Voiding renewal invoices

What’s a renewal invoice?

A renewal invoice is the statement sent to a member when it's time for them to renew their membership and pay their membership dues.

Here are a few things to note about renewal invoices:

• They’re automatically created by the system when a member type’s Renewal Notifications are turned on.
• Sending the first notification starts the member's Renewal Period.
• When a member pays their renewal invoice, their Expiration Date is automatically extended to the next renewal due date, based on their member type’s settings.
• A member's profile will show their Member Status to indicate if they are currently in their Renewal Period.

Manually voiding renewal invoices (not recommended)

Although we recommend against it, if the member type change method isn't immediately possible for your for your organization, you may:

1. Manually void the renewal invoice.
2. Then, within the member’s profile, go to Actions > Renew to generate a new, valid open invoice.

If you manually void a renewal invoice:

• The member will still be considered in their Renewal Period.
• They will continue to receive all set-up renewal notifications, and the voided invoice will be attached to those messages (unless Attach invoice to all notifications is turned off within the member type’s settings).
• They will not receive the correct renewal notifications next year, even if you manually update their Expiration Date this year.
• If they try to renew through a renewal form, they will face confusion due to the voided invoice and ongoing messages, leading to a poor member experience.

This is better than leaving the voided invoice alone, but changing their member type leads to a better experience for your members.

To correctly void renewal invoices (recommended)

To void the invoice and ensure the member's profile and future notifications work correctly, don’t manually void the invoice. Instead, use the following method, which forces the system to perform the void action itself:

1. Log in as an administrator and go to the member's profile from the Membership Dashboard.
2. Select EDIT next to the member’s current member type.
3. Temporarily change the member’s member type to any other available type.
4. Immediately change the member’s member type back to their original member type.

What this does

• The system recognizes the member type change and assumes the member needs a new renewal invoice.
• The system will automatically void the original open renewal invoice.
• Because the system performed the void, it resets the notification flag. The voided invoice will no longer be attached to future renewal notifications.
• A new open invoice will be correctly generated for the user at the appropriate time in the future.