Groups

Groups are a close sibling to committees. They both share the same foundational structure and actions. However, groups offer additional flexibility—specifically, they can be used to track donation pledges for their members and monitor progress over time. A group can be set up with a pledge goal, a member count goal, or both, and individual pledge progress can be tracked directly within each group member's notebook.

In addition to goal tracking, groups can also function as simple collections of members where defined positions or roles are not necessary. This makes them a versatile tool for organizing people around a shared purpose, whether it's fundraising or simply maintaining a member group.

CV Online Setting Required

The CV Online setting GROUP_TYPECDS must contain a comma-separated list of committee types that will be treated as groups.

Groups List

Note

The "Groups" menu item is hidden by default, but is available to add by customizing the main menu. For more on how to customize the main menu, see the Main Menu guide.

To view the list of groups:

1. From the main menu, click "Membership" and select "Groups". A list of groups will show.

2. Click the link in the "Group Code" column for the group whose notebook you want to open.

   

3. The group notebook will open.

   

4. The group information can be viewed and updated. Changes can be saved by clicking the "Save" button at the bottom of the notebook.

List Actions

Add a Group

CV Online Setting Required

The CV Online setting GROUP_TYPECDS must contain a comma-separated list of committee types that will be treated as groups. If this setting is not set, the "Add Group" list activity button will not be present.

To create a new group:

1. From the main menu, click "Membership" and select "Groups".

2. Click on the "Add Group" button in the list activity panel on the right-hand side.

   

3. A new form will open. Fill out the required fields. If the group is being created for pledge tracking or member count tracking, make sure to enter values in the "Pledge Goal" and/or "Member Goal" fields.

   

4. Once the form is filled out, click "Save" at the bottom of the form.

5. The new group will be created and the new group's notebook will open.

Terminate a Group

To terminate a group:

1. From the main menu, click "Membership" and select "Groups".

2. Find and highlight the group you want to terminate and click "Terminate Group" on the activity panel of the list. You can also terminate a group by opening the group notebook and selecting "Terminate Group" on the activity panel on right.

   

3. This will open the "Terminate Group" window. Check the appropriate checkboxes.

   

4. Click "Continue" to terminate the group.

Delete a Group

To delete a group:

1. From the main menu, click "Membership" and select "Groups".

2. Find and highlight the group you want to delete and click "Delete Group" on the activity panel of the list.

3. When prompted, click "Yes" to confirm the deletion of the group.

4. The group list will automatically refresh, and the deleted group will no longer appear.

Notebook Sections

Group Members

To view the profile of a group member:

1. Navigate to the "Members" tab within the group notebook. A list of all active group members will show.

2. Locate the desired member record. The member list can be filtered using the radio button options available at the top of the list to refine your search criteria.

3. Select the hyperlink in the ID column corresponding to the member record to access the member's group notebook.

Each group member can have their own pledge goal to track. The progress of each of the members can be seen in the "Members" tab of the group notebook, and it can also be seen in the member's group notebook.

The "Dues/Subs/Dons" tab, in the member's group notebook, will show the records for dues, subscriptions, or donations tied to the member for the group.

Add a Group Member

To add a group member:

1. Navigate to the "Members" tab within the group notebook. A list of all active group members will show.

2. Click on the "Add Record" button. A window will show to select an individual.

3. Search and select the individual to add to the group.

4. A new form will show to fill out with the new group member information.

   • Applying the level defaults to a new member

     When adding a new member to the group, a level can be selected for the member and the level information, like start date and end date and pledge amount, will be pulled into their group member profile, if desired. The start date and end date of a new group member will be calculated based on the level's type of start date, type of term date, and term length of the chosen level and its terms. For more information, see the Levels section in this guide.

     

   • Selecting a level that has reached its Level Quantity

     The "Level Qty" field is the limit of active members that the level can have.

     

5. Once the form is filled out, click "Save" at the bottom of the form.

Delete a Group Member

1. Navigate to the "Members" tab within the group notebook. A list of all active group members will show.

2. Locate the desired member record. The member list can be filtered using the radio button options available at the top of the list to refine your search criteria.

