Documentation: Members & Contacts
Members & Contacts
The Members section contains two main areas; Members and Contacts.
What's the difference?
Members
Members are the subscribing Members of the Lodge. Only 'Active' Members are shown by default, but you can use the filter on the page to view all (eg. Deceased or Inactive Members).
Contacts
Contacts are the People or Organisations you want to keep a record of. Contacts could be regular visitors, Sister Lodges, Charities... or anyone else.
Adding Members & Contacts
Members (and Contacts) can be added from the Add Member and Add Contact buttons at the top of the page.
Each of these buttons opens a pop-up for you to enter their information;
For Members; add their First Name, Surname and Email (if you know it). Once added, you'll be directed to that Member's Record.
For Contacts; add their Name and Email (if you know it). Once added, you'll be directed to that Contact's Record.
This isn't split into First Name and Surname, as the contact could be a sister lodge, charity or other entity.
For bulk adding of Members or Contacts, see the Importer Tools.
Filtering & Searching Members
The Members page includes powerful filtering options to help you quickly find the Members you're looking for.
Available Filters:
- Search - Search by Member name or email address
- Rank - Filter by Masonic rank
- Active Role - Filter by current Lodge role, or find Members with any/no active roles
- Status - Filter by Member status (Active, Inactive, Deceased, Resigned, etc.)
- Tags - Filter by assigned tags, or find Members with any/no tags
Custom Field Filters:
If your Lodge has enabled Custom Fields in the Settings, additional filter options will appear for each enabled custom field. You can search within these fields using partial text matching - simply type part of the value you're looking for.
When filtering by a custom field, the matching custom field column will automatically appear in the results table, making it easy to see the values you're filtering by.
Additional Features:
- Clear Filters - Reset all filters to show all Members
- Export Selection - Export the currently filtered Members to a CSV file
- View Deleted - View and restore previously deleted Members
- Column Sorting - Click the sort icons on column headers to sort results
Deleting Members & Contacts
Members (and Contacts) can be deleted from their individual records.
On the bottom of the record, click Delete on the Actions card, and confirm to delete.
Restoring Deleted Members & Contacts:
If you accidentally delete a Member or Contact, don't worry - they can be restored. Click View Deleted on the Members or Contacts page to see all deleted records. From there, click the Restore button next to the record you wish to recover. All of their data, including attendance records, career history, and role assignments, will be restored.
Member Records
When you click on a Member on the Members page, you're taken to their individual record. Again, this is sub-divided into several categories;
The first page you're taken to. Here you can edit most of the Member's general information;
- Contact Details
- GDPR Justification (for the UK & EU) - why are you processing this person's data?
- Member Status
- General Notes
- Dietary Requirements
- Partner Name and Wedding Anniversary - the anniversary feeds the Wedding Anniversaries report, handy for pastoral contact
You can set a Member's 'Known As' name (eg. Richard, known as Bob). This will override the Member's name throughout the system for ease of use and for informal emails, but the real name will be used in formal contexts.
On Basic Info, you'll also see a preview of how the Member's name will be recorded throughout the system, eg. WBro. H Abiff MBE PProvSec
Please note, the Masonic Rank portion of this is controlled from the Member's Freemasonry tab.
Capturing a Member's Date of Birth serves a few useful purposes. Their age is displayed on their record, their Birthday (and upcoming age) will appear on your 90-day planner (ideal for sending good wishes) and you'll also be able to see a breakdown of your Lodge's Age Profile on the Reporting section.
The Freemasonry tab captures a Member's Masonic Career. You can record their Masonic Rank (used above).
Proposer & Seconder - you can record the names of a Member's Proposer & Seconder on this tab. The boxes are free-text fields (so you can type anything you like), but they offer a dropdown menu of all Lodge Member's names as suggestions.
It was designed this way to enable you to capture the Proposer & Seconder without necessarily having them created as Members (in the case of Resigned, Deceased or Historic Members).
Joining Type
Members can be set to Initiates, Joining Members or Re-Joining Members. Capturing this can provide an interesting metric on the Lodge's makeup on the Reporting section.
Masonic Career
You can also add details of the Member's Masonic Career by clicking Add a New Career Event and filling in the details in the pop-up that appears.
You can also View Full Career, which will show a chronological view of all Career items. This will become more useful when you've used the Planner function on Events to record Rituals and Role Performances.
This view would be particularly useful when writing a Eulogy.
This can be as simple as Initiated, Passed, Raised... or you can add as much detail as you like - Proposed, Balloted, Presented a GL Certificate, Became Treasurer... anything you like!
Again, this input field is free-text, but offers common suggestions based upon your Lodge Type.
Finally, you can capture notes around a Member's other Masonic Memberships (eg. member of St John's Chapter since 2010).
The Roles the Member has held and holds now (you can set these up in the Lodge section). Plus, any pieces of Ritual they know or are learning.
A place to store the Grand Lodge ID, Dues Level (these are setup in the Treasurer section) and view their Invoices (again, these are created in the Treasurer section).
A private area for pastoral care, designed with the Lodge Almoner in mind. Record Welfare Events (illness, bereavements, hardship etc), Support & Disbursements, and the Member's Family & Emergency Contacts. This tab only appears for users with the Almoner / Welfare permission - see the dedicated section below.
