Once members are approved and start accessing the member directory, your role shifts from setup to ongoing management. This article covers what members will do on the platform and what you as an admin should focus on to keep things running smoothly.
What Members Will Do
Once approved, members are Listed in the directory and have full access to the platform. Here's what they typically do:
Browse and search the directory
Members use search, filters, and the map view to find people in your network — classmates, people in their city, professionals in their field. This is the core value of the directory.
View other members' profiles
They click through to profiles to see detailed information about someone — education, employment, location, and any other fields you've made visible.
Send messages
If messaging is enabled, members can reach out to each other directly from a profile card or profile page. This is how reconnections and networking happen.
Invite others to join
If the Invite action is enabled, verified members can invite unregistered people they find in the directory. This triggers the "Invitation to join" automated email — separate from your invite workflow. It's organic, peer-driven growth.
Update their own profile
Members can edit any field where the edit permission is set to "Admin + Profile Owner." Common updates include new employer, job title, city, phone number, bio, and profile photo. These updates are where fresh data comes from after launch.
What Admins Should Do
After launch, your focus shifts to four ongoing activities:
1. Review sign-up activity
Monitor new sign-ups regularly, especially in the first few weeks after launch. Check your invite workflow reports to see how many people opened the invite, clicked through, and signed up.
Total list size — how many invites were sent
Engaged — how many opened or clicked
Signed up — how many created an account
If open rates or click rates are low, consider adjusting your invite email subject lines or timing.
2. Approve pending sign-ups promptly
Members who sign up organically (without an invite link) may land in the pending approval queue. Approve legitimate sign-ups quickly — a member waiting days for approval may lose interest.
💡 Set a cadence: check the pending queue daily during the first two weeks after launch, then weekly once sign-up volume stabilises.
See User Approvals for how to find and approve pending sign-ups.
3. Plan for re-engagement
Not every member will engage deeply right away. Some will sign up, browse, and leave. Two tools help bring them back:
Networking Recommendation workflow — an automated email that suggests 3 people a member might know, based on shared work, education, location, interests, and skills. Each email also includes a link for the member to update their own profile. Set it up once, and it runs on its own — driving reconnections and keeping directory data fresh. See Networking Recommendations — Helping Members Reconnect for setup instructions.
Follow-up invite emails — your invite workflow can include follow-up emails for people who haven't signed up yet. If you set these up during launch, they'll fire automatically on schedule.
4. Review profile updates
As members update their profiles — new employer, new city, new phone number — those changes need to reach your CRM. How they get there depends on your sync rules:
Automatically update — changes push to your CRM without admin action
Review before updating — changes land in the Data Inbox for you to approve or ignore before they're pushed
Don't update — changes stay in Almabase only
If you're using "Review before updating" for any entities, establish a weekly cadence for clearing the Data Inbox. Letting it build up creates a backlog and delays data from reaching your CRM.
See How Constituents Sync Between Almabase and Raiser's Edge for more details on sync rules and the Data Inbox.
Quick Checklist — First Two Weeks After Launch
When | What to do |
Daily | Check the pending approval queue and approve legitimate sign-ups |
Every few days | Review invite workflow reports — opens, clicks, sign-ups |
End of week 1 | Clear the Data Inbox for the first time (if using "Review before updating") |
End of week 1 | Check for duplicate records (Reports → Duplicates) and merge any that exist |
End of week 2 or 3 | Set up the Networking Recommendation workflow if not already done |
Ongoing (weekly) | Clear Data Inbox, check for duplicates, review sign-up trends |