Documentation: Members & Contacts

Members & Contacts

The Members section contains two main areas; Members and Contacts.

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What's the difference?

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Adding Members & Contacts

theworkingtools.co.uk/members

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. After an import, you can tidy many records at once with Bulk Edit.

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Filtering & Searching Members

theworkingtools.co.uk/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

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Bulk Edit Members

theworkingtools.co.uk/members/bulk-edit

When you need to update the same kinds of fields across many Members — for example after an import, or to fill in missing dates of birth and prefixes — use Bulk Edit from the Members header. It opens a spreadsheet-style grid so you can edit multiple Members without opening each record.

There are three of these grids — one each for Members, Contacts and Candidates. The Bulk Edit button opens whichever matches the page you are on, and once you are in a grid the Editing: switcher at the top moves you between all three. See Bulk Edit Contacts & Candidates below for what differs.

Bulk Edit is available to users with permission to create and edit Members. Delegates without that permission will not see the button.

How it works:

• Autosave — there is no Save button. Each cell saves when you leave it (or press Enter). A brief tick confirms success; an error outline keeps your typed value so you can correct it.
• Keyboard — Tab / Shift+Tab move across a row; Enter saves and moves down the same column (ideal for fixing one field for many Members); Shift+Enter moves up; Esc reverts the cell to the value it had when you focused it.
• Columns — essentials such as prefixes, names, DOB, rank, Grand Lodge ID, email, phone and dues level are shown by default. Use Columns to add address fields, joining details, Tags, custom fields and more. Your column choices are remembered for next time.
• Filters — search, status and tags work like the main Members list, so you can narrow the grid to the Members you're tidying.
• Status — shown as a read-only link to the Member's page. Changing status (and capturing leaving dates or career events) still happens on the individual record.

Tagging in bulk:

Add the Tags column from Columns and each row shows that Member's tags as coloured labels. Click the cell and a short list of your Lodge's tags appears; tick to tag, untick to untag. Each change saves on the spot, the same as any other cell. The column only appears once your Lodge has at least one tag — see Tags for creating, renaming and recolouring them.

With the Tags column showing, a Bulk tag bar also appears above the grid. Choose a tag, then Add to all shown or Remove from all shown. This applies to every record the current filters match, not just the page in front of you, so the count is shown beside the tag list and you are asked to confirm first. Filter the grid down before you use it — for example search for a surname, or set Status to Active — and you can tag a whole group in one action.

Bulk Edit is designed for a desktop or laptop screen. On a phone, use the individual Member pages instead.

After a successful Member import, the Importer page also offers a Next step link straight into Bulk Edit, optionally filtered to the Members you just imported — see the Importer help.

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Bulk Edit Contacts & Candidates

theworkingtools.co.uk/contacts/bulk-edit

Contacts and Candidates have the same spreadsheet-style grid as Members, and it behaves the same way: autosave, the same keyboard shortcuts, and a Columns button whose choices are remembered separately for each of the three grids.

Getting there — the Bulk Edit button follows the page you are on, so it opens the Contacts grid from the Contacts list and the Candidates grid from the Candidate Tracker. Once you are in a grid, the Editing: switcher at the top moves you between Members, Contacts and Candidates without going back first.

Contacts

• Shown by default — name, formal name, email, phone numbers, occupation and date of birth.
• Optional columns — prefix, home and business address, GDPR basis, dietary requirements, notes, Tags, and whether the Contact receives the Summons and the Minutes. The Summons and Minutes columns are Yes/No dropdowns, so setting who receives what across many Contacts is a single pass down the column.
• Filters — search and tags, matching the main Contacts list.
• Tags — the Tags column and the Bulk tag bar work exactly as they do for Members, described above, so you can tag or untag a whole filtered group of Contacts in one action.
• Straight after an import — the Contact Importer offers a Next step link into this grid showing only the Contacts that import touched, so you can tidy them before they mix in with everyone else. Show all contacts lifts the filter when you're done.
• Elsewhere — reminders are still managed on the individual Contact record. The first column of the grid links straight there.

