Set up a family or household level

This guide shows you how to create a membership level that covers a whole family or household, choose how the household is charged and whether household members can renew, choose who in the household can sign in, and switch an existing household level to owner-only sign-in.

Who can do this: Admins who can manage membership levels. To change who can sign in on an existing level, or to undo that change, you also need the Change who can sign in at a household level permission.

Before you start

Decide whether to limit household size. For example, a “Family of 4” level allows the primary member plus up to 3 more people. You can also leave the limit off.
Decide how the household is charged. With a Flat fee, one price covers the whole household. With Per additional member, the price covers the primary and each additional household member adds a fee you set. See How the household is charged.
Decide whether linked household members may renew the household membership themselves. If you allow it, the household’s saved card (the primary’s default card) is charged.
Decide who signs in. With Every member, each household member gets their own login. With Owner only, only the household’s primary member signs in. Linked members keep their profiles and membership but can’t use the member portal. See Family and household level settings reference.

Steps

Create a family or household level

Go to Memberships > Levels in the admin sidebar.
Select Add level.
At the top of the form, under Level type, select Family / Household. The Family / Household setup section appears below Billing period.
In the Name field, type a name such as “Family Annual” or “Household Membership.”
Enter the Price and choose a Billing period. On a flat-fee level this price covers the whole household; on a per-member level it covers the primary.
Under Family / Household setup, enter the Maximum household members (including primary), or leave it blank for no limit. The number must be 1 or more, and the primary member counts toward it.
Under Household billing, keep Flat fee — one price covers the whole household, or select Per additional member — base price + fee per linked member. If you choose per-additional-member billing, enter the Price per additional member (after primary) — the charge for each household member besides the primary, every billing period. The example line under it shows the total, such as “Primary ($50.00) + 3 additional ($15.00 each) = $95.00 / year”.
Under Who can sign in, keep Every member — each household member gets their own login, or select Owner only — only the household primary can sign in. On a new level you can pick either one, with no extra permission.
To let linked household members renew the household membership themselves, check Let household members renew. Leave it unchecked if only the household primary should renew.
Set the Renewal, Visibility, and any other standard fields as described in Set up a membership level.
Select Save.

To turn an existing level into a family or household level, open the level, select Edit, and follow steps 3, 6, 7 and 9. You can only change the level type before anyone has a membership at that level.

Make a household level owner-only (only the primary signs in)

Use this when a household level already exists and you want only each household’s primary member to sign in. Linked members who lose sign-in keep their records, membership and history. A linked member who holds a membership of their own keeps their login.

Go to Memberships > Levels and open the household level.
Select Edit.
Under Who can sign in, select Owner only — only the household primary can sign in.
Select Save.
If the “Change who can sign in?” dialog opens, review the linked household members who will lose sign-in.
Select Save and end their sign-in.

If nobody would lose sign-in, the level saves without the dialog.

If the form shows “{N} households on this level have no primary member”, nothing was saved. Owner-only sign-in needs a primary on every household:

Select Go to members to open the member list. The list can’t be filtered by level or by household, and the message gives only the number of households, so find them by opening the records of members at this level (a household without a primary usually comes from imported or older records — the app itself doesn’t let a household’s primary be removed without a replacement).
Give each household that has no primary a primary member: open a member of that household, then open the More actions menu and select Reassign household primary. Choose who becomes the primary and a reason, then select Send request. That member gets an email and becomes the primary when they confirm. This works even when the household’s membership has lapsed or was cancelled.
Return to the level and repeat the steps above.

For 48 hours after the switch, you can give linked members their sign-in back exactly as it was. Nothing was deleted, so a member who had a login before the switch needs nothing set up again. Members who joined the household while the level was owner-only never got a login — see Members who joined while the level was owner-only.

Go to Memberships > Levels and open the household level.
In the notice at the top of the page, select Undo sign-in change.
In the “Let every member sign in again?” dialog, select Undo change.

