How household and family records work
The short version
Section titled “The short version”In MapleGather, a household groups individual member records together. Each person still has their own record — with their own contact information, membership status, activity history, and email address. The household is a layer on top that links them, designates one person as the billing contact, and lets members see their family connection in the portal.
How it works
Section titled “How it works”Every person has their own record
Section titled “Every person has their own record”Even within a family membership, each person is a separate record. A parent and child both have their own first name, email address (or no email in the case of a young child), membership status, and activity timeline. Households don’t merge these into one.
This separation means:
- You can contact each person individually.
- Each person’s activity history is their own.
- Children who don’t have email addresses can still have records, linked to the household.
- If family members’ memberships expire or are cancelled at different times, their statuses update independently.
A household links records together
Section titled “A household links records together”A household has:
- A name (typically a family name, like “The Rivera Family”)
- A list of members with relationship types assigned per link
- A billing member — the one person whose payment method is used for the household’s membership
The household itself doesn’t have a status or a membership. Each member in the household has their own membership. The billing designation tells MapleGather where to send invoices.
Relationship types describe each link
Section titled “Relationship types describe each link”When you add a member to a household, you choose their relationship type: Parent, Child, or Adult (and any additional types your org has configured, such as Spouse or Employee). The relationship type is per link — it’s about that person’s role in this household, not a property of the household itself.
Every link must have a relationship type. You can’t save a household member row without one.
Billing flows through one designated member
Section titled “Billing flows through one designated member”One member of the household is the billing member. Invoices for the household membership go to the billing member’s billing email address (or primary email if no billing address is set). Their payment method is used for auto-renewals.
Admins can change the billing member at any time. The change takes effect immediately (or after any in-flight payment completes).
Members see their household in the portal
Section titled “Members see their household in the portal”When a member logs into the portal, they see a Household section on their profile page listing the household name and the first names of the other members. They can’t navigate to other members’ profiles — the listing is informational only, to confirm their family connection.
Members can’t create or manage households from the portal. Household setup is an admin function.
Children without email addresses
Section titled “Children without email addresses”A child member can have a record without an email address. To create such a record, check This contact does not have an email on the create form. The record must be linked to a household (to connect the child to a parent’s account) before you can save.
Why it works this way
Section titled “Why it works this way”Individual records preserve individual history
Section titled “Individual records preserve individual history”If a family membership is cancelled and a parent later rejoins with a different tier, or if an adult child moves out and gets their own membership, the history stays correct because each person has always been tracked separately. Merging records would make the history ambiguous.
Billing designation centralizes payment without merging identities
Section titled “Billing designation centralizes payment without merging identities”Most family membership orgs need to send one invoice to one person, not separate invoices to every family member. The billing designation solves that without merging the records or requiring a single shared email.
Household management is admin-controlled by design
Section titled “Household management is admin-controlled by design”Self-service household management (where members can add or remove family members from the portal) introduces complexity around consent and verification. At this stage, household management is admin-controlled so your team stays in the loop.
Edge cases and boundaries
Section titled “Edge cases and boundaries”- A member can belong to only one household at a time. If you try to add someone who is already in another household, MapleGather asks whether to move them or create a joint household.
- Archiving a household member removes them from the active member list but doesn’t remove them from the household. The household still shows them; they’re just in an archived state.
- If the billing member of a household is archived, an alert appears on the household page prompting you to reassign billing.
- Removing the last member from a household deletes the household. A warning appears before you confirm.
- A household that has all members archived still exists as a record. You need to delete it manually if you no longer need it.
Put it into practice
Section titled “Put it into practice”- To create a household, open a member’s detail page and select the Household tab, then select Create household.
- To view a household, open any member’s Household tab and select View household.
- To see what a member sees in their portal, use the Preview as member feature.
- See Create and manage a household for step-by-step instructions.