Membership Application and Approval Rules

Plain-English summary: Application, pending-member, approval, denial, administrative-hold, and checkout-unlock rules for membership access.

Membership Application and Approval Rules

1. Purpose

These rules explain who may apply, what an application requires, when dues are paid, what Pending means, who may make the final decision, how approval and denial work, how records and notices are maintained, and how low-technology application methods are handled.

2. Core rule

A person may submit a Membership Application, select a membership level, accept the required documents, and pay the applicable dues.

After those required steps are recorded, the application becomes Pending.

The person becomes a Member only when the Membership Approval Manager, or another person holding a specific recorded delegation, selects Approve.

If the authorized decision is Deny, the person is not admitted and remains or becomes a Non-Member.

Taking no final action leaves the application Pending.

The identity of the current Membership Approval Manager is maintained in a restricted appointment record rather than repeated in public policy.

3. Three relationship states

The Association uses:

• Non-Member — no current approved membership;
• Pending — application submitted and awaiting a manual decision; and
• Member — application manually approved and membership not ended.

Application review, information requests, billing conditions, document conditions, and Purchasing Access conditions are recorded separately. They are not additional kinds of membership identity.

4. Who may apply

A person may apply if the person:

1. has legal capacity to enter the Membership Agreement;
2. provides truthful and complete required information;
3. selects a current membership level;
4. accepts the required documents and acknowledgments;
5. pays the applicable application dues through an approved secure method;
6. agrees to applicable Member-use, no-resale, privacy, conduct, and support rules; and
7. completes the required application steps.

The Association is not required to approve every applicant.

5. Required applicant information

The application may require:

• full legal or recognized name;
• email address;
• telephone number;
• mailing address;
• billing address;
• shipping or pickup information when relevant;
• selected membership level;
• approved payment information;
• required document acceptance;
• no-resale and Member-use acknowledgment;
• manual-approval acknowledgment;
• privacy acknowledgment;
• support and communication preferences; and
• additional information reasonably required to complete the review.

The Association should collect only information reasonably needed for membership, records, support, security, and approved marketplace administration.

6. Current membership levels

Applicants choose a level listed in the Current Membership Dues Schedule:

1. Monthly Member;
2. Annual Member; or
3. 1776 Law Center Supporter.

Level selection does not guarantee approval, Member status, Purchasing Access, product availability, or a particular Member program.

7. Required documents and acknowledgments

The application must clearly identify the documents and acknowledgments required for the current version of the process. These may include:

• Membership Agreement;
• By-Laws acknowledgment;
• Current Membership Dues Schedule;
• Privacy Policy;
• no-resale and non-distribution acknowledgment;
• manual-approval acknowledgment;
• Member relationship and Purchasing Access acknowledgment;
• handling, shipping, pickup, and support acknowledgments where relevant; and
• electronic, paper, telephone-assisted, or fax record acknowledgment.

Each acceptance record must identify the document, exact version or content hash, acceptance method, date, time, applicant or account, and source.

8. Application dues

The applicant pays the applicable dues as part of the Membership Application.

Payment completes the financial part of the application but does not approve the applicant.

Payment, active billing, a subscription record, a completed checklist, a customer tag, or another technical event cannot create Member status.

Payment-card information must be collected only through an approved secure method and must not be sent through ordinary email or unsecured fax.

9. Pending review

A completed paid application enters Pending status.

A Pending person may be allowed to sign in, review application status, update permitted information, receive notices, respond to information requests, contact Support, use specifically authorized Pending functions, and view public information under current site rules.

A Pending person may not complete Member marketplace product checkout or represent that the application has been approved.

Pending continues while the application is reviewed, information is requested, a response is awaited, records are checked, a concern is considered, or no final decision has been made.

10. Administrative review

Authorized administrators may:

• confirm that the application is complete;
• identify missing information;
• verify document acceptance records;
• verify that the payment record exists;
• identify possible duplicate accounts;
• prepare internal notes;
• communicate with the applicant;
• summarize issues for the Membership Approval Manager; and
• maintain the application record.

Administrative review does not include final admission or denial authority unless the reviewer also holds a specific recorded delegation of that authority.

The Operations Administrator may administer the workflow under a written agreement. Merchant may maintain payment and transaction records. Neither role independently creates authority to admit or deny an applicant.

11. Membership Approval Manager

The Membership Approval Manager holds final approval and denial authority under the By-Laws and the current restricted appointment record.

Another person may exercise that authority only through a specific recorded delegation identifying:

• the delegate;
• whether Approve, Deny, or both are authorized;
• scope;
• effective date;
• expiration or duration;
• conditions;
• revocation authority; and
• records location.

