Membership General

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Greghc48
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Membership General

Post by Greghc48 »

Just a note to see how this is done by others. Has anyone tried to use each of the membership classifications: Member - Inactive, Non-Resident Member, and Resident Member? What criteria did you use to make distinctions - or did you just classify as "Resident Member" for all, then adjust "mailing categories" as needed? and..... Is it easier to just use "Resident Members" for all living members, supplemented by "Friend of Congregation", and "Deceased" to cover all categories?

Thanks in advance....!

Greg

NeilZ
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Re: Membership General

Post by NeilZ »

Greghc48 wrote:Just a note to see how this is done by others. Has anyone tried to use each of the membership classifications: Member - Inactive, Non-Resident Member, and Resident Member? What criteria did you use to make distinctions - or did you just classify as "Resident Member" for all, then adjust "mailing categories" as needed? and..... Is it easier to just use "Resident Members" for all living members, supplemented by "Friend of Congregation", and "Deceased" to cover all categories?

Thanks in advance....!

Greg
Are those defaults? I'm not sure how they're used.

I seem to remember the Personal Profile defaults are usually:
Member
Visitor
Family Member
Friend of Congregation
Inactive Member
Deceased

As far as the family mailing list ...

We use the same profile categories, but then use the user adjustable codes to further select those for mailings.

That said .. in your case, I'm assuming based on the profile categories that:

Resident Member would be anyone who is local to your congregation. Non-Resident Member would be those who have moved out of the area but who have not notified you of joining a new congregation. Member - Inactive are indeed those members who have not attended or contributed for a year or more.

That said the term 'resident member' is somewhat confusing, aren't they just members?
Neil Zampella

Using PC+ since 1999.

Greghc48
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Re: Membership General

Post by Greghc48 »

Neil,

Thanks ----

I'm pretty new to the membership module ---our secretary recently passed away and I'm trying to assist with getting membership records up to date. I didn't realize that the profile codes were adjustable ---- and just found them in the setup area. Will adjust to make them more self -explanatory for the new user coming down the road. Our current categories are as follows:

Child (Child of member or friend)
Deceased - Nuff said.
Friend of Congregation (Assumed to be attendee / supporter, but not a member)
Member - Inactive (Assumed to be member that moved away but not transferred to another membership)
Non-Resident Member (Assumed to be member that moved away - not transferred to another membership - may still support... who knows)
Resident Member (Assumed to be member that regularly attends).

At this point, we don't track visitors in this package - maybe we should.

All that being said ---- I might revise to just combine the inactive / non-resident member into one category - just for clarity.
I think the directory should then consist of resident members and their children - unless we get some pushback on including selected people.

Thoughts on that approach?

Thanks - Greg

NeilZ
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Re: Membership General

Post by NeilZ »

Greghc48 wrote:Neil,

Thanks ----

I'm pretty new to the membership module ---our secretary recently passed away and I'm trying to assist with getting membership records up to date. I didn't realize that the profile codes were adjustable ---- and just found them in the setup area. Will adjust to make them more self -explanatory for the new user coming down the road. Our current categories are as follows:

Child (Child of member or friend)
Deceased - Nuff said.
Friend of Congregation (Assumed to be attendee / supporter, but not a member)
Member - Inactive (Assumed to be member that moved away but not transferred to another membership)
Non-Resident Member (Assumed to be member that moved away - not transferred to another membership - may still support... who knows)
Resident Member (Assumed to be member that regularly attends).

At this point, we don't track visitors in this package - maybe we should.

All that being said ---- I might revise to just combine the inactive / non-resident member into one category - just for clarity.
I think the directory should then consist of resident members and their children - unless we get some pushback on including selected people.

Thoughts on that approach?

Thanks - Greg
Greg,

it does sound like the secretary set it up with categories she would understand, but it is confusing.

My advice:

1. Combine the Resident & Non-Resident categories into one: Member. Then you can further filter by using the custom codes in the Family Mailing List to add in detailed mailing list options such as "email newsletter", or "send no stewardship" materials to those in nursing homes, "PO returned mailing", and so on.

