Create and manage a household

This guide shows you how to link member records together in a household so you can manage family memberships, shared billing, and household-wide communications in one place.

Who can do this: Admins with the household-edit permission. The Create household button is absent if your role doesn’t include this permission.

Before you start

• Each member you want to add to the household must already have a record in MapleGather. See Create a member record manually if you need to add someone first.
• Every household member needs a relationship type (such as Parent, Child, or Adult). You can’t save until all members have one selected.

Steps

Create a household

1. Open one of the member’s detail pages. See View a member record in detail.
2. Select the Household tab.
3. Select Create household.
4. Enter a Household name (for example, “The Rivera Family”).
5. The current member is already added. To add more members, search for them by name or email in the add-member field.
6. For each member, select their Relationship type from the dropdown. The relationship type is required for every member before you can save. Baseline options include Parent, Child, and Adult. Your org may have additional types.
7. Select Create household. The household detail page opens.

Add a member to an existing household

1. Open the household detail page.
2. Select Add member.
3. Search for the member by name or email. Select their row.
4. Choose their relationship type.
5. Select Add to confirm.

If the member is already in another household, a dialog appears asking whether to move them or create a joint household. Choose the appropriate option — the activity timeline records the change.

Change a member’s relationship type

1. On the household detail page, find the member’s row.
2. Select ⋯ on their row, then select Edit relationship.
3. Choose the new relationship type from the dropdown. The change saves automatically.

Change the billing member

The billing member is the household contact who receives invoices and whose payment method is used for the household’s membership.

1. On the household detail page, select Change billing member in the Household billing section.
2. Choose a household member from the list.
3. Select Update.

Note: If the new billing member has no payment method on file, you need to set one up for them first.

Remove a member from the household

1. On the household detail page, find the member’s row.
2. Select ⋯ on their row, then select Remove from household.
3. Confirm in the dialog.

If you remove the last member of a household, the household itself is also deleted. A warning appears before you confirm.

Verify

You’ll know the household was created when its detail page opens and shows all the members you added with their relationship types.

If something goes wrong

• “Select a relationship type” — at least one member doesn’t have a relationship type chosen. Choose one from each member’s dropdown before saving.
• “Set up a payment method for {name} first” — the new billing member has no payment method on file. Go to that member’s billing section to add one before reassigning billing.
• “Household creation isn’t available yet” — household creation may not be available in your org’s setup yet. Check with your org owner.
• “A payment is currently being processed” — billing reassignment will take effect after the current payment completes.
• “All members of this household are archived” — restore at least one member to an active status before making changes.

Related

• How household and family records work
• Member database household reference