After 48 hours the undo is gone. To let every member sign in again after that, edit the level and select Every member — each household member gets their own login under Who can sign in.

Members who joined while the level was owner-only

Undoing the switch, or switching back to Every member later, gives sign-in back only to linked members who already had a login. It doesn’t create logins. A linked member who joined the household while the level was owner-only was never given one, so they still can’t sign in afterwards. MapleGather doesn’t send them anything automatically when the setting changes.

Members you imported in a migration. When they opened their claim link while the level was owner-only, nothing was set up and the link wasn’t used up. Once the level is back on Every member, the same link works again until it expires (claim links last 30 days). If it has expired, send fresh claim links from the transition dashboard with Resend stragglers — see Migration broadcast cancelled or not delivered.
Members who joined through a household invitation or a household application. MapleGather has no way yet to send them an account-setup link, and they can’t be invited to the household again because they already belong to it. Their record, membership and history are kept.

Verify

New level: open the level. Its details show Household pricing (for example “$50.00 + $15.00 per additional member”) and Household members can renew (Yes or No). Select Edit: Family / Household is selected under Level type, with the limit, billing and sign-in options you chose. When a prospect picks this level on your sign-up page, the application form shows a household section where they list the people in their household.
Owner-only switch: you see “Level updated. {N} linked members can no longer sign in.” (or “Level updated.” when nobody was affected). The level page shows Owner only — only the household primary signs in under Login access. A notice such as “6 linked household members lost sign-in 2 minutes ago.” offers Undo sign-in change.
Undo: you see “Every member at {level name} can sign in again.” The notice clears, and Login access reads “Every member signs in with their own login”.

If something goes wrong

“That name is already taken.” — another level already has the same name. Choose a different name.
“Enter a whole number of 1 or more, or leave it blank for no limit.” — the maximum must be a whole number such as 4. Leave the field blank if you don’t want a limit.
“Enter the price per additional member.” — you chose Per additional member but left Price per additional member (after primary) blank. Enter the fee, or choose Flat fee.
“Enter a valid price of 0 or more.” — enter an amount such as 15.00; it can’t be negative.
“Per-additional-member pricing is available only on a family / household level.”, “A price per additional member applies only to per-additional-member billing.” or “Letting household members renew is available only on a family / household level.” — these settings work only when Level type is Family / Household, and a price per additional member only with per-additional-member billing. Check the level type and billing choice, then save again.
The Level type options are greyed out — this level has memberships, including past ones that have ended, so its type can’t be changed. Create a new level instead.
“The level type can’t be changed once anyone has held a membership at this level.” — someone has had a membership at this level, even if it has ended. Create a new level instead.
The Who can sign in? options are missing when you edit a level — you don’t have the Change who can sign in at a household level permission, so the form shows the current setting as text. Ask an admin who manages roles to grant it.
“{N} households on this level have no primary member” — give each of those households a primary member first, then switch to owner-only sign-in. Select Go to members to open the member list; it can’t be filtered to these households, so open the records of members at this level to find them.
“Owner-only sign-in is available only on a family / household level.” — owner-only sign-in works only when Level type is Family / Household.
“You don’t have permission to change who can sign in at this level. Nothing was saved.” — you need the Change who can sign in at a household level permission.
An invitee says they were asked to contact you to finish joining a household — that household has no primary member and the level lets only the primary sign in, so joining was refused. Select Every member for the level and save, ask the invitee to accept the same invitation again, make them (or another member) the household’s primary — from their member record, More actions > Reassign household primary — then switch the level back to Owner only. The switch applies to the whole level: while it’s on Every member, linked members of every household at the level can sign in again, and switching back to Owner only removes their sign-in again and starts a new 48-hour undo window.
The Undo sign-in change button is missing — the 48-hour window has closed, or you don’t have permission to undo the change.
“This change can’t be undone any more — this level’s sign-in setting has changed since.” — someone changed the setting again after the switch. Edit the level and choose the sign-in option you want.
“The 48-hour undo window has closed.” — edit the level and select Every member instead.