CiviCRM is more than just a Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) tool. It also allows non-profit organizations to take donations, sell memberships, and sell event registrations. Multiple membership types can be created so organizations can  offer different tiers of memberships. 

Each membership type can also have its own set of options. For example, you can set memberships to expire after a defined period or auto-renew memberships*. Auto-renew itself also has its own options. “Give option, but not required” allows the user to decide if they want the membership to auto-renew. “Auto-renew required” makes the membership type always auto-renew without requiring the user to select the option when signing up for a membership. If you choose to have your membership auto-renew, you will need to set the duration. The duration unit is very flexible. You can choose X days, months,  or years. 

There are also two types of membership plans, fixed and rolling. Fixed membership periods allow you to set a start and end date. For example, if the membership is only valid for the calendar year then the start date will be January 1 and end date December 31. Rolling memberships start on the day the user signed up and expire based on the duration unit. If your membership is fixed for the calendar year then membership will auto-renew on January 1. If your membership is set to rolling then the membership will auto-renew the date the user signed up for a membership.

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Webform CiviCRM is a module that integrates Drupal Webforms with CiviCRM. Site builders like webforms because it gives them more control of their forms using features such as reordering fields, validation, and conditional rules. Webform CiviCRM allows users to make donations, sign up for events or memberships. However, CiviCRM Webforms don’t set your memberships to auto-renew. Even if you have an auto-renew required set on your membership type. 

To solve the problem, Skvare has created a custom module to add membership auto-renewals to webforms. In the CiviCRM section of your webform configuration, click on the membership tab. A new option, “Auto-renew Membership?,” is present. Setting the field to “yes” will allow the membership record to auto-renew. For the feature to function properly, you will need to make sure your membership type is configured to allow auto-renewals.

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At Skvare, we believe that anything is possible with open-source technology. Custom CiviCRM extensions and Drupal modules allow us to extend the core functionality and provide additional features. If CiviCRM or Drupal does not provide the functionality you desire, then contact Skvare to discuss customizations to fit your organization’s needs.  

* Your payment processor must support recurring payments in order to use the membership auto-renew feature.