Add a Member or Contact to Your Local Group in M2

This guide is for officers of a local group (the individual unit of your organization, such as a chapter or council) whose role can add people. The steps depend on who you're adding, and on whether M2 already has them somewhere in your parent group (the organization above your local groups, such as a state or national body).

Before you start

• Log in with your role at your local group. If you have more than one role, see Switch Roles and Set Your Default Role.
• Your role needs permission to add people. If Members/Contacts in the main menu has no Add item, your role can't add people. Ask the person who looks after user accounts in your organization.
• Check whether M2 already has the person. Type the name in the search box in the top bar. Use the Search Box at the Top of M2 describes it.

Choose the steps you need

Add a new person

The event that makes a person a member can require a birth date and an email address. The Add Contact screen requires neither one, so enter them now if you have them.

1. From the main menu, click Members/Contacts, then click Add. The Add Contact screen opens.

2. Enter the person's name. M2 requires Last Name.

3. Enter the Birth Date if you have it, in the form mm/dd/yyyy. It also helps M2 tell two people with the same name apart.

4. The label on Local reads Local (Optional), but M2 won't add the person until you choose a local group. Under Organizational Information, choose yours in Local.

   

5. Under Contact Info, enter Address 1, City, and Zip / Postal Code. Enter State too if the country has states or provinces. Country starts filled in with your parent group's country.

6. Enter a phone number in Phone or Cell. Both boxes show an asterisk, but you only need to fill in one.

7. Enter an email address in Email if you have one. Type it carefully. If M2 can't read it as an email address, it leaves it off without a message, so check the record afterward.

8. Click Add.

   

M2 opens the new person's record. The person is a contact, not yet a member, even though the card at the top left of the record is headed Member.

Add Contact doesn't require the other fields, such as Address 2 and Occupation.

You can also start from the Add a New Member/Person item in the menu in the top right corner of the Members And Others box. The home screen also has a shortcut button for the same item. On a wide window, the shortcut buttons run across the top of the screen. On a narrower one, they move to the right-hand column.

Make the new contact a member

Do this when a contact in your local group is joining as a member, whether you just added them or added them earlier. If you just added the person, their record is already open. Otherwise, find them on your list. Use Your Members and Others List explains the tabs.

1. On the person's record, find the Local Status tile near the top and click Change. The Add Life Cycle Event screen opens.

   

2. In Event, choose the event that starts the person's membership, or for a person returning to your local group, the event that records their return. The list shows only the events that apply to this person right now, so the choices depend on your organization's rules.

   

3. If a Local Name box appears under Event, choose your local group.

4. Enter the Date in the form mm/dd/yyyy.

5. Click Add.

M2 returns to the person's record. Next, check the Dues Category tile and set it if needed. If the tile has no pencil icon, your role can't change it, so ask an officer whose role can. See Assigning / Changing Dues Category. For more on events, see Entering A Member Event.

Add a person who is already in M2

Use this when M2 already has the person under another local group in your parent group, and they're joining yours too.

1. Type the person's name in the search box in the top bar and press Enter. If only one person matches, M2 opens their record, and you can skip to step 3.

2. On the results page, click the Global Active tab, then click the person's name. If they aren't there, check Global Inactive.

3. Check the name, photo, and member number to confirm you have the right person. You may see a shorter version of the record that shows only the basics.

4. Click Add To My Local.

   

5. On the Add Life Cycle Event screen, choose the event that adds an existing member to a local group in Event.

6. After you choose the event, a Local Name box appears under it. Choose your local group.

7. Enter the Date in the form mm/dd/yyyy, then click Add.

M2 opens the person's record. Next, check the Dues Category tile and set it if needed, as described in Make the new contact a member.

Add a widow

Use this when a member has died and you want to add their spouse to your local group. M2 builds the widow's record from the deceased member's record, so check two things first:

• The member is already marked deceased in M2.
• The member still has an active membership in a local group.

When both are true:

1. Open the deceased member's record.
2. In the Bio Data card, look at Spouse First Name. If it's empty, click the pencil icon at the top right of the card, type the spouse's first name, and click Save.
3. Click Add Widow Record, next to the spouse's first name.

M2 creates a record with the spouse's first name and the member's last name. It copies the member's home contact details, including any phone, cell, and email on them. It adds the widow to each active local group where the member's membership is still active. M2 always sets the prefix to Mrs and the gender to female, even when the spouse is a man. Unless Spouse Preferred Name is filled in on the member's record, it also sets the preferred name to Mrs. followed by the widow's first and last name.

M2 then opens the widow's record. After that, Spouse First Name on the member's record is a link to it.

On the widow's record:

1. Click the pencil icon at the top right of the Bio Data card. Check the prefix, gender, and preferred name. Change any that are wrong, then click Save.
2. Check the Contact Info card. It may show the member's own cell number and email address. Click the pencil icon beside one to change it, or the red minus icon (Deactivate) to remove it.

If the spouse of a living member has died, see FAQ: Member's Spouse Has Died.

Add a member from outside your parent group

Use this when the person belongs to a different parent group, such as one in another state, and wants to join your local group. It works only if your organization uses dual membership requests.

1. Add the person as a new person, using the steps above.
2. On their record, click Request Dual Foreign Membership Verification.
3. In the Request Dual Membership Verification window, choose the person's parent group in Foreign Group, and type their local group's name in Foreign Local.
4. In Notes, enter the person's member number from their own group, the name of their local group there, their membership dates, and anything else you know.
5. To attach proof, click Add Documents and choose your files.
6. Click Submit.

Your parent group reviews the request and approves or denies it. While it waits, your home screen lists it under Action Items as Pending Dual Member Requests. After approval, it appears as Approved Dual Member Requests. While the request is pending, View Dual Membership Request on the person's record opens it.

The Foreign Group list shows only groups your parent group recognizes. If the one you need is missing, contact your parent group office. For the full process, including what your parent group adds after approval, see Adding A Foreign Affiliate.

If something goes wrong

• If M2 says a name is a "duplicate of an existing record," M2 already has someone with the same first and last name, and the same birth date if you entered one. Search for that person instead. If it's someone else with the same name, enter a Birth Date that sets them apart. The message says to search "above," but the Add Contact screen has no search of its own. Use the search box in the top bar.
• If you don't see Add To My Local, the usual reasons are that you're logged in with a role that isn't at your local group, your role can't add people, the person already belongs to your local group, or the person belongs to a different parent group. Check the My Local tab on the results page to see whether they're already on your list. For a person from a different parent group, use the steps for adding a member from outside your parent group.
• If the person has an inactive record in your local group, Add To My Local doesn't appear. Look for them on the Inactive tab of your list, open their record, and use the steps in Make the new contact a member to record their return.
• If you don't see Request Dual Foreign Membership Verification, your organization may not use dual membership requests, or the person may not be a contact, or they may already have a request pending, approved, or denied.
• If M2 says the date "can't be in the future," enter today's date or an earlier one.
• If M2 says "Contact does not have a birth date," "Contact does not have an email address," "Contact does not have a postal address," or "Contact does not have a default phone number," add it on the person's record and try again. To add a birth date, click the pencil icon at the top right of the Bio Data card. For the others, click the menu icon in the Contact Info card.
• If M2 says the contact is less than the minimum age, the person is too young for that event on the date you entered. Check the birth date on their record and the date you entered.
• If you see "(No active affiliation can not create widow)" where the Add Widow Record link should be, the member no longer has an active membership in a local group, and M2 won't create a widow record.