How the member database works

The short version

MapleGather’s member database is a single record-of-truth for every person connected to your organization. Each person has one record. That record tracks their contact details, membership status, activity history, email routing preferences, custom fields, tags, and household links — all in one place, visible to authorized admins and (in part) to the member themselves.

How it works

A record represents a person, not a membership

A member record holds everything about a person’s relationship with your org: who they are (contact fields), where they stand (status), what has happened (activity timeline), how to reach them (email routing), and what custom information applies to them (custom fields).

Membership — the product a person subscribes to — is separate. One person can have one record and multiple memberships over their lifetime, or a household can share a single membership.

Records are created in three ways

An admin creates a record manually using the Add member form. This is the typical path when importing new members one at a time, creating records for children who don’t have their own email, or adding a contact who has been in touch but hasn’t signed up yet.
A person registers on the public signup page. When a prospective member fills in the signup form and verifies their email, MapleGather creates a record with the status prospect and their contact information. Admins can then set up their membership.
An admin imports a spreadsheet. The import tool creates records in bulk from a CSV file. Each row becomes a record.

Status tracks membership standing

Every record has a status that reflects the person’s current relationship with your org. The main statuses are:

Prospective — in the database but no current membership
Active — membership is current and paid
Grace — renewal is overdue; member still has access during a grace period
Lapsed — grace period expired without payment
Expired — membership has fully expired
Suspended — admin has paused the account
Cancelled — membership was deliberately ended
Archived — the record is hidden from active views but not deleted

The system changes statuses automatically as membership cycles progress. Admins can also change statuses manually. See How member status auto-transitions work and Customize member status labels and transition a status.

Archiving is not deleting

When you archive a record, it disappears from the active member list but isn’t deleted. Archived records remain searchable (with Include archived turned on), can be restored at any time, and retain their full history. Use archiving for people who have moved on from your org but whose history you want to keep.

Members and admins see different views of the same record

When an admin opens a member’s detail page, they see everything — all contact fields, all custom fields (subject to their own role’s permissions), the activity timeline with admin-side details, and admin tools like status transition.

When a member opens their portal profile, they see only the fields their org has made visible to members. Admin-only fields are absent. They see their activity timeline written in plain language, with admin actions attributed to “the admin team” rather than a specific person.

Email routing lets one record have multiple addresses

A member can have more than one email address on file, each with a role. The primary address is the main contact. Other roles (billing, receipts, fallback, org-rep) let different messages go to different addresses. This is particularly useful for households where invoices should go to one person and general correspondence to another.

Why it works this way

One record per person

MapleGather detects duplicate email addresses at create time and alerts you before creating a potential duplicate. A single record per person means the activity timeline, membership history, and contact details are always in one place — no duplicates to reconcile.

Archiving over deleting

Permanent deletion makes it impossible to answer future questions about a person’s history with your org. Archiving keeps the history while removing the person from active workflows. Data retention rules vary by jurisdiction; consult your legal team before choosing to permanently delete records.

Admins and members see different views

Members have a right to see their own information. They don’t have a right to see what admins have noted about them internally. Admin-only fields, internal notes, and admin tooling are separated from the member’s portal view to keep the system transparent without exposing operational details.

Edge cases and boundaries

Households: Multiple records can be linked in a household for shared billing and family membership, but each person still has their own record. Archiving a household member doesn’t archive their record; it removes them from the household.
Email collision: If two records share an email address (this can happen with household members or data imports), MapleGather tracks it and shows a note on both records. The duplicate can be resolved by an admin.
Contact without email: Records can exist without an email address, which is common for children in a family membership. The record is linked to a parent/guardian’s household.

Put it into practice

To see your full member list, go to Members in the sidebar.
To create a record, select Add member.
To understand statuses, see Member database status definitions reference.
To set up custom fields, see Define and manage custom member fields.