Beacon for IGO Members

Help with Beacon Members Portal

The Beacon Membership Portal is all you will need to manage your Interest Groups Online (IGO) membership. That is how to:

• Log on to the Beacon Membership Portal
• View the list and availability of IGO groups
• Join an IGO group of your choice
• Leave a group you are a member
• Calendar of IGO meetings and events
• Register for Beacon Membership Account for new members
• Update your personal details
• Reset your password
• Renewing your membership

This document is based on section 10.2 the full Beacon User Guide. It contains the material that is important for you as an IGO member.

Note that IGO does not have a membership secretary – you should instead email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you have any questions about this process.

Logging on to the Beacon Membership Portal

When you click on the Beacon Membership Portal, you will see a page that asks you to enter your Beacon account log-in details. 

• If you are a new member or have not yet created a password, go to Registering for a membership account
• If you have forgotten your password, go to Forgotten your password
• If you have already created a password, you should enter your email and password and click Confirm Identity  

 After confirming identity

After confirming your identity you have the following options: 

The remaining options are:

• 'E-mail replacement Membership Card' will e-mail you your IGO membership card
• 'Logout and return to Interest Groups Online website' closes Becon Membership Portal and returns you tothe IGO u3a website.

On this webpage, you will also find help on:

List of IGO Groups

This page shows the available groups in listed in alphabetic order: 

 When you click on the small triangle to the left of the group name, the details of this group are displayed:

• Status of the group: If the group has vacancies, you can apply to join the group by clicking on the link. You should get a response from the group leader – this may take a few days. If the group has no vacancies, you can apply to join the waiting list. When a space opens, you will be notified by the group leader.
• Meets: Details when the group is meeting
• Venue: this group meets online
• Contact: the email address of the group leader
• Details: the group description

Joining a Group

• In the List of IGO Groups (see above) find the group you wish to join.
• Then click on the triangle to the left of the group name.

• Then click on the triangle to the left of the group name. Properties of this group are then displayed

• Click on the yelow line to join the group. If it has vacancies, you will join this group and the group leader will receive an email notification. If this group is full, you will be added to the waiting list.

Leaving a Group

• In the List of IGO Groups (see above) find the group you are a member of. Next to its name you will see MEMBER

• Then click on the triangle to the left of the group name.

• And, finally click on Leave group.

Calendar of meetings and events

This page shows the group meetings and other events coming up. You can restrict the displayed list by selecting one of the radio buttons in the third line.

Clicking on the small triangle to the left of the group name may shows the details of the scheduled event. 

Update your personal details

You can update your personal details related to your IGO membership on this page.

Here you simply have to edit the appropriate field/ fields and then press 'Update Personal Details'.

When you update your email address however, you will get an e-mail from This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with a link you need to use before you can sign in. Use this link to validate your new email. This link works for an hour. Once you have done this you should be able to log on to the Membership Portal with your new email address.

Registering for Beacon Membership Account

There is also a video version of membership registering.

If you are a new member, or you have not set a password to use the Beacon Members Portal, you should follow this procedure. You will only need to do this once.

You must enter this information in the exact form you used when you joined IGO, including spaces and capital letters. If you did not enter your postcode, you should use ZE1 1ZZ.

If you encounter an issue, please try again, but your issues persist, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for help.

If you are an existing member and have already set a password on a previous occasion, you will get a screen with a red box to alert you that you have already set a password. If this happens, follow the instructions to log on to the Beacon Membership Portal.

Otherwise, you should get a screen asking you to set a password. 

Here you can enter your chosen password. Then click 'Update Account'. You will then get a message asking you to check your email inbox. 

If the email doesn't arrive within a few minutes, please check your spam folder.

The confirmation email will expire after 1 hour, although Forgotten Password can be used to request a new confirmation email.

Clicking the link in the email will take you back to the log-in screen where there will be a message to say that your email address has been verified.

After entering your email address & password, press 'Confirm Identity' and follow the instructions to log on to the Beacon Membership Portal.

Resetting your password

If you have forgotten your password, you will not be able to log in on the first page, and should click 'Forgotten password'. You will see a screen asking you to reset or change your password.

Enter your email address, and click 'Reset Password',

You should receive an email asking you to click a link to reset your password. If nothing arrives within a few minutes, check your spam folder.

Clicking the link in the email will take you to a screen where you can specify a new password, before clicking 'change password'. 

You will then be taken back to log on to the Beacon Membership Portal.

Renewing Your Membership

Your annual IGO membership ends on 31 March of the year. You can renew it from 1 February. When the time comes, please log on to the Beacon Membership Portal.

Select 'Renew your membership' and you will get see a screen with the title 'Payment':

Click on the grey button which says 'Make Payment'. 

Next, select 'Continue to PayPal to complete Payment'. Whilst you do not need a PayPal account to pay your membership fee, you will need to pay as a guest on PayPal if not.

The PayPal screen should then appear:

You now have two options:

• If you have a PayPal account and you are happy to use to pay for your membership, log into PayPal and complete your payment.
• If you would not like to use PayPal to pay, scroll to the bottom of the screen and click on 'Pay by Debit or Credit Card'. As with all online transactions using your credit or debit card, you will be required to provide your address and phone number for verification purposes. If you do not have a mobile phone, please follow the instruction in this picture:

Once completed, you should receive an email from PayPal confirming your payment, and an email confirming your Interest Groups Online membership.