Chapters, sections, and add-ons are all enabled and named in Other Settings. Use these settings to turn each area on, choose the terms members see, require chapter membership, control how members join chapters, and decide how chapter, section, and add-on dues appear on orders. For the categories chapters are grouped under, see Chapter Types. For pricing add-ons, see Add-Ons, Their Types, and Prices.
Where to Find It
In the Membership & Committees Console, go to Setup › Other Settings. Chapters, Sections, and Add Ons each have their own card.
Chapters
Chapters and sections both group members, but they fit different membership structures. A chapter membership is usually part of the member’s core membership record, while a section adds an interest group on top of that membership. If you are choosing one for regional subdivisions, sections are usually the better fit when the subdivision should not require its own full base membership.
| Setting | Options | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chapters (card switch) | On/off | Off | Turns chapters on for your Rhythm account. |
| Singular Term (portal): / Plural Term (portal): | Text | Chapter / Chapters | Sets the word members see in the Portal for one chapter or multiple chapters. Capitalize both terms exactly as you want them to appear. |
| Should members be required to join a chapter? | Yes / No | Neither selected | Controls whether members must choose a chapter. When this is set to Yes, Rhythm stops a member from continuing a Join or Rejoin process in the Console or Portal until they select a chapter. A membership package can also have its own Require chapter option. That option replaced an older package-level minimum-chapter-count setting, which did not by itself stop an applicant from continuing without choosing a chapter. |
| Maximum # of chapters a member can join: | Number | Unlimited if left blank | Sets the maximum number of chapters one member can belong to. Rhythm does not compare this limit with the chapter requirement above. During Individual Join in both the Console and Portal, the member cannot select more chapters than this number. |
| Should corporate members be required to select a chapter for assigned contacts? | Yes / No | No | Controls whether an organization must choose a chapter for each contact it assigns membership to. If the organization or its primary contact does not choose a chapter or section for an assigned contact, that contact inherits the default chosen on the organization’s own membership. Sections do not have a matching required-selection setting because that requirement was not built, due to the added complexity, even though a membership package can still mark its own Choose a Chapter field as required. |
| How should we handle chapter automatic assignment? | Off — don't automatically suggest or assign chapters; Suggest — suggest chapters, but don't assign them; Assign — automatically assign chapters | Off | Controls whether Rhythm suggests a chapter or chooses one automatically. The method Rhythm uses to suggest or assign the chapter is set separately; see Chapter Suggestion Strategy and Assignment Mappings. A membership package can override this account-wide setting with its own automatic-assignment behavior, which you configure on the package instead of here. |
| Can members change their chapter in the portal? | No — members cannot add or remove chapters in the portal; Yes — members can add chapters, but not remove them; Yes — members may add or remove chapters | No (members cannot change chapters) | Controls whether members can manage chapters themselves in the Portal. This is separate from the maximum number of chapters a member may hold. This is the only control for chapter add-or-remove behavior in the Portal. There is no separate override for the change-affiliation flow, and the chapter component on a change-affiliation form always allows both adding and removing, whichever option you choose here. An older Membership Package field with a similar-looking chapter-change option was never meant to control Portal behavior and has been removed from the Console; this account-level setting is the only one that governs it. |
| Prevent members from removing their automatically assigned primary chapter / Prevent members from removing chapters that have associated chapter dues | Checkboxes | Off | Appears only when suggestions come from an assignment mapping, automatic assignment is set to Assign, and members may add or remove chapters. These options stop members from removing the listed kind of chapter, even when chapter removal is otherwise allowed. If you change the strategy back to Distance, this section disappears. |
| When a renewal price is set on a chapter dues product, who should receive it? | All members who are renewing their membership, regardless of whether they are currently in the chapter; Only renewing members who are currently members of the chapter | All renewing members | Controls who receives a chapter’s renewal price. |
| How should chapter dues be bundled? | Regular Bundling — dues appear normally to the customer on the order; Inline Bundling — the customer does not see dues on their order or invoice, but revenue is still recognized properly | Regular Bundling | Controls whether chapter dues appear as their own order line. Inline Bundling also removes chapter dues as a separate line item for payment- and GL-based queries and reports, because there is no separate payment line left to query. It also cannot show the member’s chosen chapter, section, or add-on as visible detail within the single bundled line. Members should still receive chapter membership by choosing a chapter on the membership application. Do not bundle a chapter dues product directly onto the membership product to apply chapter membership; that is not supported. |
Tip
A high maximum, or no maximum, does not by itself let members manage their own chapters in the Portal. A member can be allowed to belong to several chapters without being allowed to add or remove chapters themselves. If members may hold multiple chapters but cannot add, remove, or change them in the Portal, check "Can members change their chapter in the portal?" because it defaults to No. When chapter changes are restricted, what a member sees still depends on how many chapters they already hold. A member with only one chapter may see one non-editable chapter field with no way to add another, while a member who already holds two can still see and update both.
On the order, invoice, and receipt, membership dues use the membership package’s name, and chapter dues use the chapter dues product’s name. If two charges look identical, rename either the package or the chapter dues product in Setup so members and staff can tell them apart.
Chapter memberships can still show a Primary designation, even if your association treats every chapter membership as equal. There is no setting here that removes that marker if your association does not use it.
