Membership Year-End Processing

With the initiation of the SCGA Online Admin Portal and 12-month membership, the year-end membership renewal procedure has changed. These products and services were designed to make the renewal process easier for the individual responsible for that task.

Q: What is different about the renewal process?

The system no longer assumes that members are continuing their membership; so instead of inactivating golfers who are not continuing, in general, a club needs to take action to confirm that golfers are continuing, similar to most subscription/membership models; and
Clubs NEED to use the Golf Nations to address continuation of membership, NOT USGA Admin Portal! In the Roster Tab, each member has a rollover status. In general, this setting is defaulted to off (see below) for all members of a club. IF set to OFF, this means that on the golfer’s Subscription End Date (immediately listed to the left of the Rollover setting) the golfer will AUTOMATICALLY become inactive if no action is taken. This protects clubs from inadvertently being billed for members who are not continuing in the club. If the club wants to manually override the default setting for a member and have that member continue and to appear on the next bill statement and be financially responsible for that member, the club admin clicks the circle or the word off and the Rollover status changes to ON, highlighted in Green.

DEFAULT ROLLOVER OFF – GOLFERS AUTOMATICALLY INACTIVATE ONE DAY AFTER SUBSCRIPTION END DATE

BELOW – The Last person HAS BEEN CHANGED TO ROLLOVER ON, which means that membership will continue past the existing Subscription End Date and the club will be billed for the golfer.

Breakdown of the above screen:

When any member enters their renewal window (60 days before subscription end date), a green flag appears in the payment status column for the relevant member – this means the member is in their renewal window;

The first two members no longer have a flag next to their payment status and their subscription dates have been advanced one year because either: a) the member paid through the ecommerce portal, or b) the club paid for the member;

The third member is scheduled for auto-renewal and that individual’s credit card is scheduled to be charged on December 22nd. If that transaction goes through, no action is needed by the club for the member to continue as a member, as the member’s subscription end date will be advanced one year and the flag will disappear (If the auto-renewal attempt fails, both the club and the golfer are notified and the individual is no longer set for auto-renewal);

Note: if a club wants the default to be that members are continuing (Rollover defaults to ON) AND is willing to be financially responsible for members who do not renew, please contact the SCGA and we can modify the settings. If a club takes this option, no credits are available once the golfer is listed on a bill statement.

Q: So, a club official doesn’t have to inactivate its members before December 31 at noon any longer?

No, the system will automatically inactivate the members set to ROLLOVER OFF one day after their subscription end date.

Q: Will members be notified by the SCGA regarding their upcoming renewal?

Members with an email address in the SCGA database will receive an email notification starting 60 days prior to their membership end date reminding them to renew their membership. For the vast majority of existing members, this means November 1. If for some reason a club does not want its members notified regarding renewal, please have a club official notify the SCGA in writing, at membership@scga.org. (Note: a club can also go into Golf Nations, Settings and check or uncheck the “Send automated notices to our members during renewal window” box. The 60-day timeframe opens the individual’s personal renewal window.

Q: How frequently are members notified about membership renewal?

As noted above, those with email addresses on record with the SCGA will receive their first email notification 60 days prior to their membership end date. Subsequent emails are scheduled for 30 and 7 days in advance of the subscription end date, and if the membership lapses, one and 30 days after the membership lapses.

Q: How does a member pay for membership?

Members can pay their club, according to a club’s policies, OR, to enable members to pay online, immediately renewing membership for another 12 months, and eliminating the need for a club official to take some type of action for a member to be considered a continuing member, THE SCGA STRONGLY SUGGESTS offering the Online eCommerce Portal. If a club uses this tool, when the golfer is notified about renewal a direct link to the Club’s eCommerce Portal will be included. If the member pays via the eCommerce Portal the system will confirm the financial activity, renew the membership and credit the club for any club dues collected. This system will notify club official(s) regarding the payment made as well via email. To learn more about the Commerce Portal please go to www.scga.org/access.

