Onboard Members
Learn how to add members, send account invitations, assign module permissions, record KYC status, and open each member's capital account.
Member Onboarding & Ledger Initialization
Expanding a cooperative requires maintaining clear records and establishing legal consent for democratic operations. The Member Ledger tracks each member from their first record through equity buy-in, capital account activity, and system access.
1. The Onboarding Steps
A typical onboarding runs through these stages:
Create the Member Record & Invitation
An administrator clicks "Onboard" in the Member Ledger and enters the member's name, email, role (Founder, Worker, or Investor), status (Active or Prospect), and member class. OwnFold emails the member an invitation link, valid for 7 days, to choose their own password.
Bylaws & Member Agreement
Have the member review your bylaws and sign a member agreement, including Subchapter T consent to report patronage dividends in their personal tax filings. The Template Library's Worker-Member Agreement is a starting point, and signed copies can be archived in the Document Vault.
Capital Buy-in
Record any buy-in already paid when you create the member, then log further contributions from their profile as payments arrive. Members added as Prospects appear as probationary candidates until you activate them.
KYC Status
OwnFold does not perform identity verification itself. Each member record carries a KYC status (Pending by default) that your administrators update after verifying identity through your own process. A Verified status is required before a member can request share trades.
2. Module Permissions
Control what each member can open by granting module access on their profile:
- Administrator: Full access to every module and workspace settings.
- Financials & Ledger: Financial Core, Patronage, Ownership Designer, Capital, Share Trades, and Billing.
- Governance & Legal Hub: Legal Hub, Formation Studio, Convert, Compliance Calendar, Template Library, and Document Vault.
- CRM & Sales / Projects & Scheduling: Customer pipeline and estimates, or project budgets and time logs.
- Standard Member: Without extra permissions, members can vote and comment on proposals, use the AI Advisor within their credit quota, and browse the network directories.
Field operations tools (Work Orders, Timesheets, Inventory, and Expenses) are limited to administrators and members with operations access.
3. Initializing the Member's Capital Account
When you onboard a member with a buy-in or initial capital amount, or click "Activate & Post Buy-In" for a probationary candidate, the Member Ledger:
- Creates the first capital account entry on the member's profile and updates their capital balance.
- Posts a matching general ledger entry (Dr. Cash, Cr. Member Capital Accounts).
- Records the action in the audit log. Later patronage allocations are added to the same capital account history, tagged by year.