Sepo Membership

Membership plans, donations and sponsorship for WordPress. Payments are confirmed by you, and the plugin adds a sponsors page and a members area with downloads, links, discussions and suggestions by plan.

Your support helps us maintain, improve and build open-source software for everyone.
Every contribution makes a difference. Thank you for supporting our work!

There is no payment gateway and no outside service. The flow works like this:

1. People pay by bank, mobile money, cash or a payment link.
2. They tell you they have paid.
3. You confirm the payment in the dashboard.

Nothing opens until you confirm.

Contents

• Features
• Requirements
• Installation
• Getting started
• Shortcodes and blocks
• Working with Sepo WordPress Bridge
• Privacy
• Uninstalling
• For developers
• Changelog
• License

Features

Plans and joining

• A pricing table with:
  • monthly, quarterly, yearly and one-time prices;
  • a switch between periods;
  • a highlighted plan.
• Joining opens a dialog with the payment details, the payment link, a reference, and a place for proof of payment (a screenshot, PDF or document).
• Free plans open at once. Upgrades start when they are paid.
• Moving to a lower plan is scheduled for the next payment, so members keep what they paid for.
• Members can:
  • cancel and keep access until the end of the time they paid for;
  • change their mind after cancelling;
  • add proof to a waiting payment.
• A payer who wants a waiting payment back asks to withdraw it and gives a reason.
  • You approve the request (the payment is kept, marked withdrawn) or decline it with a reason (the payment waits again).
  • The payer is emailed either way.

Accountability

• An activity log records every step, with who did it and when:
  • payments sent and proof added;
  • payments confirmed or marked not received;
  • withdrawals asked for, approved or declined;
  • payments recorded or deleted by hand;
  • membership changes made from the dashboard.
• Each payment shows its own history. Payers see what has happened to their waiting payments.
• Log entries cannot be edited or removed. They keep a short summary of the payment, so the record stays whole after a payment is deleted.
• Deleting a payment asks for a reason.
• Members get renewal reminders before a plan runs out, and a notice when it has.

Giving and sponsors

• A giving form with suggested amounts or any amount, given once or monthly.
  • Monthly givers get a reminder.
  • Nothing is taken automatically.
• Sponsorship projects with a goal, a closing date and progress. Each project page shows its giving form and its sponsors.
• A sponsors page with:
  • totals;
  • projects to sponsor;
  • sponsors by level;
  • members who chose to be listed.
• Sponsors are added in two ways:
  • by hand, with a logo, a link and the projects they back;
  • from gifts whose givers asked to be listed, placed by what they gave.
• Visitors can give without an account if you allow it. A hidden spam trap and a rate limit protect the form.

Members area

• Downloads. Upload files to a private folder, or choose them from the media library. They are handed out only to members whose plan covers them.
  • Private uploads cannot be opened by their address at all.
  • Media library files keep their own public address, and the editor points this out.
• Links. The address is never shown in the page. Members are sent on after their plan is checked.
• Discussions with replies.
• Suggestions that members vote for. You mark them planned, done or not planned, and can pin them.
• Each section and each resource can need a plan. Members see what a higher plan adds, marked as locked.
• The server checks every download, link and post. Without an active, confirmed plan, nothing from the area reaches the page.

Requirements

Installation

Upload the zip (recommended)

1. Download sepo-membership.zip.
2. In your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins → Add New Plugin → Upload Plugin.
3. Choose the zip file and click Install Now.
4. Click Activate.

Upload the folder

1. Unzip the download.
2. Copy the sepo-membership folder into wp-content/plugins/ on your server.
3. Go to Plugins and activate Sepo Membership.

[!NOTE] GitHub's Code → Download ZIP names the folder after the branch, for example sepo-membership-main. Rename it to sepo-membership before uploading.

Getting started

1. Activate the plugin. It creates these pages:
   • Membership;
   • My membership;
   • Members area;
   • Sponsors;
   • Donate.
2. Membership → Plans: set prices and benefits.
3. Membership → Settings: add your payment methods, such as bank details, a mobile money number or a payment link address.
   • In a link, {amount}, {currency} and {reference} are filled in for each payment.
4. Add content. Add projects, sponsors and resources from the Membership menu.
5. Confirm payments under Membership → Payments. You get an email for each one.

Shortcodes and blocks

Each shortcode has a matching block.

The members area reads its settings from the page it is on, so place the shortcode or block in the page content.

Working with Sepo WordPress Bridge

When Sepo WordPress Bridge is also active and has tiers, the plans here use the Bridge's tiers. Then:

• the Bridge's tier gates open for members whose plan here is active and paid;
• its join and account links point at this plugin's pages;
• the member's tier is written to their account.

A tier you gave someone by hand in the Bridge is left alone.

Privacy

• The plugin adds text to the privacy policy guide.
• It works with WordPress's personal data export and erase tools.
  • Erasing removes the membership, votes, proofs, names and contact details.
  • The amounts and dates of confirmed payments are kept as anonymous accounting records.
• Proof files are shown only to the people who run the membership.

Uninstalling

Deactivating the plugin (Plugins → Deactivate) stops it and keeps everything.

Deleting the plugin (Plugins → Deactivate, then Delete) removes the plugin files.

• By default all data is kept.
• To remove it, first tick Delete members, payments, board posts, files and settings when the plugin is deleted under Membership → Settings and save, then delete the plugin. This removes:
  • members, payments, discussions, suggestions, votes and the activity log;
  • projects, sponsors, resources and collections;
  • the private files folder;
  • the plans and settings.

The pages the plugin created are left for you to keep or delete.

For developers

Filters

Actions

• Payments:
  • sepo_membership_payment_recorded
  • sepo_membership_payment_confirmed
  • sepo_membership_payment_rejected
• Memberships:
  • sepo_membership_member_changed
  • sepo_membership_cancelled
• Members area:
  • sepo_membership_resource_opened
  • sepo_membership_board_created
  • sepo_membership_board_replied
  • sepo_membership_board_removed
• Withdrawals:
  • sepo_membership_withdrawal_requested
  • sepo_membership_withdrawal_decided
• Activity log: sepo_membership_logged

Changelog

1.2.1

• Resources: Remove this file removes the private file at once, after you confirm, and says so.
• A download with no file is not listed in the members area, and its address leads nowhere.

1.2.0

• Resources: a download can be a file from the media library as well as a private upload. Members still get it through the plan check.

1.1.0

• Withdrawing a payment is a request with a reason, approved or declined by the people who run the membership. The payer and you are emailed. Withdrawn payments are kept.
• An activity log (Membership → Activity log), a history under each payment, and a trail for payers on their membership page.
• Deleting a payment asks for a reason, which goes in the log.
• Sponsors page: sections, cards and headings are centred.

1.0.0

• First release, with:
  • plans and a pricing table;
  • manual and link payments with proof and confirmation;
  • member accounts;
  • giving with goals and projects, and a sponsors page;
  • a members area with gated downloads and links, discussions, and suggestions with voting;
  • Sepo WordPress Bridge tiers;
  • blocks and privacy tools.

License

GPL-2.0-or-later