Once you've added and confirmed Attendances or Performances from an Event, they can be reported on here. You can select a date range to save lots of time when it comes to Promotions; no more trawling through Minute books!
Member Status & Leaving Reasons
When a Member's status changes to one of the "leaving" statuses, you can capture additional information about their departure.
Leaving Statuses:
- Resigned - Capture the resignation date and reason
- Suspended - Capture the suspension date and reason
- Ceased - Capture the ceased date and reason
- Excluded - Capture the exclusion date and reason
- Deceased - Capture the date of passing (no reason field, handled sensitively)
When you change a Member's status to one of these options on their Basic Info page, additional fields will appear allowing you to record the date and reason (where applicable).
Automatic Career Event:
When you save a leaving status with a date, a Career Event is automatically created in the Member's Masonic Career history. This ensures their complete journey is recorded, including:
- "Resigned", "Suspended", "Ceased", or "Excluded" for those statuses
- "Passed to the Grand Lodge Above" for deceased Members
If the Member's status is later changed back to Active (or another non-leaving status), the leaving Career Event is automatically removed and the leaving date/reason fields are cleared.
Members Who Have Left Report:
theworkingtools.co.uk/reports/resignations
A dedicated report is available under Reports showing all Members who have left the Lodge. This report includes:
- Date Filtering - Filter by a specific date range to see departures within a period
- Summary Counts - See a breakdown of how many Members have Resigned, been Suspended, Ceased, or been Excluded
- Detailed Lists - View each category with Member names, dates, and reasons
- In Memoriam - Deceased Members are shown separately in a respectful "In Memoriam" section, displaying their name and date of passing
This report can be particularly useful for understanding membership trends and for annual returns or reports to Grand Lodge.
Welfare & The Almoner
Every Member record has a Welfare tab; a private area for pastoral care, designed with the Lodge Almoner in mind (though any order or lodge type can use it in whatever way suits).
Who can see it?
Welfare data is often sensitive, so it sits behind its own Almoner / Welfare permission group, separate from general member access:
- View Welfare Records - see the Welfare tab and the Welfare Report
- Create and Edit Welfare Records - add and change welfare data
The Lodge Owner always has access. For Delegates, add these permissions to a Permission Set (for example, a dedicated "Almoner" set) - see the Delegates page. Because an Almoner can't do their role without member information, the Almoner permissions automatically include viewing Members and Reports - so an Almoner-only Permission Set gives them everything they need to care for members, without access to member editing, the Treasurer, Events, Documents or Tools.
Welfare Events
Record pastoral events such as illness, injury, hospitalisation, bereavement or hardship - concerning the Member themselves, one of their Family Contacts, or anyone else you describe. The event type is free-text with suggestions, so you can use your own terminology.
Events stay Open until you mark them Resolved, and all Open events across the whole Lodge appear together on the Welfare Report - so nothing falls through the cracks. Events can be re-opened, edited or removed at any time.
Support & Disbursements
Record support given to a Member or their family - charitable payments from lodge or almoner funds, but also non-monetary support such as flowers, hampers or hospital visits. The amount is optional, so leave it blank for non-monetary support. This is kept as a welfare log; your Treasurer's cash book is unaffected. The last 12 months of support (with a total of any amounts) appear on the Welfare Report.
Family & Emergency Contacts
Store the Member's partner, children, next of kin and other contacts relevant to their welfare, with phone and email, and optionally flag one or more as an Emergency Contact. Family Contacts can be linked to Welfare Events (eg. a bereavement concerning a Member's son).
Data Protection: these are third parties, so you should have their consent (or the Member's assurance) before holding their details. Each contact carries a GDPR consent status (Not Recorded / Consent Given / Consent Declined) with a note of how consent was obtained, and the date it was recorded is stamped automatically. Removing a contact permanently deletes their details, making erasure requests simple to honour.
Tip: the "Member Details Update" form template (see Forms in Tools) is a good way to gather and refresh this information from Members themselves.
Data Protection & GDPR (a note for your DPIA)
Your Lodge is the data controller for welfare information, and because Welfare Events can reveal health details (illness, hospitalisation etc), some of it may be special category data under UK GDPR. We recommend your Lodge records a short Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) covering its use of the Welfare area. The platform is designed to support that assessment:
- Access control - welfare data sits behind the dedicated Almoner / Welfare permission. The Welfare tab and Welfare Report are hidden from Delegates without it, and welfare data is never included in member searches, the member CSV exports, or the printable member reports. Form questions marked as Sensitive Answers (such as the family and emergency-contact questions on the Member Details Update template) are hidden behind the same permission when responses are viewed or exported.
- Data minimisation - record only what is needed for pastoral care. Event types and notes are free-text, so keep entries factual and brief (eg. "in hospital, visit arranged") rather than detailed medical histories.
- Consent - Family & Emergency Contacts carry a consent status and a note of how consent was obtained, stamped with the date recorded.
- Erasure & retention - removing a Welfare Event, Support record or Family Contact permanently deletes it (no hidden copies), so right-to-erasure requests are simple to honour. Review resolved events periodically and remove anything no longer needed.
Contact Records
When you click on a Contact on the Contacts page, you're taken to their individual record. Here you can store their contact information, GDPR justification for holding thier details (if applicable), add notes etc. Some fields, such as Home Address and Business Address may be excessive for recording many Contacts, but these have been included for use on potential Candidates.
Let's chat!