Then you can use the built-in reports against the status of member, to see who is no longer attending/contributing which allows you to move them to inactive member or "Member Rmvd/Trnsfd" after a year or two. I'll speak about that category below.

Many denominations have such a distinction of member and inactive member, as they also levy a support donation on their congregation based on the number of active members.

2. As far as 'child', I'm assuming this is in the Personal Profiles. I would change that to Family Group Member, as you can have others in the family who are not children, but are not members either. I have a few families where the one spouse is a member, and the other is not.

3. Member Rmvd/Trnsfd - kind of self-explanatory, but its for 'Member - Removed or Transferred', usually you have members who move away and start attending a new congregation, or members who (for whatever reason) start attending a new congregation. These folks usually transfer membership (in some denominations), or are removed by the church board for non-attendance/contributions.

However, you HAVE to maintain the Contribution Records for these people for at least 4 years per IRS rules, so you put them in this category until the time is up, and you can delete the records.

4. As far as tracking visitors: My rule is, if they put their name & address on a 'pew pad' or other attendance type of record, or if they drop a check in the plate; their information goes into the system. This provides the membership committee (or similar ministry) a way to pull up new visitors to send them a 'thank you for attending' card or packet. It also allows them (if you track attendance at Worship) to see what visitors may be amenable to a suggestion to join the membership.

Does this help ??
Neil Zampella

Using PC+ since 1999.

Greghc48
Posts: 82
Joined: Wed Aug 12, 2015 11:23 am

Re: Membership General

Post by Greghc48 »

Sure does - thanks !!!!

Just a note--- our secretary started using powerchurch for membership purposes a very long time ago. About 2-3 years ago, we decided to get another computer going for the powerchurch financial / contribution module. We transitioned our old finance / donor records into Powerchurch. So.... unfortunately we have independent records - maintaining the donor records on one computer, with membership on the other. Probably way too complex to combine at this point - but we do try to maintain some lever of consistency in addresses, families to the extent possible.

If we were starting anew, we'd certainly apply powerchurch across the board!

Greg

NeilZ
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Re: Membership General

Post by NeilZ »

Greghc48 wrote:Sure does - thanks !!!!

Just a note--- our secretary started using powerchurch for membership purposes a very long time ago. About 2-3 years ago, we decided to get another computer going for the powerchurch financial / contribution module. We transitioned our old finance / donor records into Powerchurch. So.... unfortunately we have independent records - maintaining the donor records on one computer, with membership on the other. Probably way too complex to combine at this point - but we do try to maintain some lever of consistency in addresses, families to the extent possible.

If we were starting anew, we'd certainly apply powerchurch across the board!

Greg
Greg ...

You should have networked both computers with on serving as the main 'server', and the other a client. The built-in Powechurch permissions system keeps people from areas they are not supposed to have access to.

I'd seriously consider merging the two databases, as there are probably inconsistencies you don't obviously see.
Neil Zampella

Using PC+ since 1999.

Greghc48
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Re: Membership General

Post by Greghc48 »

Neil,

We’ll look at merging as we move along. My gut feeling is that it would be best to use the finance one as the master... then blend in the membership computer version via manual entries. Doubtful that the software tool would allow some sort of merge?

Greg

NeilZ
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Re: Membership General

Post by NeilZ »

Greghc48 wrote:Neil,

We’ll look at merging as we move along. My gut feeling is that it would be best to use the finance one as the master... then blend in the membership computer version via manual entries. Doubtful that the software tool would allow some sort of merge?

Greg
FWIW .. its best to use the data that you're sure is up to date. The problem would be that the membership one would have data like birthdates, baptism dates, etc, and the finance one wouldn't.

That said, Powerchurch could probably do the merge for you at a reasonable cost, I know they have done such merges in the past.
Neil Zampella

Using PC+ since 1999.

Greghc48
Posts: 82
Joined: Wed Aug 12, 2015 11:23 am

Re: Membership General

Post by Greghc48 »

Thanks Neil.