3. Select the record by clicking anywhere on the row of the record.

4. Click the "Delete Record" button at the top of the list.

5. When prompted, click "Yes" to confirm the deletion of the group member.

6. The group member list will automatically refresh, and the deleted group member will no longer appear.

Subgroups

A group can have a parent-child relationship with another group. The relationship is created by assigning a parent group in a group profile.

1. Open the group notebook and go to the "Summary" tab.

2. In the "Parent Group" field, select the appropriate parent group for the current group.

   

3. Once the parent group is assigned, open the parent group notebook by clicking on the field's icon.

   

4. The parent group's notebook will open in a new tab.

5. Go to the "Subgroups" tab to view all the groups that are the children of this group.

   

A new group can be created using the "Add Group" button at the top of the subgroups list. This opens a new group form, with the "Parent Group" and "Parent Group CD" fields automatically populated based on the group currently being viewed.

Documents

1. Open the group notebook and go to the "Documents" tab.

2. Click on the "Add Record" button to add a new document to the group.

   

3. A new document notebook will open. The "Document Information" section will automatically be filled out once the document is made. Fill in the following fields:

   • Doc. Date: Fill in the document date.

   • Title: Enter the document a title.

   • Subject: Enter the subject of the document.

   • Description: Enter the document description.

   • Doc. Type: Select the type of document from the dropdown menu.

   • File Type: Select whether the file is text, an image, or other.

   • Upload new file: Select the file you want to upload.

4. Once the form is complete, click on the "Save" button at the bottom of the form. The document will now be added to the group.

Levels

If a group is set up to track a pledge goal, you can use the "Available Levels" tab to establish different levels tied to specific pledge amounts, member limits per level, and timeframes for completing pledges along with other information tied to each level.

Add a Level

To add a new level to the "Levels" options:

1. Go to the "Available Levels" tab of the group notebook. A list of levels will show.

2. Click on the button "Add Record" at the top of the list.

3. A form will show to enter the new level's information.

4. Fill out the required fields and enter other lever information.

   

   • Level Info

     • Level: The name of the level.

     • Description: A description of the level.

     • Level Qty: The maximum number of members allowed to be part of this level.

     • Level Category: The category of the level.

     • Linked Donation: The name of the linked donation record.

     • Order: The order in which the levels show when picking a level for a group member.

     • On Web: Check if the level should be available to pick on web forms.

   • Term Info

     • Type of Start Date: What date will be used to calculate the member's start date.

     • Type of Term Date: What date will be used to calculate the member's end date.

     • Term Length: The value here will depend on the value selected in "Type of Term Date". If the value in "Type of Term Date" is Year, then the value here should be the number of years that the term will have.

     • Pledge Amount: The amount that the pledge will be for member's that choose this level.

     • Min. Amount: The minimum pledge amount that the pledge can be for member's that choose this level.

Below is a description of the start date and end date calculations for each of the options available.

Group Member Start Date Calculation

The type of start date of a level can be any of the options below.

• Group: The groups's start date will be used as the start date of their group membership.
• Membership: The member's join date will be used as the start date of their group membership.
• Today: The current date will be used as the start date of their group membership.

Group Member End Date Calculation

The end date calculation is done by taking the type of start date, calculating the start date, and then adding the term length to the date based on the the type of term date.

• Group: The groups's end date will be used as the end date of their group membership.
• Membership: The member's end date will be used as the end date of their group membership.
• Month: The start date calculated above + term length, in months, will be used as the end date of their group membership.
• Quarter: The start date calculated above + term length, in quarters, will be used as the end date of their group membership.
• Semiannual: The start date calculated above + term length, in semesters, will be used as the end date of their group membership.
• Year: The start date calculated above + term length, in years, will be used as the end date of their group membership.
• Today: The current date will be used as the end date of their group membership.

Notebook Activities

Email Group

You can email all group members at once to share information with the entire group. To email the committee members:

1. From the main menu, click "Membership" and select "Groups". A list of groups will show.

2. Click the link in the "Group Code" column for the group whose notebook you want to open.

3. The group notebook will open. Click on the "Email Group" button. A new "Email Group" tab will open.

   

4. Use the "Group Status" field in the email form to filter the recipients of the email to only group members with a certain group member status.

   

Note

Only the group members that have an email in their individual record will be included in the email recipient list.

