Member groups

You can organize members from different membership levels into member groups according to their interests or participation in committees. For example, you could create member groups such as "Board of Directors" or "Steering Committee".

You cannot add non-member contacts to member groups. You can add members to multiple member groups.

Organizing members into member groups allows you to:

• Select groups to receive email blasts (including event announcements)
• Control page access by member group
• Restrict events by member group
• Limit permissions in blogs and discussion forums by member group

Only full administrators and membership managers can add, modify, and delete member groups.

Displaying the Group management screen

To set up and manage your member groups, click the Groups option under the Members menu.

On the Group management screen that appears, you see a list of groups and the number of participants in each group.

Creating a member group

To create a new member group, click the Add new group button from the Group management screen.

From the screen that appears, you enter a name for the group, and optionally, a description.

When you click Save, the new group is added to the member list on the Group management screen.

To change the name and description of an existing group, click it within the list.

Adding group members

To add members to a group, click the Manage participants button, either from the Group management screen or from an individual group's details screen.

From the Manage participants screen, you can add members to or remove members from the selected group, or switch to managing another group.

To add members to the group, select them within the All members list on the right then click the Add to group button.

To remove members from the group, select them within the Participants in selected group list on the left and click the Remove from group button.

To switch to managing a different group, click the Selected group list and choose the group.

Adding members through import

You can also add members to groups when importing contacts into your Wild Apricot database. Within the spreadsheet that controls the import, you can assign a member to a group by entering the group name in the Group Participation column.

Controlling group participation on an individual basis

You can control group participation for individual members from the Membership tab of their contact record.

From the Membership tab, click the Edit button within the Group participation section.

From the screen that appears, you can check the groups you want the member to belong to.

Deleting a member group

To delete a member group, click the Remove link beside it within the list on the Group management screen.

You will be prompted to confirm your request to remove the group.

Deleting a member group has no effect on the members in the group (other than removing them from the group).

Allowing members to control their group participation

You can control whether members can view and/or choose which member groups they belong to.

If you allow members to choose their groups, you can control whether they do so from their member profile and/or the initial membership application form.

To control whether members can view and/or change their group participation, follow these steps:

1. Hover over the Members menu and click the Membership fields option.
2. Within the list of membership fields, click Group participation.
   Note: the Group participation field may have been renamed to something similar.
3. Under Member access, choose one of the following options:
   
   Edit
   Members can view and change their group participation. If you select this option, you can control whether members can choose member groups within their member profile and/or within the initial membership application.
   
   View only
   Members can view but not change their group participation within their member profile.
   
   No access
   Members can neither view nor change their group participation.
4. Click Save all changes.

In any case, members are not able to see who the other members of the group are.

Controlling page access by member group

You can restrict page access to selected member groups, so that only members of those groups can view the page, either through the site menu or via a direct link (URL).

To restrict page access to selected member groups, follow these steps:

1. Within the Website module, click the Site pages option.
2. Within the site page list, click the page that you want to restrict access to. If the page you want to select is grouped under another page, you may have to click the plus sign beside the parent page to display its subpages.
3. Click the Edit button towards the top of the screen.
   
4. Within the Access level options that appear in the page settings on the left, click the Restricted option.
5. Choose the groups – and optionally, membership levels – that can view the page.
   
   If you restrict access by both membership levels and member groups, then members who belong to any of the selected levels or groups will be able to access the page. If you check the All levels or All groups option then all levels or groups – including any levels or groups added in the future – will be selected.
6. Click the Save button to save your changes.

For more information, see Page access and visibility.

Restricting a member directory by member group

You can use member groups to restrict which members appear in member directories.

To restrict a member directory by member group, follow these steps:

1. Begin editing the page containing the member directory gadget.
2. Hover over the member directory gadget and click the Settings icon.
3. Within the gadget settings, under Members to include, choose the groups whose participants you want to list within the member directory. If you check the All groups option then all groups – including any groups added in the future – will be selected.
4. Click the Save button to save your changes.

Restricting forums and blogs by member group

You can set access permissions to blogs and forums separately for public visitors, and for each membership level and member group.

To restrict blogs and forums by member groups, follow these steps:

1. Begin editing the page containing the blog or discussion forum gadget.
2. Hover over the blog or discussion forum gadget and click the Settings icon.
3. Within the gadget settings, under Access permissions, choose the permissions to be granted to membership levels and/or member groups.
   
   If you restrict permissions by both membership levels and member groups, then members will be granted the highest permission assigned to the levels and groups they belong to. For example, if you provide read-only access for Bronze members but full access to members of the Volunteer Committee member group, then a Bronze member who is also a member of the Volunteer Committee will be granted full access.
4. Click the Save button to save your changes.

Restricting events by member group

To restrict access to an event to selected member groups, follow these steps:

1. Hover over the Events menu and select the Event list option.
2. Select the event within the list.
3. Within the event details, click the Admin only or Public link towards the top.
4. Within the dialog that appears, click the Restricted option.
5. Check each of the groups – and optionally, membership levels – you want to grant access to.
   
   If you restrict access by both membership levels and member groups, then members who belong to any of the selected levels or groups will be able to view the event.
6. Click Save to save your choices.
7. Click Save to save the changes to your event.

Sending email blasts to group members

You can use member groups to create mailing lists that you can select to send an email blast to group members.

To send an email blast to members of a group, follow these steps:

1. Go to the advanced member or contact search screen.
2. Click the Add criteria link.
3. Choose the Group participation criterion, and click OK. If you don't see the Group participation criterion in the list, it's possible the corresponding membership field was renamed.
   
4. Click the check box next to the member group name.
5. To save the advanced search for future email blasts, enter a name for the saved search and click the Save button.
6. To search without saving, just click the Search button.
7. Click the Email members or Email contacts button.