Review and approve a membership application

This guide shows you how to open a pending application, review the applicant’s details and payment status, and either approve it, activate it without payment, or record that the applicant withdrew it.

Who can do this: Admins. The “Activate without payment” option requires additional override permission.

Before you start

MapleGather doesn’t email administrators when a new application arrives at this release — check the inbox below for new ones.
Applications appear in the Applications inbox under Memberships > Applications.

Steps

Open the application

Go to Memberships > Applications in the admin sidebar. The inbox shows pending applications by default.
Select the applicant’s name in the list to open the application detail page.

Review the application

Read the Application data section to check the fields the applicant submitted (name, email, and any custom fields on the form).
Check the Payment status card on the right. It shows whether payment was collected, held pending your approval, still pending, or declined.
If the applicant listed household members, a Will be created if you accept card shows everyone who will be created: the applicant plus each person listed (name, relationship, and email or “No email”). None of them exists yet, none has been contacted, and none has been checked against your existing members. You can’t edit or act on individual rows here.

Approve, activate, or record a withdrawal

Choose one of the three actions in the top-right corner of the page:

To approve: Select Approve. A confirmation opens — Accept {applicant}’s application? — that says what accepting creates and lists everyone who will be created: the applicant first, then each person on the household card with their relationship. It also tells you who is emailed — only the applicant, who gets a welcome email unless their email already belongs to someone in your member list — and that accepting takes no payment. Select Accept to go ahead, or Cancel to go back without creating anything.

The applicant becomes a member, and so does each person on the household card. Everyone is created as a new member record — the applicant included — even if someone with the same email is already in your member list. The one exception: if the application was already linked to a member before you accepted it — for example, a prospect an administrator created with Add contact and a level — accepting activates that existing member instead of creating a new one. The page stays open and shows Accepted — here’s what was created. with the household and one row per person: their name, member and membership ids, status, and whether they were Created or Created — possible duplicate. You can also approve from the inbox row’s Approve; it opens the same confirmation, and you land on the same result page. The applicant is sent a welcome email once the acceptance is saved — except when their email already belongs to someone in your member list (the row shows Created — possible duplicate), and never twice for the same application. Nobody on the household card is contacted.

Auto-renewal: the application page shows Auto-renewal requested or Manual renewal. If the applicant asked for auto-renewal and has finished setting it up, accepting also starts their auto-renewal subscription, and the result shows Auto-renew: on with the subscription; otherwise it shows Manual renewal.

To activate without payment (override): Select Activate without payment (visible only when the applicant has not paid). A confirmation dialog opens. Select a reason from the list — for example, “Cash at meeting” or “Check mailed” — and optionally add a note. Select Activate without payment to confirm. This action is logged in the audit log with your name and reason. It creates the same people as approving, but it doesn’t show you a result panel, so possible duplicates aren’t reported on this path.

If you reverse an activate-without-payment on a household application (within 48 hours, from the audit log), the household it created is dissolved. If you later approve the application again, the same member records are reused — no second set of people is created.

To record a withdrawal: Use this when the applicant has asked to withdraw. Select Record withdrawal. A confirmation opens — Record that {applicant} withdrew their application? — explaining that the application is kept, marked withdrawn, and nobody is created or contacted. Select Record withdrawal to confirm, or Cancel. A withdrawal can’t be undone, by you or by the applicant.

Rejecting an application isn’t available at this release — there’s no Reject button. If you don’t want to accept an application, leave it pending, or record a withdrawal if the applicant has asked to withdraw.

Verify

After you approve, the application leaves the pending inbox and the page shows the acceptance result. Use Open {applicant}’s member record to go to the new member, or Back to list to return to the inbox.

Save the result before you leave. The result is shown once and can’t be reopened: if you refresh or come back later, the panel is gone. If you try to leave while a possible duplicate is still unacknowledged — with Back to list, the member-record link, the breadcrumb or the sidebar — you’re asked to confirm first (Leave anyway or Stay and review). Your browser’s own Back button and refresh aren’t intercepted.

After an override, a notice confirms that the action was logged to the audit trail, and you can reverse it within 48 hours from the audit log.

If something goes wrong

The “Activate without payment” button is missing — you may not have override permission, or the applicant has already paid. Only applications with a non-paid status show this option.
A row says “Created — possible duplicate” — acceptance matched that person to someone who may already be in your member list. This can happen on the applicant’s own row too, because the applicant is always created as a new record. The new record was created and linked, and the existing one was not changed or contacted. Select View merge candidate to open the existing record and merge them, or select Got it — I’ve noted this. This pointer is shown only once, on the acceptance result page, so follow it before you leave.
“This application changed after you opened it. Review it again before approving.” — the applicant corrected their application, or a payment was recorded, after you opened the page. Nothing was created. The page reloads with the current application; review it and select Approve again. If the applicant made the change, the page now shows Edited after submission with the date.
An “Edited after submission” badge or notice — the applicant changed their application (their details, form answers or household list) after submitting it, from their confirmation page. It’s a reminder to review the current details; it doesn’t block anything. Changes administrators make don’t set it. It shows that something changed, not what changed.
No “Possible duplicate” card appears before you approve — duplicates are checked only at acceptance, never at submission.
“Nothing was created” — the applicant asked for auto-renewal and hasn’t finished setting it up — their saved card, or their confirmation of the renewal terms, is missing or out of date. Only the applicant can finish it: ask them to complete the auto-renewal step from the browser they applied in, then select Approve again. Or select Approve with manual renewal to accept now: a confirmation explains what happens, the applicant becomes a member who renews manually, nothing they saved for auto-renewal is used, and they’re emailed that their membership will renew manually — unless their email address isn’t confirmed yet (for example, it may already belong to someone in your member list), in which case no email is sent. Their request for auto-renewal stays on record — the application’s renewal line then reads Auto-renew: requested by the applicant — not set up, with the date you accepted it with manual renewal.
The Payment status card reads “Not paid.” — nothing has been collected for this application yet. That is also how a free level, and an applicant who hasn’t paid yet, look. You can still approve, or select Activate without payment to override. Superseded (v1.4 wording, kept as the record): ““Payment is in flight” — the applicant’s payment is being processed. Wait a few minutes for it to complete, or select Activate without payment to override and proceed immediately. If you override, the payment will be recorded separately when it resolves.” The page no longer shows that notice: “Not paid.” is also how a free level and an unpaid application look, so it never meant a payment was in progress.
The Payment status card reads “Payment failed.” — the applicant’s card was declined, so nothing was collected. The application is still pending: the applicant can pay again with a different card, or you can select Activate without payment. A declined PayPal payment isn’t recorded, so the card keeps reading “Not paid.”
The Payment status card reads “Refunded.” — the applicant’s payment was refunded in full. The application can’t be paid again; approving it needs Activate without payment.