Renewing a membership

Overview

The Renew action extends a member's expires_at date by 12 months without creating a new invoice or triggering a Stripe charge. Use it for free memberships, memberships tracked manually outside Stripe, or lapsed members you want to reinstate without going through the full application flow again.

How to renew a membership

Open the member's record from Members.
Click Renew membership.
Confirm.

The expiry date is extended by 12 months from whichever is later — today's date or the member's current expires_at. The member's status must be active or expired for the button to appear.

Example

A member expired on 1 March 2025. You renew on 20 May 2025. Their new expires_at becomes 20 May 2026 (today + 12 months, because today is later than the old expiry).
A member expires on 1 August 2025 and you renew early on 20 May 2025. Their new expires_at becomes 1 August 2026 (current expiry + 12 months, because that's later).

When to use manual renewal

Free memberships — no Stripe subscription exists, so there is no auto-renewal. Use Renew each season.
Cash / manual-invoice memberships — similar situation; Stripe doesn't control the expiry.
Lapsed members returning — a member whose status is expired can be renewed directly without re-applying. Their status does not automatically flip back to active; set it manually via the edit form after renewing if needed.

When NOT to use manual renewal

Stripe subscription members. For members on recurring Stripe subscriptions, Stripe is the source of truth for the billing cycle. Manually renewing extends expires_at but does not affect the Stripe subscription schedule. This can cause the local expiry date to drift out of sync with what Stripe charges. Reserve manual renewal for members who are not on a Stripe subscription.

Edge cases / gotchas

Renewal does not create an invoice. If you want a payment record for the renewal period, create a manual invoice separately — see Manual invoices & cash payments.
Renewal does not send a notification. The member is not emailed when you renew their membership. If you want to inform them, send a message separately.
Members expiring within 30 days appear in the Expiring soon filter. Check this filter regularly to catch renewals before access lapses.

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