I think I’ll make the merge my next big computer project. There are not that many records … and in working on the updated directory (vs the msword version the secretary used), I did find a detailed PC report that shows all the info for members. Over time, that could be entered manually from membership computer to financial.

Lotsa work, but I agree, worth the effort.

Thx again, you are always very helpful.

Greg

Zorak
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Re: Membership General

Post by Zorak »

This may help, sorry I'm late to the party here!

https://www.powerchurch.com/support/81/ ... -data-sets

Greghc48
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Re: Membership General

Post by Greghc48 »

Thanks! I was able to do it manually, with several passes and verification checks.

Appreciate your response!

Greghc48
Posts: 82
Joined: Wed Aug 12, 2015 11:23 am

Re: Membership General

Post by Greghc48 »

Neil,

I was able to do the data merge manually —with quite a bit of effort, but good results. That being said, I have some basic questions about how data entry and file saving is done in multi-user environment.

We have 2 computers with the treasurer computer now with all updated data for membership, accounting, payroll and contributions. wwe plan to network that (master) computer with the secretary computer with usage as follows:

Treasurer computer master for all modules and permissions.
Secretary computer with permissions to membership only.

When networked, does the secretary “log in” to the treasurer computer powerchurch package for membership changes and report generation, or does she use the powerchurch package on her desktop, then “restore” using the latest powerchurch file from the treasurer, then “back up” to the treasurer computer?

Right now, I’m trying to sift through the operational scenario before we move forward with networking....

Thoughts??

Thx,

Greg


NeilZ wrote:
Greghc48 wrote:Neil,

We’ll look at merging as we move along. My gut feeling is that it would be best to use the finance one as the master... then blend in the membership computer version via manual entries. Doubtful that the software tool would allow some sort of merge?

Greg
FWIW .. its best to use the data that you're sure is up to date. The problem would be that the membership one would have data like birthdates, baptism dates, etc, and the finance one wouldn't.

That said, Powerchurch could probably do the merge for you at a reasonable cost, I know they have done such merges in the past.

Zorak
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Re: Membership General

Post by Zorak »

In the networking instructions linked below, the treasurer's computer is the "server/host computer" (steps 1-3) and the secretary's computer is a "workstation" (steps 4 and higher).

https://www.powerchurch.com/networking

NeilZ
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Re: Membership General

Post by NeilZ »

Greghc48 wrote: When networked, does the secretary “log in” to the treasurer computer powerchurch package for membership changes and report generation, or does she use the powerchurch package on her desktop, then “restore” using the latest powerchurch file from the treasurer, then “back up” to the treasurer computer?
Zorak gave you the basic info about networking computers ... in a nutshell,

You SHARE the Powerchurch directory on the one (server) computer to the network. On the secretary's computer you map that shared directory, to a drive on the local computer. The knowledgebase articled linked to gives all that info, as does the Powerchurch manual.

BEFORE - you do all that, do this:

1. On the secretary's computer - do a POWERCHURCH backup one last time, and save that to a writable CD or Thumb drive.
2. UNINSTALL Powerchurch on that computer.
3. Do the networking as directed in the linked article.

This way you only have ONE database, with both users having access at the same time. Then I would definitely look at doing a weekly or daily automated Powerchurch backup as shown here:

https://www.powerchurch.com/support/438 ... -fall-2014

I would seriously consider an external hard drive or Network Storage for backups.
Neil Zampella

Using PC+ since 1999.

Greghc48
Posts: 82
Joined: Wed Aug 12, 2015 11:23 am

Re: Membership General

Post by Greghc48 »

Ah yes, exactly what I was looking for, and exactly the operation we need. The treasurer computer (mine) is used on sundays for collections, and also during the week for accounting and payroll purposes. The secretary will only be using the membership module initially, but we’re planning to revise the scope of that job to be more of a financial secretary, with access to contributions and accounting / payroll modules.

As far as backups, we actually do 2 each time we make a change to powerchurch. One memory stick stays at the church, and a small hard drive comes home with me each time we revise the program. I have a copy of Powerchurch on my home desktop, so we are covered well for emergencies ...

This is great info, and thanks to you and Zorak for the assistance.

Greg

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