A chapter is a local or topic-based group that members can belong to along with their core membership. Use this article to create a chapter, update its details, and find an existing chapter.
When to Use This
Use these steps when you need to create a chapter, correct its details, decide whether it charges dues, control whether it appears in the Portal's chapter picker, or find a chapter to open. If you need to set up chapter types or the settings that control chapter suggestions and pricing during the join process, use your account's chapter configuration instead.
Prerequisites
- At least one chapter type already defined, because every chapter must have one.
- Permission to create or edit chapters, if your account requires it.
- Permission to delete chapters, if you need to remove one; this is checked separately from create and edit.
Find a Chapter
- Go to Chapters.
- Search by Name:, Type:, City:, State:, Country:, or ID:, or leave every field blank to see the full list.
- Select the chapter's name in the results to open its page.
Result
Search results include both active and inactive chapters. The results do not show a chapter's status, so open the chapter's page to confirm it.
Create or Edit a Chapter
- Go to Chapters, then select Create Chapter. To edit an existing chapter, open its page and select Edit Chapter.
- Choose the chapter's Type:. The type also controls which membership types can join the chapter, because a chapter type can limit eligibility.
- Enter the Name:. For a new chapter, Rhythm creates an ID: from the name, but you can enter your own ID before you save.
- Set Status: to active or inactive.
- Fill in the Description, Website:, Email Address, Address:, Phone Number:, and Linked Organization: fields as needed.
- Turn on Hide this chapter from the portal if you do not want the chapter to appear in the Portal's chapter picker.
- Select Save Changes.
Result
Rhythm creates or updates the chapter, then takes you to its page.
Tip
The chapter's address is used for chapter suggestions based on distance. If your account uses distance-based suggestions, choose a full address instead of typing the address lines by hand.
Warning
Hiding a chapter from the Portal only removes it from the picker members use while joining or renewing. It does not affect chapter suggestions, which can still show a hidden chapter, and staff can still assign a hidden chapter to a member directly.
Tip
To assign an existing chapter to a membership, including an organization-based membership, do that from the membership's own record. This chapter record page is only for creating and maintaining the chapter itself.
Set Up a Welcome Email for New Members
- On the chapter's create or edit form, turn on New Member Welcome Email.
- Fill in the From:, Subject:, and email body, using the merge-field picker to insert contact, organization, application, order, or membership details.
- Select Preview to see how the email will look, and send yourself a test copy if you want to review it before saving.
- Select Save Changes.
Result
Rhythm saves the template with the chapter. Once New Member Welcome Email is on, the Subject: and body are required. If you turn it back off, those fields are no longer required, and Rhythm keeps what you already typed.
Turn Dues on or Off for a Chapter
- On the chapter's create or edit form, turn Chapter Dues on or off.
- Save the chapter.
Result
When dues are on, joining the chapter costs the amount set by the chapter's dues product. After you save the chapter, add or manage dues products from the chapter's own page. If dues are on but no active dues product applies, the chapter is offered at no cost, and no warning appears.
Record Custom Field Values on a Chapter
If your account has custom fields for chapters, they appear in a Custom Fields section on the chapter's create or edit form. They appear together there, even if your account uses a different chapter page layout elsewhere. Fill them in the same way you fill in the chapter's other fields, then save.
Deactivate or Delete a Chapter
- Open the chapter.
- To stop offering it to new applicants while keeping its record and existing members, set Status: to inactive and save.
- To remove the chapter entirely, select Delete this Chapter from the chapter's page.
- Confirm the deletion, because it cannot be undone.
Result
Deactivating a chapter only affects new offers. Members who already have the chapter are not affected, and the Chapter Center, roster, and officer tools continue to work for it. Deleting removes the record entirely and cannot be reversed.
Warning
Rhythm will not delete a chapter that is still named by a dues product, an assignment mapping, or a membership. If the delete fails, remove or reassign those references first.
If you need to check afterward whether a chapter was deleted, you'll need the chapter's own identifier or an affected membership that referenced it. Rhythm does not offer another way to confirm the deletion.
Related Reading
To learn how a membership's own billing is planned and run, see Start or Edit a Billing Run. To understand why a member is or is not offered an application path that might include a chapter, see How Rhythm Decides Which Application Paths You Can Start. To set up the custom fields a chapter can carry, see Custom Fields Explained.