- Users who are not yet approved by an organization or those who did not register under the name of an organization will see only the left hand side of a Personal Dashboard. They will be able to view and update their own personal giving activity but will not be able to see any Organizational Dashboards or the needs of any particular organization (e.g. the right hand side of the Personal Dashboard).
- Individuals who are not Key Contacts but are an Approved Member of an organization will still only see a Personal Dashboard when they log in to their account, but their Dashboard will show the needs of that organization (on the right hand side).
- Users who are a Key Contact of an organization will see the Organizational Dashboard for that organization first when they log in. They can access their own Personal Dashboard by clicking the Personal Dashboard button below the Organizational Dashboard.
Category Content: Internal
What is a Personal Dashboard and where can find it?
The Personal Dashboard gives quick access to an individual’s Meet The Need account. It is a snapshot of their serving activity (pending and completed) as well as access to see the needs of organizations they have joined. Each user of Meet The Need (whether they access it via a church web site or a charity web site) has various levels of access to view and change information in the system depending on what access they have been granted by the churches and charities they have “joined” via the system:
Can our organization by default prevent the needs of new organizations that register with Meet The Need from showing up on our web site?
Yes. Under Settings if you click Hide/Show Other Organizations under Select Needs to Display on Your Website, if you set the Default Need Visibility to Not Visible then new organizations registering with Meet The Need will automatically be set to Hidden on this page and their needs will not appear when you show all local needs.
If you have set the Default Need Visibility to Visible but wish to prevent the needs of certain organizations from appearing on your web site, we recommend occasionally reviewing the list of organizations who have joined Meet The Need in your area in the past 5 days, past 15 days, etc. using the Joined any Time drop down on this page.
Can I prevent members or employees from “joining” certain local organizations through our web site?
Yes. Go to Settings and click Hide/Show Other Organizations under Select Needs to Display on Your Website. If you check the box to Prevent Members from Joining Hidden Ministries then the names of the organizations you “hid” on this page will not appear on the list of local organizations your members/employees can connect with through their Personal Dashboards. Therefore your members/employees will not be able to “join” those organizations through your web site to see their needs and get email updates when those organizations post new needs.
Can I prevent the needs of certain organizations from showing up on my web site?
Yes. Go to Settings and click Hide/Show Other Organizations under Select Needs to Display on Your Website. This feature is available to churches and companies only. This allows each church or company to focus its members/employees on the needs of the charities or churches they work with. Key Contacts can Make Visible or Make Hidden the needs of other churches or charities from their main search page by clicking the link next to each organization’s name. Clicking Make Hidden means that organization’s needs cannot under any circumstances be seen on your web site template. This page lists every church and charity active in Meet The Need within 25 miles of your zip code (may be extended beyond 25 miles). You can search organizations by name, by type, by newly registered, and by Visible or Hidden.
As a church or company, where can I see who else is using MTN in our local area?
Access a directory of who is registered with MTN at Settings and click Hide/Show Other Organizations under Select Needs to Display on Your Website. This is also where you will have the option to hide any organizations’ needs that you do not want to display to your members or employees.
Can churches and charities use Meet The Need to manage internal volunteer needs? How do I create an internal serving team (e.g. Greeters or Ushers for a Church, or Kitchen or Warehouse for a Charity) to empower leaders within our organization to manage their department’s needs?
Churches and charities may want to post needs for internal functions (e.g. Ushers, Greeters) that should only be seen by Approved “Members” of that organization. And, for example, churches often want to empower lay leaders of internal ministries with a dedicated Dashboard for each leader to manage and communicate the needs for that ministry.
Use My Teams under My Account on your Dashboard to create separate “teams” under your organization to manage those functions separately. Assign those registered under your organization to be Key Contacts or Regular Members of those groups/teams using Approved Members under My Account (see the Help button on that page or search the FAQs for detailed instructions about assigning Key Contacts and “members” to teams).
To post internal ministry needs, go to the Volunteer/Goods Management Module (on the overall organization’s Dashboard or the team’s Dashboard) and click Post Needs for Volunteers/Goods. On the drop down boxes on the need posting form, select Church or Ministry > Volunteers > Serve at My Church and choose the appropriate Subcategory in the final drop down. When you post needs for internal volunteers, the View Status for all Serve at My Church needs are automatically set to Semi-Private, meaning they are only visible on your web site (cannot be viewed through the web sites of other local organizations). Only Approved Members of the organization (or the internal ministry team) will be sent an email with a link to sign up to meet that need
As a Key Contact of the organization or a team under the organization, how can I access a team’s Dashboard and what can I do on the team’s Dashboard?
You can directly access each team’s Dashboard by selecting the name of that team from the Select Other Organization drop down (which is located to the left of your Dashboard icon in the top right hand corner of your Dashboard). On your team’s Dashboard, the Key Contact for the team can:
- Post or edit the needs of the team, which can include volunteers, resources, family needs, missions needs, etc.
- View reports showing all of the commitment activity for the needs posted for that team
- Retrieve links showing various types of needs of that team/group and attach those links to button(s) for that team on your web site so individuals can join or sign up to meet needs of that group/team
Where and how can I view and manage my organization’s teams?
To view and manage each team you created, go to My Account, and click View Teams under My Teams. You will see the name of each team, contact information for the leader of the team, the names of each member of that team, all of that group’s pending and completed giving activity, as well as any outstanding “offers” they have entered into the system. You may also deactivate the team or reactivate a team that was previously deactivated under Activation Status. The team’s status will change immediately. Keep in mind that the numbers shown for the team’s Pending Commitments, Completed Commitments and Offers reflect all activities of the individual team members, not exclusively their activities within/for that particular team.
You can also directly access each team’s Dashboard by selecting the name of that team from the Select Other Organization drop down (which is located to the left of your Dashboard icon in the top right hand corner of your Dashboard). On your team’s Dashboard, the Key Contact for the team can post needs for the team or view reports showing all of the commitment activity for the needs you posted for that team.
How can I as a Key Contact for an organization assign people to one of our teams?
For individuals who are not already “Members” of your organization, have them first register on this link under the name of your organization (in Step 2). Then go to My Account and Pending Members under Member Status and click Approve and Regular Member on the drop down lists to the right of the person’s name.
For those who are already Approved Members of your organization, the individual can join the team from the Connect with My Church & Local Ministries link on their Personal Dashboard (View Instructional Video).
Once they have registered under your organization, then you can:
- Go to your Dashboard and click My Account and Approved Members under Member Status
- Check the box next to that individual’s name on the list and click the Assign __ Members to Teams button, select the team from the drop down list, and then click Assign
- Then, switch Dashboards to the team you created (via the drop down box in the top right corner of your Dashboard next to the house icon)
- Go the Pending Members page, approve that individual and make him/her a Regular Member via the drop downs to the far right of the person’s name
Meet The Need can also provide you with a special link to easily enable people to directly join your teams or events, whether or not they are a “member” or not of your organization. Once they join the team or event they will show up the team/event Dashboard and you can approve them as “members” of the team. Contact us to receive the special link to send out to those individuals.