Is Zeffy's membership software really free, and are there fees on subscriptions?

There is no platform fee, no transaction fee and no card fee on membership payments, and that holds however many members you have. A £25 subscription reaches your bank account as £25. What funds Zeffy is a voluntary contribution your member can add at checkout, shown on its own line with an amount they are free to lower or set to zero. Your total is the same either way. See how Zeffy stays free if you want the mechanics.

On small subs that matters more than it sounds. A percentage plus a flat charge takes a real bite out of a £15 membership, and for a club running on a few hundred subs a year that is the hall hire.

How do I manage memberships for my charity or club?

Create a free membership form, add your membership types with their length and price, and share the link.

From there most of the admin runs itself: members join and pay online, each one lands on a member list you can filter, tag and export whenever you need it, and if you switch on membership cards, every new member gets theirs by email.

You also pick the renewal rhythm that matches how your organisation actually works, whether that is monthly, yearly from each member's join date, a fixed day and month so everyone renews together, or no expiry at all for life members.

Does Zeffy work for clubs, associations and small groups, not just registered charities?

Yes. Two things qualify you: being a charity or another not-for-profit organisation in the UK, and having a bank account in the organisation's name. You do not need a Registered Charity Number or a Companies House CRN, so a sports club, a student group, a PTA or an unregistered community organisation can run its memberships here on the same terms as a registered charity. Museums, theatre companies and scout groups are all on Zeffy already.

The bank account is the part to sort first, because it has to be in the organisation's name rather than the treasurer's own. What does not qualify is an individual collecting subscriptions for themselves, or a business.

Can I offer different membership levels?

Yes. Add as many membership types as your organisation needs to one form, each with its own length and price, and the level a member picks appears on their digital card. Tiers are how clubs and societies welcome students, families and patrons at a price that works for each of them.

How do membership renewals work?

It depends on the schedule you choose, and the difference is worth knowing before you set it.

On yearly memberships automatic renewal is on by default, and a member can untick it at checkout if they would rather renew by hand.

On monthly memberships renewal is always automatic, so joining opts that member in and there is no box to decline.

Either way you can cancel any member's automatic renewal later from your dashboard, and members can cancel from their own account.

Anyone on a yearly membership gets a reminder email 30 days before it expires, confirming the upcoming payment if automatic renewal is on, or prompting them to renew if it is not. Memberships you have set to no expiry do not renew and do not send reminders.

Can I track subscriptions, renewals and a member database in one place?

Yes. Every sign-up shows up as a single record with that member's type, renewal date and form answers together. Filter your contacts by membership to pull just your active members, save that as a list, and export it whenever you need it. Zeffy tracks the status for you, so an expired or cancelled membership drops out of that list without you touching it. That is the spreadsheet you no longer have to keep in sync.

Can donors, members and event attendees live as one contact with their full history?

Yes. Every supporter shows up as a single record, so someone who gives, holds a membership and buys an event ticket appears once with their whole history rather than in three separate lists. See CRM and supporter management for what you can do with that record once it is there.

How do digital membership cards work?

Switch on membership cards and each new member gets theirs by email when they join. The card carries their name and email, their membership type, the start date and the expiry or renewal date, your membership programme name, and their answers to any custom questions you asked on the form. You can add an image of your own, though the fields themselves are fixed.

Members show the card from any phone and it scans straight from the camera, with no app to install, which is what makes it workable on a door staffed by volunteers. See membership cards for the detail.

Can I record a subscription paid by cheque or cash?

Yes, you record it yourself. Add a payment from your dashboard, pick the membership level it is for, choose cash or cheque as the payment method, and attach it to that person's contact record, ticking the box to send them their confirmation email.

That member then sits in the same list as everyone who joined online, with the same renewal date and the same reminder. Which is rather the point: a cheque posted to the treasurer should not end up living in a separate book.

Can I give members something their membership actually unlocks?

Yes. On any event you run, you can restrict a ticket to people who hold an active membership, and Zeffy verifies eligibility at checkout so you are not policing the guest list yourself. You choose which membership types qualify, or leave it open to all of them. A member who is not signed in enters the email on their membership and gets a link straight back to the page, with no password to remember. Each membership buys one of those tickets per event, which stops a member rate being passed around. If you would rather not gate the ticket at all, create a discount code and share it with members only.

Can I issue receipts for membership subscriptions?

Yes, and you control it per membership type. Choose which of your levels issue a receipt at all, then set the eligible amount on any level where the subscription also buys the member something in return. Zeffy issues the receipt automatically when someone joins and splits it, so the gift and the value of what the member receives are recorded separately. Your organisation needs to be set up to issue receipts before any of this runs.