A generic support, staff, administrator, reviewer, technical, finance, Merchant, Operations Administrator, or vendor role does not itself include final admission authority.

12. Final decision controls

The final admission controls are:

• Approve — changes Pending to Member.
• Deny — records the denied application and changes the current relationship to Non-Member.

Requesting more information, adding notes, marking an item incomplete, pausing follow-up, or waiting for a response does not create another relationship state and does not constitute a final decision.

No automated approval or automated denial is permitted.

13. Approval

Before selecting Approve, the authorized decision-maker should have access to the application, selected membership level, required acceptance records, dues or payment record, completeness summary, relevant communications, duplicate-account or other review notes, and applicable escalation information.

Selecting Approve creates Member status and must record:

• applicant identity and account identifier;
• decision-maker identity;
• authority or delegation reference;
• decision date and time;
• accepted-document versions;
• dues or payment record;
• resulting relationship state;
• Purchasing Access result;
• notice sent; and
• complete audit history.

Product purchasing is available only when the separate Purchasing Access requirements are also met.

14. Denial

Selecting Deny records that the application was not approved and the person is a Non-Member.

The denial record must identify the decision-maker, authority, date and time, application, accepted-document versions, payment record, notice, refund disposition, and audit history.

A denial notice should be respectful and should state that the application was not approved, that Member marketplace purchasing remains unavailable, the applicable refund treatment, an available support contact, and any reapplication rule that applies.

The Association may maintain confidential internal reasons when appropriate. Counsel should determine what reason or review rights must be provided under governing law and final policy.

15. Denied-application refund

The denied-application refund is governed by the Membership Agreement and Current Membership Dues Schedule.

Pending review, information requests, application support, status access, denial notice, refund processing, public browsing, public information, surveys, listening sessions, and other pre-admission communications are not Member services.

The system must prevent duplicate refunds and preserve the complete payment disposition.

16. Withdrawal

A Pending applicant may request withdrawal through an approved support method.

Withdrawal ends the Pending application and returns the current relationship state to Non-Member. The Membership Agreement and Current Membership Dues Schedule govern whether the dues payment is refundable.

The Association must preserve the application history, withdrawal request, date, payment disposition, notice, and records required by law and policy.

17. Reapplication

A denied or withdrawn person may reapply only under the conditions stated in the denial notice, Membership Agreement, Program Rules, or later Association decision.

A new application does not erase the prior record. The new application must receive a new manual decision.

18. Purchasing Access

Member status and Purchasing Access are separate.

Purchasing Access generally requires:

1. Member status;
2. current dues;
3. current required document acceptance;
4. accurate required information;
5. no applicable checkout restriction; and
6. satisfaction of product-specific rules.

A Member whose Purchasing Access is temporarily blocked remains a Member unless the Association ends the membership.

19. Notices and communications

Application communications may be delivered through account notice, website notice, email, telephone, mail, fax, support ticket, personal delivery, or another approved method.

Important communications may include application received, Pending status, information request, decision notice, denied-application refund notice, payment or document issue, support instructions, and records confirmation.

The applicant must maintain accurate contact information.

20. Records and audit trail

The Association or authorized administrator must preserve:

• application data;
• relationship state;
• review condition;
• selected level;
• payment record;
• document versions accepted;
• communications;
• decision;
• decision-maker and authority;
• timestamps;
• Purchasing Access result;
• notice;
• refund disposition; and
• later corrections or reversals.

Customer tags, CRM fields, and other technical markers are implementation mirrors. They do not independently create Member status without the underlying authorized manual decision.

21. Paper, telephone, mail, personal-delivery, and fax workflows

The Association may support applications and decisions through paper, telephone-assisted, mail, personal-delivery, or fax-supported procedures.

Low-technology workflows must preserve the same required application information, document versions, payment security, manual decision authority, notice, and audit trail as electronic workflows.

22. Prior website participation

A prior website account, prior vendor-operated system, prior lifetime-membership product, prior complimentary membership record, donation, fundraiser-related membership product, or other legacy arrangement does not bypass the current application, dues, manual approval, acceptance, and Purchasing Access requirements.

23. Public and private information boundary

This public policy identifies the role that decides applications but does not identify the current officeholder, private owners, compensation, banking, private allocations, distributions, royalties, license fees, tax treatment, or private profit flows.

Current officeholder identity and private economic arrangements are maintained only in the restricted appointment, agreement, consent, ownership, accounting, or signature records that require them.

24. Related documents

These rules must be read with the By-Laws, Membership Agreement, Membership Relationship and Access Rules, Current Membership Dues Schedule, Member Rights and Responsibilities, Member Code of Conduct, Privacy Policy, Support Policy, and applicable Program Rules.

Related Resources

• Legal & Policy Hub
• Contact Support