Every association is looking for that one benefit members can’t stop talking about. Something that makes renewal an easy yes. Something that turns “why should I keep my membership?” into “I can’t afford not to.”
Say hello to Member Hours, a new feature built directly into the CE21 Association Management Software (AMS).
What is the Member Hours Program?
Think of Member Hours as a golden ticket for your members. Instead of pulling out a credit card for every single course, eligible members receive a set number of Member Hours each year. They spend those hours to enroll in eligible courses instantly, live webcasts, on-demand programs, webinars, and more, with no checkout friction.
There’s one important rule that keeps the program simple for everyone: a course has to be paid for entirely in hours or entirely with a standard payment method. There’s no splitting the cost between Member Hours and a credit card, which means members always know exactly where they stand.
How It Works, Without the Busywork
Because Member Hours lives inside the same database as the rest of your CE21 AMS and LMS, none of this requires an integration, an import, or a workaround. It’s built in.
- Tiered allocation, automatically. Decide how many hours each membership level receives every year, and hours are granted the moment a member becomes active. A Professional tier and a Student tier can carry completely different amounts, and new members joining mid-year can be prorated so a July signup gets a fair share instead of a full year’s worth.
- Rollover, your way. Choose whether unused hours disappear at renewal (use it or lose it), pile up indefinitely, or roll over up to a cap you set, like “up to 5 hours.” Whatever fits your association’s philosophy.
- One balance, even across multiple memberships. If a member belongs to more than one group with Member Hours, their hours combine into a single pool. No confusing dual balances to track.
- Redemption in one click. When a member is logged in and browsing a course that’s part of the program, they see a “Purchase with Member Hours” button right on the product. Click yes, and they’re registered instantly, no cart, no invoice, no waiting on staff.
- Built-in nudges. An automated “low balance” email lets members know when their hours are running low, a gentle reminder of the value they’ve already gotten from their membership (and a reason to keep it coming).
- Lapsed members don’t lose their history. If a member’s dues lapse and they later reactivate, their unused hours and any courses they registered for with Member Hours come right back.
A Benefit Members Actually Use, and You Can Actually Measure
Non-dues revenue and member engagement are usually treated as two separate problems. Member Hours quietly solves both. Members get a tangible, easy-to-understand reason to renew. Staff get a benefit that runs itself instead of adding another task to the to-do list.
And because it all lives on the same platform, you’re never in the dark about impact. A dedicated Member Hours Activity Report shows every hour earned, spent, and rolled over across your association. Your Product Sales and Registration reports now show Member Hours as a payment method. And Smart Lists can query on a member’s current Member Hours balance, so you can build a targeted campaign for “members with unused hours about to expire” in a few clicks.
Built for the Way Associations Actually Work
Member Hours joins a growing set of tools inside the CE21 AMS designed to make membership feel less like administration and more like genuine value: tiered membership structures with automatic transitions, Smart Lists that update themselves, legislative district matching, and now, a digital bank of learning credits that members can spend without ever picking up the phone.
It’s one more way CE21 keeps your member data, your education catalog, and your association’s day-to-day operations working from a single, unified platform instead of a patchwork of disconnected tools.
See It in Action
Curious how Member Hours could work for your organization’s tier structure? Request a demo and we’ll walk you through how easy it is to turn your membership into the benefit everyone renews for.
Explore our Association Management (AMS) Solution.
