We are going to use Rock's DataViews to identify people who are

  1. Not Involved in a Service Team or Small Group
  2. Who has given 2 or more times in the past 6 weeks
  3. Who are new within the past 6 months

And automate an email to them about if they want help to find a group for them.

Why do this?

A new family/individual who has started both giving and joined a group has a much higher likelihood of staying in church than a giver who didn't find a group.

Steps

  1. Add a new System Email called "Ask person to join any group"
  2. Create a DataView, "People in a Small Group or Serving Team"
  3. Create a DataView, "Active Givers, not in a Small Groups or Serving Teams, Newish to Church"
  4. Use GroupSync to combine the DataView and the System Email

Add a new System Email called "Ask person to join any group"

Here's the Template:

Subject: Find a Group at {{ 'Global' | Attribute:'OrganizationName' }}

{{ 'Global' | Attribute:'EmailHeader' }}

<p>{{ Person.NickName }},</p>

<p>We send this email to people who haven't joined a group yet... is that you?</p>

<p>If so, we want to help you find a group! That could be a service team or a small group.</p>

<p>The reason we are pushy about everyone joining a group is that Christianity is not a solo sport. The regular, face-to-face interaction with other believers can't be neglected.</p>

<p>The other reason we are pushy about this is that the rest of us need <em>you</em>! If you aren't plugged in, the rest of the church is lacking.</p>

<p>So, if you want some help finding a group, reply to this email with something like "Tell me more" or "I'm interested" and we'll get someone to help you get plugged in.</p>

{{ 'Global' | Attribute:'EmailFooter' }}

PLEASE CUSTOMIZE THAT EMAIL FOR YOUR CHURCH. This email copy is designed to be so unspecific as to work for most churches.

[ ] Get specific about what your groups are called. Is it "Life Groups", "Community Groups", Etc.

[ ] In the Rock System Email setup you can set a From Name or From Email, maybe you could send this from a particular pastor or staff member which would be more effective than the default church email. (Get their permission first!)

Create a DataView for "People in a Small Group or Serving Team"

  1. Name the DataView, probably something like "People in a Small Group or Serving Team"
  2. Choose a category
  3. Click add Filter Group
  4. In the new Filter Group section, toggle the Show If: [Any|All] to Any
  5. Click Add Filter a. Filter Type -> In Group of Group Type b. Group Type -> Serving Team c. With Group Roles: Member
  6. Click Add Filter a. Filter Type -> In Group of Group Type b. Group Type -> Small Groups (whatever the top of your Small Group hierarchy is) c. With Group Roles: Member
  7. Save

Create a DataView for "Active Givers, not in a Small Groups or Serving Teams, Newish to Church"

  1. Name the DataView, probably something like "Active Givers, not in a Small Groups or Serving Teams, Newish to Church" or shorter cause that's kind of a long name
  2. Choose a category
  3. Create a new DataView, Applies to Person, Filter Type -> Giving Frequency -> Greater Than or Equal To -> Gifts = 3 -> Date Range -> Previous -> 3 -> Months (Feel free to tinker with this, we are trying to define "Active Giver") -> Don't Check Combine Giving*.
  4. Click add Filter -> Filter Type -> Person Fields -> First Visit -> Range -> Previous -> 6 -> Months (feel free to set this to what you want. We are trying to not email people who've been at the church 5 years)
  5. Click Add Filter -> Filter Type -> Person Fields -> Times Given (6 weeks) = Greater Than 1 (feel free to tweak that value)
  6. Click Add Filter -> Filter Type -> Person Fields -> Email Preference = Email Allowed
  7. Click Add Filter -> Filter Type -> Person Fields -> Age Classification = Adult
  8. Click Add Filter -> Filter Type -> Not in Existing DataView from dropdown -> "People in a Small Group or Serving Team" as DataView

  9. Save

  10. Don't Check Combine Giving. You can check combine giving. What do you want to happen in this scenario? Husband starts coming to church, wife is in database but doesn't come much. Husband is giving. Husband is on a serving team. Do you want wife to get this email? If so, check Combine Giving. If not, don't.

Use GroupSync to combine the DataView and the System Email

There's like 4 more steps that I cover in a separate Recipe:

Recipe to setup GroupSync

BEFORE YOU FINISH THE TUTORIAL

Don't just hookup the real DataView to the System Email without testing things.

How to test this

  1. Review the DataClip we made and browse the names. Does that look like the right data?
  2. Create a GroupSync group for testing this that's not the full DataView. Make a DataView of just you, or you and a few staff. Then make a Group that GroupSync's off that Dataview sending the email as the welcome email. Did you get the email? Does it look good? Do you like the copy?
  3. To force the email to go out quickly (like for testing), go to Admin Tools -> System Settings -> Jobs Administration, find the Group Sync job and run it.