Season change: how to prepare your association’s new membership dues
For many associations, sports clubs, schools or leisure organizations, the change of season is an important moment. You need to prepare the new membership dues, track renewals, update member statuses and keep a clean contact database.
With Kananas, this transition can be managed simply, without starting from scratch. The idea is to keep your existing contacts, create the dues for the new season, and then gradually track the members who renew their membership.
1. Create the membership products for the new season
The first step is to create the new products corresponding to the upcoming season.
For example, if you are preparing the 2026 season, you can create a product called:
2026 Membership Dues
Depending on how your organization works, you can create several products:
2026 Adult Membership Dues
2026 Child Membership Dues
2026 Family Membership Dues
2026 Reduced Rate Membership Dues
2026 Tennis Section Membership Dues
2026 Dance Section Membership Dues
This makes it easy to distinguish payments from the previous season from those of the new one. Your administrative and accounting tracking remains clearer.
Tip: duplicate the products from the previous season
To save time, you can duplicate the products already created for the previous season.
For example, if you had 2025 Membership Dues products, duplicate them to quickly create your 2026 Membership Dues products. You then only need to change the name, dates, amounts or information specific to the new season.
This method avoids recreating everything manually and reduces the risk of forgetting something.
2. Keep your existing contacts
When changing seasons, there is no need to delete all former members and start with an empty database.
On the contrary, it is often better to keep your contacts. This allows you to preserve member history, contact details, previous registrations, documents and past exchanges with the organization.
This continuity is useful for following up with members, tracking renewals and keeping a record of the association’s activity.
3. Move contacts to the “Registration in progress” status
To prepare for the new season, you can move your contacts to the Registration in progress status.
In Kananas, you can select all the relevant contacts, then use the action:
Edit record / status
You then apply the Registration in progress status.
This status makes it easy to identify people who were already in your database, but whose renewal for the new season has not yet been confirmed.
You can then gradually track the members who pay their dues, complete their file or confirm their participation for the new season.
4. Track renewals throughout the season
Once the new membership products have been created and the contacts have been moved to the appropriate status, you can track renewals as they come in.
Members can also renew their membership directly online from their Kananas member portal. They can update their information, complete their file if needed and pay their dues without manual intervention from the association.
Members who pay their 2026 dues can be updated in Kananas. You keep a clear overview of:
who has renewed;
who is still pending;
who has not responded;
who needs to be reminded;
who will not participate in the new season.
This organization makes the work of the board, secretary, treasurer and activity managers easier.
5. What should you do with contacts who do not renew?
During the season, you can decide what to do with contacts who have not renewed their membership.
There are two possible options.
The first is to delete contacts who are no longer part of the association, if you want to keep a very clean database.
The second is to keep them, in case they return the following season. For example, a member who is absent in 2026 may very well come back in 2027.
In many associations, it is better not to delete former contacts too quickly. Keeping them preserves history and makes a possible future renewal easier.
However, you should remain attentive to data protection rules: personal data should not be kept indefinitely without a valid reason. The association should define a retention period consistent with its activity, inform members about how their data is used, and delete or anonymize information that is no longer needed.
A simple method for a smoother transition
Changing seasons may seem tedious, but these best practices make it easier to manage.
With this method, your association keeps a clean database, accurate dues tracking and better visibility into the members who are truly active for the new season.
Kananas therefore helps you prepare your association’s new season more calmly, without losing your member history or multiplying manual operations.