School or club getting a license
Your club applies for licences on behalf of its members, one member at a time. There is no club-wide licence that covers everybody: every licence in Vote4Dance belongs to one person, and the club’s part is applying for them, approving what they apply for themselves, and paying when the club is the payer.
What this step is for
You will:
- See which licence items your federation offers for your members
- Apply for a member, or approve an application a member started
- Pay the ones your club is paying for
- Follow them until the federation approves them
Where it is done
Organization → Administration → Licenses, headed License Applications. You need the club’s Manager or Administrator role. The page needs your club to be connected to a federation first — without that it just says “Connect this organization to a federation first.”
Summary cards at the top count what Needs your action, what is Active, what is In progress, and the Members without a licence. Below them, the licences are split into tabs. The list opens on Needs your action when something waits for your club, and on Active otherwise. When your federation does not ask clubs to approve licences and nothing waits for you, the Needs your action card and tab are left out.
| Tab | What is in it |
|---|---|
| Needs your action | Applications waiting for your club to approve or pay, from every season. “Nothing requires your action right now” when you are clear. |
| Active | Licences that are valid for the season you picked |
| In progress | Applications that need nothing from your club: the federation still has to approve them or the dancer still has to pay. Dancers who apply for their own licence land here when your federation does not ask clubs to approve. |
| Expired or cancelled | Licences that have expired, were suspended or were cancelled |
| All | Every licence for the season |
Each row in Needs your action says which it is: Awaiting your approval or Payment due. Pick the season at the top of the list, or All seasons.
Before your club can hold licences at all
- ✓ The club exists in Vote4Dance and you have admin access to it
- ✓ The club is connected to the federation
- ✓ The federation has approved the club. This one blocks everything: while the club is pending, no licence it holds can be issued. The federation sees it as “club is still pending federation approval, so no license it holds can be issued.”
- ✓ For items that need it, the club is an approved issuer for that federation
Before you start
| What you need | Why |
|---|---|
| Which federation | Licence items belong to a federation; you pick it first on the page. |
| Which member | You apply for one member at a time, chosen from your member list. |
| The member’s date of birth | On their account. Without it they show as “No birthdate” and you cannot apply for them. |
| Which licence item | The federation’s product. Which items appear depends on the federation and the item’s rules. |
| The season year | Unless the item is tied to a federation ID or a single competition instead. |
| Who pays | The item decides whether the payer is the member or the club. |
Applying for a member
- Open
Organization → Administration → Licenses - Select the federation
- Select the Member. If they have no date of birth on their account you are warned here and cannot continue — ask them to add it in their account settings.
- Select the License item
- Set the Season year. The field is replaced by a Federation ID field for items that need an external federation ID, and a Competition ID field appears for items scoped to a single competition.
- Add a Note if the situation needs explaining
- Press Apply for license
Repeat per member. A club with twenty dancers submits twenty applications — there is no bulk apply on the club side. To find who still needs one, click Members without a licence: it opens Members, where the No licence this season card lists them.
Approving what members applied for themselves
When a member applies for an item that requires club approval, it lands in Needs your action marked Awaiting your approval, with Approve and Decline on the row. Declining asks you to confirm: “Decline license application for name?”
To handle several at once, tick them and press Approve or Decline above the list. You get one message when they are done, and one saying how many could not be changed and why.
Approve only appears when your federation asks clubs to approve licences. Without that, there is nothing for the club to approve, and the application waits under In progress.
Your approval is one of four checks the federation sees before it can issue the licence, so an application nobody approves at the club simply sits there. The federation’s own view says it plainly: “club hasn’t approved this request yet. A manager or administrator there has to approve it.” Coaches cannot approve licences.
Paying
Rows the club owes money on show as Payment due. Payment goes through Stripe to the federation’s account, not yours.
Two things to expect:
- You cannot pay before approval. The row says “Payment will be available once this license has been approved.”
- A member-paid item has no button for you. Whether the payer is the member or the club is set on the licence, not chosen at checkout.
Following the licence to Active
After the club’s part is done, the licence still needs the federation. It can be held up by any of four checks:
| Check | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Club has approved this license | Your approval, above. |
| Club approved by the federation | The club itself must be an approved organization. |
| Payment received | “Approval opens once payment lands.” |
| Within the license window | The item’s validity window must be open. |
When all four pass, the federation sees “All four checks pass · ready to approve” — and then a person at the federation approves it. There is no fixed turnaround.
Statuses you will see: Draft, Pending, Active, Expired, Suspended, Cancelled. Payment status is separate, so a licence can be paid and still pending.
What members see
Nothing for them to do: an approved licence appears on their own Account → Licenses with its status. They do not “receive” or “link” anything, because the licence was issued to them personally from the start.
If a member cannot see a licence you applied for, check that it is Active rather than Pending, and that you applied for the right member.
Troubleshooting
“Nothing happens when I submit”
The form blocks on a missing member date of birth, a missing season year, and a missing competition or federation ID where the item requires one. Check the field messages before retrying.
“The member number is not recognised”
For a federation that checks member numbers against its member register, press Verify next to the number. The message under the result says why it was not accepted:
- Not found: the number isn’t in your club’s member list in the register. Check the number, and that the member belongs to your club and not to another one.
- Not active: the member is in the register, but the membership is not active there. Ask the federation to check the membership status.
- Birthdate does not match federation record: the date of birth in the register differs from the one on the member’s account. If the member’s date is correct, do not change it; ask the federation to correct the register.
- Verification failed: the register could not be reached. Try again in a few minutes.
The federation can look up the same number on its side and see exactly what the register holds.
“It was declined and I do not know why”
Declines come from the federation or, for club-approval steps, from your own club. The federation records a note on the licence; ask them for the reason and fix it before reapplying rather than submitting the same application twice.
“It has been pending for a long time”
Work the four checks in order — your club’s approval, the club’s own federation approval, the payment, the validity window. Whatever is outstanding is named on the licence. If all four pass, it is waiting on a person at the federation.
“A member’s licence needs to move to our club”
An active licence’s organization cannot be edited. The federation changes it by reissuing: “Organization cannot be changed on an active license. Cancel this license and issue a new one.” The federation can do this from its side, and the new club represents the dancer from that day. What the federation does, and what else a club change involves, is on Club transfers.
“We have new dancers mid-season”
Apply for each of them the same way. Nothing about an existing member’s licence changes, and there is no seat count to increase, because licences were never club-wide.
When you’re ready
Once a member’s licence is Active, that member can register for events, compete and earn rankings. It is per person, so check them one by one before a competition rather than assuming the club is covered.
Next step
Continue to Registration for event.