For all clubs, members can pay the clubs directly by cash or check (unless it is a club policy to require online payment only). For the golfers who pay in this manner, the club will then use Golf Nations Roster and turn the Rollover status to ON. The golfer will then appear on the bill statement connected to one day after the subscription end date (Example, if subscription end date is 12/31, the system will read the rollover setting the day after that date and either continue (Rollover ON) or inactivate (Rollover OFF) the membership on 1/1.. if on 1/1 the system reads the rollover ON, then this person is placed on the 1/31 bill statement) and the club can pay for that golfer (by credit card through Golf Nations or by sending a check to the SCGA)

Q: If a member’s subscription (membership) end date is December 31 and that individual receives a renewal notice on November 1 and renews and pays online or the club pays for that member on November 3rd, does that change that member’s membership/subscription end date to November 3rd, 2018, based on the new 12-month membership?

No, the subscription (membership) date remains the same (December 31) no matter when the member renews and pays for membership within that 60-day timeframe (renewal window). The efficient early bird is not punished.

Q: What happens if a member forgets and doesn’t renew in the 60 days prior to that individual’s subscription (membership) end date of December 31 and is then reinstated/renews on a date after the subscription end date, like January 21?

If the member does not renew before their end date (and rollover is set to OFF), the member will automatically be inactivated by the system. When the member is reinstated/renews again on January 21, that individual will have a new/different subscription (membership) end date of January 21. Many clubs tack on fees for members who do not renew in a timely manner as an incentive to keep as many members as possible on a January 1 - December 31 cycle. If your club uses the ecommerce portal and the member pays online the SCGA can set up this price differentiation for members who renew/are reinstated “late.”

Q: If a member pays online, how is does a club become aware of this?

The Commerce Administrator for the club (plus any other officials that the club would like to be notified) receives an email notification when any member pays online; subscription end dates will automatically be pushed forward a year from the existing subscription end date. Additionally, Golf Nations admins can access any online payment in the Transactions section; and as another option, looking at the Unbilled Activity in the Account Balance section will show any online transactions for the current month. Also, each bill statement shows each member’s online payment activity for the most recent month.

Q: How can a club official keep track of its members’ subscription (membership) end date if they are all at different times during the year?

In Golf Nations, administrators will be able to see their roster which will have the subscription end date for every member. Each member in their renewal window will have a green flag next to their payment status until payment is made and their subscription end dates will then advance 12 months. They will be able to sort the roster by end date to see who is scheduled to come up for renewal. Remember, the system will automatically notify the members 60 days, 30 days and seven days in advance of the end date that it is time to renew and if they don’t renew online or in person, they become inactive automatically.

Q: It seems that many entities send out communications about SCGA membership, which can sometimes cause confusion. How does a member know that a message is from the SCGA and ties to the club in which the person is currently an SCGA member?

There are three things that can be used to recognize that membership messaging is coming from the SCGA:

The email is from: SCGA Member Services info@membership.scga.org
The email references the club in which the member is currently an SCGA member
The header (some emails require you to click a picture to download images/pictures) will display the following at the top:

And this at the bottom:

Q: How does our club control whether our members receive membership renewal emails from the SCGA and to whom they are sent?

In Golf Nations, under settings, there is a checkbox “Send automated notices to our members during renewal window.” If checked, members will receive email notifications starting 60 days in advance of their subscription end date. If a member renews online, or a club marks a golfer as “Rollover ON”, this will stop renewal emails tied for a member tied to a particular club coming from the SCGA.

Q: If there is reference to a club contact in the SCGA generated membership renewal emails, how does a club determine who is identified by the SCGA as that contact point?

In Golf Nations, under settings, there is a club contact name and email field (as well as phone number). The club contact name and email address used for SCGA renewal communications are based on the information displayed here.

Renewal Processes

Membership Year-End Processing