How to Collect Dues for Your Networking Group Online

The short answer: open a bank account in the group's name, take payment through a link members can pay by card, and keep one list of who has paid. That replaces the envelope of checks, and it takes an afternoon to set up.

Start with the account

The money should never sit in the treasurer's personal account. It makes the books unclear, and it becomes a problem the day the treasurer changes.

• Open an account in the group's name. A bank will usually ask how the group is organized and for a tax ID. An accountant or attorney can tell you what suits a group of your size. There may be one of each in your chapter.
• Give two people access. One collects and one checks.

Ways to take payment

• Checks and cash. No fees. Slow, someone carries money to the bank, and there are no reminders.
• Zelle, Venmo and PayPal. Members already have them. Use an account in the group's name that is set up for business use, and expect to keep your own records, because the receipts are thin.
• Payment links from a card processor such as Stripe, Square or PayPal. You create a link with a fixed price, members pay by card, a receipt is emailed, and the money lands in the group's account. Card fees are typically around 3 percent. Check your processor's current rate.
• Invoices from accounting software. A good fit when a bookkeeper in the group is willing to run it.
• Membership software that includes billing. Useful for large organizations. More than a single chapter usually needs.

For most groups, a payment link is the right balance: little setup, a receipt for every member, and a report the treasurer can download.

Decide these before you send a link

1. Who pays the card fee. The simplest answer is to build it into the price.
2. One link for each charge. Application fee, annual dues and meals are separate, so the report shows what each payment was for.
3. A refund rule, in writing. What happens when an application is declined, or a member leaves mid-year.
4. One renewal date for everyone. Decide how to prorate for members who join partway through the year.
5. Who follows up. One named person, not "the board."

Keep one list

Whatever takes the payment, keep a single list: each member, what is due, and the date it was paid. Match it to the processor's report once a month. Once a quarter, give the group the totals: collected, spent and in reserve.

Reminders that work

• 30 days before dues are due, with the amount and the link
• On the day
• One week after, as a personal message from the treasurer

A short personal note gets paid faster than a third automatic email. Put the renewal date on the meeting agenda too, so nobody is surprised.

How this works in Ecoferral

A chapter makes payment links in its own Stripe account and pastes them into its website settings, with the amounts.

• Application fee. The pay button appears as soon as someone sends the join form, and again in the email they receive.
• Annual dues. The pay button shows on each member's home screen and on the chapter's website.
• Meal money. A separate page on the chapter's website, with its own button.

Payment happens on Stripe's page and goes directly to the chapter. Ecoferral never holds the money and takes no share of it. The chapter sees who has paid in its Stripe account.

For how much to charge in the first place, see how much a networking group should charge.