What are the benefits of membership?
Check out our Membership Benefits page to see all the benefits of membership!

How do I contact the Membership Department?
Typical Membership office hours are Tuesday through Friday 9 am - 5 pm.  You may call (414) 626-8568 or e-mail us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Is the equipment lending benefit available right now?
Winter lending begins in December and goes through March, and summer lending begins in May and goes through September. Check the equipment lending page of our website for the most up-to-date information.

How do I become a member or renew my membership?
You can join or renew on the join page of our website. Thank you so much for wanting to become a member or wanting to renew your membership!  Members are the heart of the UEC and we so appreciate your support.  

You can also join or renew over the phone at 414-626-8568.

I just tried to purchase a membership and got an error message about having multiple memberships in my cart.  What do I do?
If you are only trying to purchase one membership: it’s likely that it got double-added somehow during your transaction: sorry about that!  To edit your cart, click on the link below the error message (See the yellow circle below for where to look --it’s kind of hidden and easy to overlook!)

If you are trying to purchase multiple memberships: our system only allows one membership purchase at a time, so if you would like to purchase multiple memberships, you can contact our membership team at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .  Or you can add memberships to the cart one at a time and process each transaction separately.

How do I purchase a gift membership?
You can purchase a gift membership on the join page of our website.  Make sure you select the box that says “This Membership is a Gift.”

You can also purchase a gift membership over the phone by calling 414-626-8568.

For more information, visit our Gift Membership page.

I just purchased a gift membership.  When and how will it be delivered? 
We deliver all gift memberships to the giver and are doing all our deliveries electronically right now, so in the next day or two, you will receive an email from us that has a welcome letter for your recipient and a link to a member welcome packet.  You can either print out that letter or pass it along via email.  After that, your recipient will be added to our monthly member communications. Your recipient’s membership is active from the day of purchase. 

I purchased a gift membership and was confused because the confirmation email says “Thank you for being an important part of our community with your membership to the Urban Ecology Center!” I just want to make sure that the membership is for my gift recipient, not me.  
Sorry about that confusion!  What you received was the automatically generated receipt for your membership transaction.  Unfortunately, our system doesn’t allow us to customize the message based on whether it’s a gift, so it sends the same message to everyone who purchases a membership. 

How do I know when my membership expires?
Your membership is good for one year from the date of purchase, through the end of the month of purchase.  So, for example, if you buy a membership on March 15, 2021, your membership will be active through March 31, 2022.

We will send you three reminders as your membership is getting ready to expire, so even if you don’t remember the date, we’ve got you covered!

And, don’t worry, if you accidentally renew “early” because you’re not sure when your membership expires, the renewal will be added to your original membership expiration date.  So if you were due to expire in January 2021 but you renew in December 2020, your membership will still be renewed through January 2022.

On the other hand, if your membership lapsed and you decide to re-join, your membership will be good for one year from your re-join date, so you’ll get your full year of membership.

If you are still unsure about your expiration date, feel free to contact our membership team at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.or 414-626-8568 and she can look it up for you.

How do I access my membership discount or sign up for a members-only event online?
In order to access your member benefits on our website, you’ll need to create an online user account.  If you haven’t done that yet, you can do so here (it’s quick –should only take 2 minutes!)

Once you have created an account, go to the event registration page for the event for which you want to register. Be sure to log in using your email address and the password you created to go along with it.  (If you need to reset your password, you can do so here).  

At the top right-hand corner of the event registration page, check to see whether your email address appears.  It would look something like this:

If you see your email address, you are logged in and can complete your registration!  If you aren’t logged in, you’ll see this:

Click the button that says “sign in” and log in with your email address and password you created.  Then you can add tickets to your cart!  The member discount will apply once you click “register” and go to your cart.

My membership discount did not apply to a recent purchase.  What can I do?
We’re so sorry about that!  Occasionally a membership discount does not link up properly to the member’s account, or sometimes our website has trouble processing multiple discounted items.  If this happened to you, please contact our membership team at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we will make sure that we take care of that as soon as possible.

I got a renewal reminder and I’m pretty sure I already renewed my membership. What’s going on?
Apologies for the confusion! Please contact our membership team at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. In the meantime, if you are intending to borrow equipment and you get a message from our equipment lending team about your membership not being current, just let them know you are working with Glenna to resolve an issue and they will allow you to borrow the equipment. 

Who can use my membership for equipment lending or program discounts?
Who may use your membership depends on your level of membership:

• Individual-level: 1 named adult (can borrow equipment for one additional guest per visit)
• Family Memberships: 2 named adults living in the same household (can borrow equipment for all children living in the household and one additional guest per visit).  Discounts apply to family and children’s programs as well.

For a full overview of how much equipment each level of membership provides, click here.