Warning
A known issue can cause Rhythm to suggest a chapter even when automatic assignment is set to Off, or when a membership package’s own chapter override turns suggestions off. This has been seen during renewal when the contact already has an address on file, in both the Console and Portal. Automatic assignment can also fail to suggest the nearest chapter. There is no confirmed workaround yet; if you see chapters suggested when they should not be, contact Support.
Tip
If the Primary Chapter or Additional Chapters dropdown opens at the top of the screen and looks cut off, the chapter field is probably near the bottom of the page, with too little room below it for the dropdown to open normally. This is a known limitation in the underlying dropdown control, not something you can turn off. Moving the chapter field higher on the form, making the browser window larger, or reducing the browser’s zoom level can give the dropdown enough room to open normally.
When you switch a renewal from a membership package that automatically assigns chapters to one that does not, the Chapter field can stay greyed out until you reload the page instead of becoming editable right away. This has also been seen in the Console because of restriction logic meant only for the Portal. If a chapter selector looks locked for no clear reason, reload the page first. When a member adds more than one chapter during a join or renewal, a trash-can control next to each additional chapter lets them remove one they added by mistake. Editing and saving a membership application that already includes an additional chapter beyond the primary one has also been reported to fail with a validation error in some cases. If a save fails after adding an additional chapter, try again, and contact Support if it keeps happening.
Tip
Inline Bundling combines a chapter’s dues with the membership package into a single order and invoice line, showing one summed price instead of two separate lines. This also means a member cannot pay only the chapter dues, or only the package, separately in the Portal. The combined line must be paid together. Use Regular Bundling instead if your members need to see, or pay, the chapter and package amounts as separate line items.
Sections
| Setting | Options | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sections (card switch) | On/off | Off | Turns sections on for your Rhythm account. |
| Singular Term (portal): / Plural Term (portal): | Text | Section / Sections | Sets the word members see in the Portal for one section or multiple sections. Rename it to match your association’s wording. |
| When a renewal price is set on a section dues product, who should receive it? | Same two options as chapters | All renewing members | This setting is saved, but section pricing does not currently use it, so changing it does not change any price right now. |
| How should section dues be bundled? | Regular Bundling / Inline Bundling | Regular Bundling | Works the same way as chapter dues bundling. |
Add Ons
| Setting | Options | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Add Ons (card switch) | On/off | Off | Turns add-ons on for your Rhythm account. If this switch is off, add-ons are not available as a step in the membership or application process. |
| Singular Term (portal): / Plural Term (portal): | Text | Add On / Add Ons | Sets the word members see in the Portal for one add-on or multiple add-ons. |
| How should add on dues be bundled? | Regular Bundling / Inline Bundling | Regular Bundling | Works the same way as chapter and section dues bundling. |
Dependencies and Precedence
- Turning a card’s switch off does not clear its other settings. Those settings stay saved and take effect again if you turn the switch back on.
- The Chapters, Sections, and Add Ons side-menu entries stay visible even when their card is off. Turning a feature off does not remove it from the Console menu.
- Naming, join requirements, dues bundling, and portal self-service depend on the matching feature being turned on. Several of these controls are hidden until you turn on that switch. When Chapters is off, staff editing an organization’s membership details may not see the option to assign a chapter. After you turn Chapters on, you can assign a chapter to an organization by editing its details.
- Chapter officer permissions on this settings record, including contact forms, page layouts, saved queries, and template overrides, are checked against these settings when you save. See Chapter Officer Permissions and Chapter Center Pages for that part of the record.
- The chapter Rhythm suggests or assigns when automatic assignment is on is controlled separately. See Chapter Suggestion Strategy and Assignment Mappings.
- Turning on Chapters and adding chapter fields to your default membership page layout are two separate steps. After you update the layout to include chapter fields, you still need to assign that layout here in Other Settings before chapter fields appear on membership records.
- Chapter participation is usually configured as part of your renewal process, but you can also build separate standalone forms for joining a chapter or adjusting chapter membership. Attach those forms to your join or renewal processes if you need chapter changes available outside the regular renewal flow.
- Whether members can change their chapter affiliation in the Portal also depends on your edit-profile form including that section. If the chapter section is left off the edit-profile form, members will not see the option, even when "Can members change their chapter in the portal?" allows it.
- Removing chapter selection from your join or renewal steps does not remove existing chapter associations. A contact who is already linked to a chapter can still be affected by chapter-related processing until that existing association is removed.
Change Impact and How to Revert
- Renaming chapters, sections, or add-ons for the Portal takes effect immediately everywhere those terms appear. It does not rename anything in the Console.
- Turning inline bundling on hides the affected dues from the customer’s order and invoice going forward, without changing orders that were already placed. Turn it back to regular bundling to show the line again on future orders.
- Lowering the maximum number of chapters a member can join does not remove a member from a chapter they already hold above the new limit.
Permissions
Changing these settings is a Membership administrator action in the Console. If you cannot reach Setup › Other Settings, ask whoever manages your Rhythm account’s security roles for access.
Validation and Errors
| What you see | Meaning and what to do |
|---|---|
| "Unable to save settings" | Rhythm refused the save for the reason shown in the message. Common reasons include a chapter officer permission missing its required form or page layout, or a chosen suggestion strategy missing its mapping or function. |
| A member cannot add, remove, or change chapters in the Portal even though they may hold several | "Can members change their chapter in the portal?" is set to No. Change it to allow adding, or adding and removing. |