Candidates

• Shown by default — prefix, names, date of birth, email, phone and Status.
• Status can be changed here — unlike Members, whose status is read-only in the grid, candidate Status is a dropdown you can change directly, so you can move several people from Lead to Proposed in one pass.
• Optional columns — full address, business address, partner name, dietary needs, enquiry source, proposer, seconder, joining type, GDPR basis and notes. Proposer and seconder suggest names from your Member list as you type.
• Filters — search by name or email, and filter by status. This is the first search the Candidate Tracker has had; it hides Closed candidates unless you ask for them.
• Email addresses — a Candidate cannot be given an email address that another Candidate or an existing Member of your Lodge already uses. Candidates are converted into Members later, and a Lodge cannot have two Members on the same address, so this catches the clash while it is still easy to fix. Note that past Members (Ceased, Resigned, Deceased) still hold their address.
• Elsewhere — career events, notes and reminders remain on the individual Candidate record, linked from the first column of the grid.

As with Members, both grids are available to users with permission to create and edit Members, and both are designed for a desktop or laptop screen.

Each grid also has a Bulk Delete button at the foot of the page for removing several records at once — see Deleting Members, Contacts & Candidates.

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Deleting Members, Contacts & Candidates

Members, Contacts and Candidates 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 records:

If you accidentally delete someone, don't worry - they can be restored. Click View Deleted on the Members, Contacts or Candidate Tracker 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. Candidate reminders are the one exception: those are removed when a Candidate is deleted and are not brought back.

Bulk Delete:

To remove several people at once, open the relevant Bulk Edit grid and use the Bulk Delete button at the foot of the page. There is a grid for each of Members, Contacts and Candidates, and the Deleting: switcher at the top moves between them.

• Tick as you go — search or filter by status to find the records, then tick them. Your ticks are remembered while you search and move between pages, so you can build the list gradually.
• Review before anything happens — Review lists every person you have ticked, with their email address, and a remove link beside each in case one was ticked by mistake.
• Confirm by typing the number — the red delete button stays locked until you type the exact number of records being deleted. It is a deliberate speed bump on an action that affects a lot of people at once.
• Still recoverable — everything deleted this way goes to the same Deleted list as a single delete, so it can be restored.
• Permission — Bulk Delete needs the Delete Members permission. Delegates without it will not see the button on any of the three grids.

Permanently deleting a Contact or Candidate:

A Lodge cannot have two Contacts, or two Candidates, on the same email address, and a deleted record still holds the address it was using. If you try to reuse one you'll be told who holds it and where to find them. From the Deleted Contacts or Deleted Candidates list you can either restore that record, or use Delete permanently to erase it for good and free the address up.

Members have no permanent delete: erasing a Member would take their invoices, attendance, ballots and service history with them. If a deleted Member is holding an address you need, restore them and change their email address instead.

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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;

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Member Status & Leaving Reasons

theworkingtools.co.uk/members

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.

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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, the Welfare Report, the Members without an Emergency Contact report, and Welfare Event anniversary reminders on the 90-day planner
• 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.

When adding or editing an event, tick Remind me of the anniversary on the 90-day planner if you want that date to appear each year on the Dashboard planner (and the printable Upcoming Planner). Typical uses are remembering a bereavement, a hospital date, or any other occasion that warrants a call. Flagged events show an Anniversary reminder note in the Welfare Events list. The anniversary only appears if the event has a date, and only from the following year onwards (the original event date is not shown as a 0-year anniversary). These reminders stay on the planner after the event is marked Resolved, and they are only visible to users with the Almoner / Welfare permission. Almoners can show or hide them with Customise on the planner.

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). The Members without an Emergency Contact report on the Reports page lists current Members who do not yet have anyone flagged, so gaps are easy to fill.

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. If you turn on pre-filled details, fill in dates of birth first via Bulk Edit so members can confirm theirs and then check the rest.

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 reports are hidden from Delegates without it, and welfare data is never included in member searches, the member CSV exports, or the printable member reports. Welfare Event anniversary reminders on the Dashboard planner are likewise only shown to users with this permission. 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.

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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.