Trial Membership Nomination

Starting with REA2022 we have added a way to let paid members nominate folks for Trial Memberships. This page is documentation for REA Staff on what we need to do to accomplish this procedure.

Step 1: Members Fill out the Nomination Form

The schedule links to the Nomination Form for paid members. When this is submitted staff get an email with details. The entry can also be found in the admin area. As desired by NC, REA Tech or NC may enter the record into the Nominations table on the meeting Airtable base.

Step 2: Confirm Eligibility

The NC must confirm eligibility for the nominee using the Contacts app and whatever criteria is decided on. Once Eligible the record in Airtable can be changed to Status of “Eligible”.

Step 3: Invite the Nominee

If the nominee is eligible and not in the contacts database the NC must email an invitation. This invitation can say whatever is decided, but must include a link of the following form:

https://religiouseducation.net/forms/profile/?purpose=nominee&email=test [at] email [dot] com

where “test [at] email [dot] com” is the nominee’s email address. Once this message is sent the record in Airtable can be changed to Status of “Sent Message”.

This profile link takes the nominee to the full REA Profile page for them to fill out their information. The form is slightly modified to show a special nominee-centric intro and confirmation message. But this allows them to fill out whatever details they wish.

If the nominee is already a contact in the database the email really needs to only ask if they wish to accept the nomination, at which point a positive reply can be used as the basis for the next step.

Step 4: Activate the Membership

When the nominee profile form is submitted REA Tech get an email. We then go into the Contacts app and look up this new contact. On the Membership tab we assign the Membership “Trial Membership” and set the Renewal Date to one year from today. This activates the membership. Someday we may automate this in code, but for now it isn’t too difficult really to do manually. Once activated the record in Airtable can be changed to Status of “Trial Member”. If the NC prefers to take this step on even pre-automation they can let us know and we can direct the nominee profile emails to them.

Step 5: Email the new Trial Member

The NC must send some sort of welcome email to the new trial member. This should note the Reset Password help page to set the user’s password, and probably also link to the meeting site/schedule.