation services can ensure your website is fully accessible in as many languages as you need for your members and website visitors.

Professional Design Services

WildApricot makes it easy to build a great looking website without having to write or look at code, but you may want a website that stands out a bit more than what the drag-and-drop features offer. This is where WildApricot partners like NewPath Consulting come in. Our WildApricot experts can transform your website beyond the capabilities of the WildApricot site editor as well as help to integrate 3rd-party services and platforms such as WordPress or Quickbooks. Click here to learn more!

Getting Support

All WildApricot plans come with free email and chat support for built-in features. To access support, navigate to the Help & Support panel by clicking the floating question mark button at the bottom right of the admin backend. Within this panel, you can:

• Search for assistance by topic or keyword.
• Explore suggested help articles.
• Send an email support request.
• Chat with WildApricot Support.

For more personalized or advanced support, training sessions, or one-on-one consultations, NewPath Consulting offers 1-hour Hero Calls. During these sessions, you can share your screen to demonstrate your issue, and one of our WildApricot Heroes will guide you to a resolution, ensuring your satisfaction. Click here to learn more or to schedule a call with a Hero.