Collecting Membership Dues and Donations
How online payments work for your PTO.
The Membership Manager is where you set up what memberships cost, track who's paid, and verify payments made outside of Stripe/PayPal (cash, check, Venmo, etc.).
Before you start
Connect at least one way to get paid first — Stripe, PayPal, or a manual method — from Payment Settings. Memberships can't be purchased online until a payment option is active.
Adding a membership type
- In the Membership Manager, go to the membership types section.
- Click Add Membership Option.
- Give it a name (for example, "Individual Membership" or "Family Membership") and a price.
- Add an optional description explaining what the membership includes.
- Save.
📷 ADD ADD MEMBERSHIP OPTION FORM IMAGE HERE — The Add Membership Option form — name, price, and description fields.
Setting your renewal date
Choose whether memberships renew on your school year's own calendar, or on a custom date you set — this controls when an active membership automatically expires and needs renewing.
Reviewing your roster and payments
- The Roster tab shows every member, their membership type, and status (active, pending payment, awaiting verification, expired).
- If a family paid you a different way than Stripe/PayPal (cash, check, etc.), the Payments tab lists it as awaiting verification — click Mark Received once you've actually confirmed it, which activates their membership.
📷 ADD MEMBERSHIP ROSTER AND PAYMENTS IMAGE HERE — The Membership Manager's Roster and Payments tabs, showing member status and any payments awaiting your verification.
One distinction worth knowing: membership dues are always reviewed here, in the Membership Manager — a donation, event ticket, or anything else paid manually to your PTO is instead reviewed from Payment Settings' own Payment Overview tab. They're kept separate on purpose so each has its own focused context.
Accepting one-time donations
A one-time donation (not tied to membership) uses your PTO's own public donate page, and is paid through whichever gateway or manual method you've connected — the same account your memberships and event tickets use, with nothing extra to set up.
