Family guide: Becoming an SLR member family

The Membership page in the website's top menu has everything about membership, and is where you join: https://www.seattlelittlerangers.org/membership

The rules (v1.0)

• $60 a year per household. One membership covers your whole family. SLR is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and eligible contributions are tax-deductible.
• Your 12 months start on the day of your family's first SLR event, so no time is lost between joining and coming to something. For example, with a first event on November 1, you are members until the end of the following October.
• What members get:
  • Member-exclusive talks and resources: small talks, and family education resources such as the Private School & Public School Gifted Program Application Guide;
  • Priority registration: members register first for popular programs with limited places, such as Mushroom Foraging, Hiking & Biking, Field Trips and the Easter Egg Hunt;
  • Sports Carnival tickets: SLR holds a Summer and a Winter Sports Carnival each year, and every member family has two child tickets for each one, with parents free. Use them yourselves or give them to friends;
  • a free Flea Market vendor spot;
  • more benefits are added over time and announced in the members' group.

Three ways to join

Any of these, bringing SLR $60 in all, makes your family members for a year. On the Membership page, under Three ways to join, choose one of them. The page then shows that way's steps, and only those:

Pay $60 online

Most families join this way, and it takes a few minutes. You pay on the Membership page itself, in a form from Zeffy, the free payment platform SLR uses for memberships, event tickets and donations. The SLR website never sees your card details.

1. Choose Pay $60 online. Its first step has three things to know before you pay, its second says that after paying there is nothing more to fill in, and the form is inside its third and last step:

   

2. In the form, press Add on Annual Family Membership ($60), then Continue. Zeffy calls a membership a ticket; one covers your whole family.

3. Fill in what appears next, from top to bottom:

   • Questions: for the family name, give the name we should call your family, such as The Chen family. It doesn't have to be anyone's last name. If you use WeChat, give your WeChat ID (微信号): it's on WeChat's Me page, under your name, and isn't your nickname. No WeChat? Leave it empty.

   • Summary: the total first shows USD 70.20, because of a line "Help keep Zeffy free for Seattle Little Rangers (optional)", set to 17% ($10.20). That is a tip for Zeffy. It doesn't go to SLR and is not part of the membership fee.

     

     The dropdown has no 0%: choose Other and enter 0, and the total is USD 60.00.

     

   • Payment method: a card or a bank account.

   • Buyer information: use the email you register for events with: the website recognizes your family by it.

4. Press Buy tickets. The form shows Zeffy's thank-you when your payment has gone through.

That is all: there is nothing more to fill in on the SLR website. Zeffy emails you a receipt, and the welcome email arrives within a few minutes of paying.

Apple Pay or Google Pay: the form on the Membership page can't always offer them. Under it, Pay on Zeffy's own page opens the same form on Zeffy's website, which can. Use that link too if the form doesn't appear on the page. It looks like this, and is filled in the same way:

A company 1:1 donation match, or volunteer hours

Your donation plus your employer's match come to $60, or your volunteer hours for SLR are worth $60. Instead of paying, you send an application:

1. Under Three ways to join, choose Company donation match or Volunteer hours. The application appears:

   

2. under Family display name, give the name we should call your family (such as The Chen family), then your own name, your email (again, the one you register for events with) and, if you use WeChat, your WeChat ID (微信号, on WeChat's Me page under your name - not your nickname);

3. say which company and what amounts, or when you volunteered and at which events, and press Send application.

We check it and email you a welcome, usually within a few days. If you have paid the $60, you don't need this application.

On any form on the website, if something is missing when you press its button, the page says what, in red, under the field it is about.

Once you have joined

• The members' WeChat group: if you gave us your WeChat ID, we add you to it by that ID. WeChat only lets us find you if you allow it: in WeChat, go to Me → Settings → Friends' Permissions → Methods for Friending Me and turn on WeChat ID. If we can't find you, we'll email you.
• The welcome email has your family's Member ID (such as SLR-0001; it is for the whole family and stays the same every year) and two Sports Carnival ticket codes. Both codes work at every Carnival, once at each.
• Sign in on the website with that email, and the top of My registrations (top right) is your membership card: your ID, how long the membership lasts, and your tickets. For how to sign in, see Signing in and "My registrations".
• Before your first event, the card says "Your 12 months start at your first SLR event". Your benefits already apply.

Registering for members-only and members-first events

On these events' pages, anyone not signed in sees a notice about membership instead of the form:

Press Sign in and sign in with your member email, and the form appears.

• If the page says "has no SLR membership", the email you signed in with isn't the one on the membership (the other parent's, perhaps). Press Sign in with another email and use the member email.
• A members-first event says "Members first until …" at the top of its page. From that time, anyone can register.

Renewing

• We email you a reminder 30 days before your membership ends.
• Renewing works the same way as joining: pay $60 again on the Membership page with the same email, or send the application again.
• A renewal adds 12 months from your current end date, and your ticket codes stay the same and carry on working at every Carnival. You lose nothing by renewing early.

Refunds

Membership fees aren't refunded. In special circumstances you can ask to have your membership extended instead; SLR decides each case.

SLR has the final say on how these rules apply, and announces any change in the members' group. Questions? Email SeattleLittleRangers@gmail.com.