1. Fill out the form and email content. Click the "Send Email" button to send the email.

   

Add Bucket

Group members can be added in bulk to a group by using the "Add Bucket" action in the group's activities panel. In order to use this activity, there must be records added to the bucket. To learn how to add individual records to the bucket, see the Activity Bucket guide. Once the bucket has records:

1. From the main menu, click "Membership" and select "Groups". A list of groups will show.

2. Click the link in the "Group Code" column for the group to be managed.

3. Click on the "Add Bucket" button on the right-hand side of the group notebook.

4. Set the status, join date, and termination date for all new group members.

   

5. Click on the button "Add (#) Individuals to the Group" at the bottom of the form, to add all the individual's in the bucket to the group.

6. When prompted, click "Yes" to confirm the addition of the individuals to the group.

7. The individuals in the bucket will now be part of the group's member list.

Edit Note

The note can be used to keep track of details about the group and its members and for staff to keep track of specific details about the group. To edit the group note:

1. From the main menu, click "Membership" and select "Groups". A list of groups will show.

2. Click the link in the "Group Code" column for the group to be edited.

3. Click on the "Edit Note" button, on the right-hand side of the group notebook, to open the group note.

4. A new tab "Edit Note" will open and the group notes can be edited.

   

5. Once all notes have been entered, click "Save Note" at the bottom of the notes window to save changes.

Group Member Notebook & Activities

A group member's notebook shows information about their group membership as well as information about their pledge for the group, if applicable. Each group member's notebook has a notes field to keep details about the group member.

Add an Action Item

The group member might have action items linked to their group member record, if so, the action items will be listed in the "Action History" list. To link action items to a group member's record:

1. Navigate to the "Members" tab within the group notebook. A list of all active group members will show.

2. Locate the desired member record. The member list can be filtered using the radio button options available at the top of the list to refine your search criteria.

3. Select the hyperlink in the ID column corresponding to the member record to access the member's group notebook.

4. Click the "Add Action" button on the right-hand side of the notebook.

   

5. An action item form will show with the "Transaction Type" and "Transaction Num" prepopulated with the group member's record number.

   

6. Fill in the required fields and click the button "Add Action Item" at the bottom of the form.

Add a Donation

To add a donation for the group member:

1. Navigate to the "Members" tab within the group notebook. A list of all active group members will show.

2. Locate the desired member record. The member list can be filtered using the radio button options available at the top of the list to refine your search criteria.

3. Select the hyperlink in the ID column corresponding to the member record to access the member's group notebook.

4. Click the "Add Donation" button on the right-hand side of the notebook.

   

5. A list of donation funds will show. Select the donation to add and click the "Add to Cart" button.

   

6. Review and update the information in the subsequent pop-up window. Adjust the date of the donation and add any honor or memorial information in the "Gift Note" field. Once done, click the "Add to Cart" button.

   

7. When prompted, select the "Check Out" button, and complete the payment information page.

8. Process the payment. The donation will now be complete.

Group Donation Pledge Set-up

As mentioned before, a group can be used to keep track of donation pledges. The linking between a donation fund and a group happens in the Donation Fund record. To link a group to a donation fund:

1. From the main menu, click "Services" and select "Donations Funds". A list of funds will show.

2. Select the fund that you wish to link the group to. The donation fund notebook will open in a new tab.

3. Select the group to link to in the "Linked Com/Chp/Grp" field.

   

4. Save the changes made to the donation fund notebook.

Now, when you open the linked group notebook, you will see the linked donation records under the "Dues/Subs/Dons" tab.

You are also be able to view the linked donation records for each group member by going to the member's group notebook and viewing the "Dues/Subs/Dons" tab.

Tracking Goal Progress

Member Count Goal Progress

To track member goals, enter your target number of members in the "Member Goal" field. Once set, the system automatically calculates and displays the current "Member Count" which shows the total number of active group members (Record Status = Active). The group progress toward the member goal can be tracked using the progress bar in the "Member Sign-up Progress" field.

Pledge Goal Progress

To track the group pledge goal, enter your target pledge goal in the "Pledge Goal" field. Once set, the system automatically calculates and displays the current "Pledged To Date", which is the total amount pledged by active members of the group, and the current "Total Paid", which is the total amount of pledges paid by active group members. The group progress toward the pledge goal can be tracked using the progress bar in the "Pledge Progress" field and the progress bar in the "Pledges Paid Progress" field.