Help & Support

Key concepts

• ·Communities are the top-level container — your PTA, neighborhood group, or volunteer roster.
• ·Members join a community using a passkey shared by the organizer.
• ·Each member has a profile per community — their contact info, location, and custom field values.
• ·Organizers manage settings, invite members, and post announcements.
• ·One account can belong to multiple communities at once.

Choosing the right type

Use a Community Directory when the value is in members finding each other — carpooling, playdates, neighborhood connections. Use a Private Database when you're building a roster that staff searches — guest speakers, volunteers, internship hosts, mentors.

Joining a community

• ·Your organizer shares the community name and a passkey (like a group password).
• ·Sign up at joincommunityconnector.com, then enter the community name and passkey to join.
• ·If you receive an invite email, click the link — the community and passkey will be pre-filled.
• ·You can be a member of multiple communities under one account.

Your profile

After joining, you'll land on your profile page. Fill in your contact info, set a location pin on the map, and choose any custom fields your community uses. Everything is optional — share only what you're comfortable with.

• ·Your display name is set at account creation and appears across all communities. Update it in Account Settings.
• ·Phone and notes are visible to other members (community directory) or only curators (private database).
• ·Notes is a free-text field — use it for carpool availability, special instructions, or anything relevant.
• ·If your community has "Children's names" enabled, an extra field appears for kids' names.
• ·Your location pin shows your approximate neighborhood — drag it to adjust. Each community has its own pin.
• ·Custom fields (e.g. Grade, Skills, Availability) are configured by your organizer.
• ·Profile photo is optional and shared across all your communities.

Visibility badges

Your profile page shows badges indicating where you currently appear:

These reflect your saved settings — update them in the Visibility section of your profile.

Visibility controls

• ·"Show me in the directory" — includes you in the browseable member list.
• ·"Show my pin on the map" — places your location on the shared map. Toggle off without losing your saved pin.
• ·"Email me new announcements" — opt in or out of notification emails.
• ·"Looking for a carpool" — shows a carpool badge on your profile and makes your pin appear in carpool-filtered map views.
• ·If your membership has expired, you're automatically hidden until you re-confirm, regardless of your visibility settings.

Membership renewal

Some communities use automatic membership expiration to keep their roster current. If enabled, you'll receive an email asking you to re-confirm your info periodically. Click the link, review your details, and hit Confirm — your membership extends automatically. Until you confirm, your listing will be hidden from the directory.

Leaving a community

Go to My Profile, select the community from the dropdown, and click "Remove this entry" at the bottom of the page. Your data is deleted immediately.

Account settings

Account Settings (accessible from the nav) is separate from your profile. It covers:

• ·Display name — how your name appears across all communities.
• ·Email address — update triggers a confirmation link to your new address.
• ·Password — change your login password at any time.
• ·Communities you manage — lists every community where you're an Owner, Admin, or Curator, with links to their settings.
• ·Billing — view your current plan, trial status, and access the billing portal.
• ·Delete account — permanently removes your account and all associated data. You must delete any communities you own first.

Tabs

• ·Home — announcements posted by your organizer.
• ·Directory — searchable list of all visible members.
• ·Map — interactive map showing member location pins.

Directory features

• ·Search by name, phone, notes, or child names.
• ·Sort by name or most recently joined.
• ·Filter by custom field values (e.g. show only "Grade 3" members).
• ·Switch between list view and grid view using the toggle in the top right.
• ·Click any member card to see their full profile details.

Map features

• ·Each pin represents a member who has shared their location.
• ·Filter by custom field values — the map updates to show only matching members.
• ·Toggle "Carpool" to highlight members looking for a carpool.
• ·Toggle "Near me" to filter by proximity — use the radius slider to set the distance.
• ·Click a pin to see that member's name and contact info.

Printing the directory

Use the Print button (visible to admins and curators) to open a print-friendly version of the directory. It includes a QR code linking to your community's join page, making it easy to hand out at events.

Creating a community

Go to Create a Community from the homepage or nav. Choose your plan, give your community a name, set a passkey, and complete checkout. Your community is created immediately — share the name and passkey with your members right away.

• ·The passkey is like a group password — only people you share it with can join.
• ·Members join at joincommunityconnector.com or via a direct join link from your Invites settings.
• ·You can change the passkey at any time from Org Settings → Basics.

Community settings

• ·Basics — change your community name, passkey, and the message shown in invite emails. Option to enable a "Children's names" field.
• ·Tabs — choose which sections members see: Home, Directory, and Map.
• ·Fields — add custom fields (e.g. Grade, Skills) that members fill in on their profile.
• ·Map — set a default map center (e.g. your school or office address).
• ·Renewal — enable automatic membership expiration and set the duration in months.
• ·Invites — send email invitations, resend individual invites, or copy a direct join link.
• ·Members — view, search, and manage all members. Assign roles, remove members.

