Is your spreadsheet ready to move?
Seven checks, the import template, and the exact column names the importer recognizes without you mapping anything. Takes about five minutes against your own file, and it is worth doing whether you move to GatherAMS or anywhere else.
No email required. It is a file.
The seven checks
Open your sheet next to this. Each one takes a few seconds and each one is a problem that is much cheaper to fix now than after the import.
- 01
Is there one row per person?
ReadyOne member, one row — even if two of them share an address and one payment.
Fix first“John & Mary Chen” in a single name cell. Split it before you import, or you get one member where you have two.
- 02
Are first and last names in separate columns?
ReadyFirst name and last name are the only two required fields.
Fix firstOne “Name” column. The importer will not guess where a surname starts — “Maria del Carmen Ruiz” has no safe split point.
- 03
Do the renewal dates use one format?
Ready2027-03-01, or 3/1/2027 — consistently, one or the other.
Fix firstA mix of 03/04/2027, 2027-04-03 and “April 2027”. This is where bad imports hide: they succeed, and the renewal reminders go out on the wrong day.
- 04
Is status recorded as text, not color?
ReadyA column saying active, lapsed or resigned.
Fix firstYellow rows for lapsed members. No import reads formatting — put the meaning in a cell before you export.
- 05
Are lapsed members still in the sheet?
ReadyThey are, marked lapsed. A former member with a join date is the cheapest recruitment list you have.
Fix firstDeleted for tidiness. Nothing recovers them afterwards.
- 06
Is anything holding two facts in one cell?
ReadyOne phone number per cell; extra context in Notes.
Fix first“555-0143 (cell) / 555-0187 (h)”. It imports as a single unusable string.
- 07
Have you kept a dated copy?
ReadyA duplicate of the file, dated, before you change anything for the import.
Fix firstEditing the only copy. The original is your record of what the colors meant.
The columns, and what they can be called
You do not have to rename anything. The importer matches these spellings itself, ignoring case, spaces and underscores — so First Name, first_name and FIRSTNAME are the same column. Anything it does not recognize you map by hand in one dropdown, and anything you leave unmapped is simply not imported.
| Column | Required | Also recognized as |
|---|---|---|
| First name | Yes | firstname · first · givenname · fname |
| Last name | Yes | lastname · last · surname · familyname · lname |
| Optional | email · emailaddress · primaryemail | |
| Phone | Optional | phone · phonenumber · mobile · telephone |
| Company | Optional | company · organization · organisation · employer · business |
| Membership level | Optional | level · membershiplevel · membertype · membershiptype · tier |
| Renewal date | Optional | renewaldate · renewal · expiry · expires · expirationdate · renewson |
| Tags | Optional | tags · labels · groups · categories |
| Notes | Optional | notes · note · comments |
Renewal dates are read as YYYY-MM-DD or M/D/YYYY. Tags accept several values in one cell. This table is generated from the importer itself, so it cannot fall out of date with it.
And then what happens
The import is the first two minutes. This is the rest of it, with the waiting included and each step saying whose move it is.
- Day 0We do this
Your application is reviewed by a person
The only step that waits on us, and it is usually the same working day. The live demo needs no approval at all — you can be inside a real account before you apply. We review because we onboard every organization properly rather than at volume.
- Minute 0You do this
Upload the spreadsheet you already have
Export from wherever it lives and drop the CSV in. The importer matches your column names itself — First Name, first_name, Surname, Renewal Date all land in the right place without you mapping anything.
- Minute 1You do this
Check the twenty rows it shows you
Before anything is written, you see how the first rows parsed — including the dates, which are where a bad import hides. Wrong column? Change the mapping and look again. Nothing is committed until you say so.
- Minute 2You do this
The roster is live
Every member, their level, their renewal date and their tags, searchable and segmentable. This is the point at which the spreadsheet stops being the source of truth — and the point most people expected to reach in week three.
- Minutes 3–10You do this
Connect your own payment account
Your Stripe account, at your own rate. GatherAMS adds 0% — there is no application fee anywhere in the platform. Dues can be collected from the roster you just imported, on links that work on a phone.
- When you are readyYou do this
Invite the members
Nothing has reached anybody yet. The first member email goes out when you send it, to a list you have already looked at — not automatically, and not because an onboarding wizard decided the account was set up.
Rather have someone look at it?
Send us the file and we will tell you what would import cleanly, what needs splitting first, and what we would do with the awkward rows — before you commit to anything. There is no charge and no sales call attached to it.
One email a month, for people who run the thing
What we published, what shipped, and anything worth passing on to a volunteer board. Not a drip sequence, not a sales cadence — one email, unsubscribe on every one.