The first thing SocietyPress shows you after install. Four short steps get the basics in place so the rest of the platform has somewhere to land. Takes about ten minutes if you have your society's information at hand.
What you'll need
- Your society's name, mailing address, phone number and contact email.
- When your membership year starts, if you use one.
- A rough idea of which features you want (you can change them later).
- An email address for the site to send from — one at your own website's domain works best.
Step 1 — Your Organization
Society name, contact email, mailing address and phone number. The name shows up in the header, in emails and on member-facing forms. Every field can be changed later under Settings → Organization.
Step 2 — Membership
Choose how membership periods work:
- Annual (fixed year) — everyone's membership runs to the end of the same year. Most societies use this. Then pick the Fiscal Year Start Month — many societies start in July.
- Rolling (12 months from join date) — each member's year runs from the day they joined.
- Lifetime only — memberships never expire.
SocietyPress starts you with five membership plans — Individual, Joint/Family, Student, Lifetime and Honorary. Rename them, change prices, and add or remove plans under Members → Membership Plans. The period type and start month can be changed later under Settings → Membership.
Step 3 — Choose Your Features
Tick the features your society needs — Events, Library, Newsletters, Store, and so on. Members and finances are always on. You can turn features on and off later under Settings → Features.
Step 4 — Finishing Touches
- Primary Color and Accent Color for your site.
- Email "From" Name and Email "From" Address — who emails from the site appear to come from.
Click Finish Setup.
What happens after
The last page offers to Import My Members — see Members, and the ENS migration guide if you're moving from EasyNetSites. Or go to the Dashboard and come back to it.
Other things most societies do next:
- Set up payments — add your Stripe and/or PayPal keys under Settings → Events → Online Payments. Needed before members can pay dues online, before donations work, and before the store accepts orders.
- Pick a look — Website → Appearance → Theme has five child themes (Heritage, Coastline, Prairie, Ledger, Parlor), and Website → Appearance → Colors & Fonts fine-tunes colors and fonts. See Theme Presets and Child Themes.
- Add your first event — see Events. Most societies start with their next monthly meeting.
If something looks wrong
The wizard didn't appear after install. It opens once, on the first visit to the admin after SocietyPress is switched on, and not again after it is finished or skipped. Everything it asks is also on the Settings screens, so you never need it again: Organization, Membership, Modules and Design.
I picked the wrong theme. Website → Appearance → Theme lets you switch. Changing theme doesn't touch your members, events or content.
I picked the wrong membership period. Change it under Settings → Membership. Existing members keep the expiration dates they have; new dates follow the new setting. Plan names and prices are under Members → Membership Plans.
The address on my receipts is wrong. Settings → Organization. Edit, save. The next receipt picks up the new address.