Custom fields

Custom fields let you capture structured info beyond name and phone. Each field has a label and a set of options — members pick from checkboxes on their profile. You can filter the directory and map by custom field values.

• ·Add fields from the Fields section in Community Settings.
• ·Use the ▲ ▼ buttons to reorder fields.
• ·Renaming a field will orphan existing member data — their selections won't carry over until they re-save their profile.
• ·Removing an option doesn't delete existing member data, but that value becomes unfilterable.

Inviting members

You can invite members two ways: share the passkey directly, or send email invitations from the Invites section. Email invites include a pre-filled link so members land directly on the join page.

• ·The Invites section shows a direct join link you can copy and share anywhere.
• ·Individual pending invitations can be resent if the original email was missed.
• ·You can add a custom invite message in Basics — it's included in every invite email.

Membership renewal

Enable auto-expiration in the Renewal section. Set how many months a membership lasts. New members who join after enabling this will have an expiry date set automatically — existing members are not affected retroactively. When a membership expires, that member is hidden from the directory until they re-confirm via email.

Deleting a community

Only the community Owner can delete a community. Go to Community Settings and scroll to the bottom — type DELETE to confirm. This permanently removes all member profiles, announcements, and invitations. It cannot be undone. If this is your only community, you'll be directed to your billing settings after deletion.

Assigning roles

Go to Community Settings → Members. Find the member and use the "Make admin" or "Make curator" buttons. Roles can be removed the same way. Admins can assign curator and admin roles; only the Owner can remove admin status.

Free trial

Every new plan starts with a 15-day free trial — no charge until the trial ends. You have full access to all features during the trial. Cancel anytime before the trial ends and you won't be charged.

Annual billing

All plans are available on monthly or annual billing. Annual billing saves approximately 17% compared to paying month to month.

Upgrading your plan

If you hit your community or member limit, an upgrade prompt will appear. Click it to go to the Upgrade page, where you can see available plans and confirm the change. Upgrades take effect immediately and are prorated — you'll only be charged for the remainder of your current billing period.

Managing billing

Go to Account Settings → Billing. Your current plan and trial status are shown there. Click Manage Billing to open the Stripe portal, where you can update your payment method, view invoices, or cancel your subscription.

Member limits

When a community approaches its member limit, a warning appears for admins on the Connect page. At 80% capacity you'll see an amber notice; at 100% you'll see a red alert. Existing members are never removed — upgrade to add more.

Posting an announcement

• ·Go to the Home tab and click "+ Post Announcement".
• ·Add a title (required), body text, and an optional link with a label.
• ·Use "Preview email" to see exactly what members will receive before posting.
• ·Check "Email members" to send the announcement to all members with email notifications enabled.
• ·For private database communities, "Email members" is off by default — turn it on intentionally to reach your roster.

Email notifications

Members can opt out of announcement emails from their profile page (Visibility section → "Email me new announcements"). Organizers cannot override this per-member preference. Members who have opted out will still see announcements on the Home tab.

Editing and deleting

Owners and Admins can edit or delete any announcement from the Home tab. Editing does not re-send email notifications.

Who can see what

Controlling your visibility

Each community has its own visibility settings on your profile page. Changes take effect immediately after saving. Your contact info and location data are never shared outside your community.

Data security

Your data is only accessible to members of your community. Community Connector uses row-level security on all data — even platform staff cannot read member data without explicit access. You can delete your account and all associated data at any time from Account Settings.

School PTA or parent group

Use a Community Directory. Enable the map so families can find neighbors for carpooling and playdates. Add a "Grade" custom field so parents can filter by their child's grade. Enable renewal annually (12 months) so the directory stays current year to year.

Neighborhood group

Use a Community Directory. The map is the star feature — members can see who lives nearby and use the Near Me filter to find close neighbors. Custom fields like "Has dog", "Interested in block watch", or "Available for snow removal" make it useful beyond just contact info.

Volunteer pool

Use a Private Database. Volunteers submit their own profiles with availability, skills, and interests. Staff (curators) search and filter the roster to find the right person for each opportunity. Use curator notes to track who's been contacted and what projects they've worked on.

Guest speaker or expert database

Use a Private Database. Speakers submit their own bio and areas of expertise via custom fields. Staff browse the roster when planning events. The announcement feature can be used to alert speakers to upcoming opportunities — just check "Email members" when posting.

Mentor or internship host network

Use a Private Database. Mentors fill in industry, availability, and areas they can help with. Program coordinators (curators) match students or participants to mentors. Enable renewal so mentors re-confirm their availability each year.

Multiple communities, one account

You can belong to multiple communities under one Community Connector account. Switch between them using the dropdown on the Connect page or My Profile. Each community has its own profile — your settings, visibility, and custom field values are independent per community. If you manage multiple communities, they all appear under one subscription in Account Settings.