Quick Start Guide to Community Building on Called
By
Lucas Wollschlager
·
8 minute read
About this guide
Are you getting started on Called? Learn the basics so you can get started. Included in this guide:
- Clear terms and definitions of key features on Called
- Best practices for getting started as a user
- How-tos when using the app
Who is this guide for?
Anyone looking to quickly start building their community on Called. We'll help you get into the community mindset and guide you through the necessary steps to get things up and running.
What is Called?
A: Called is an all-in-one tool for groups, chats, and events for Catholic ministry leaders who want an easier way to build and engage their community. It's simple, better organized, and more secure than social media.
With Called, you will go from…
- A community that feels messy and scattered
- Communication is across multiple tools
- People aren’t easily connected
To…
- Your community is organized in one location
- Communication is collaborative and direct
- People know where to connect and plug in.
Called makes community building in ministry easy, finally.
Called How-To’s
Q: What is an Organization?
A: An “Organization” on Called is a collection of people and groups.
Ex: a parish with its parishioners and ministries, a Campus ministry and its students and small groups, or an apostolate with its members and chapters
On Called, you will see the term “Community”. This term is synonymous with “Organization”.
Q: What is a group?
A: A “Group” on Called is a collection of people.
Ex: small group, men's or women’s group, bible study, a team or committee, etc.
Q: Who can create an organization?
A: Someone who meets at least two of the following verification criteria outlined in the following document.
#1: Must have an organization email address (Ex: frjose@smc.org) (Required)
- The person who owns the community must have an organization email address. If the person signing up does not have an organization email address, someone at the organization level will need to create an account and verify via email.
#2: Must have a physical address, that isn’t a residential address, and that is publicly verifiable. (Required)
#3: Must be listed on the organization's website either as a volunteer or staff. (Nice to have)
Q: What is the “Organization Verification” process?
A: Organization Verification that all Organizations must go through to be an Organization on Called.
If not verified within 48 hours, the Organization should be deleted to ensure data quality control.
The full verification process can be found here.
Q: Will organizations have co-owners?
A: Yes, organizations can have multiple owners. To promote a member to an owner:
- Navigate to their profile by tapping on their profile picture
- Tap the ellipsis on the top right-hand corner of the screen
- Select “Promote to Leader”
Q: Will groups have co-owners? (i.e. events, news feed, etc)
A: Yes, groups can have multiple owners. To promote a member to an owner:
- Navigate to their profile by tapping on their profile picture
- Tap the ellipsis on the top right-hand corner of the screen
- Select “Promote to Leader”
Q: Who is required to go through Called’s verification process?
A: Only Organizations must go through Called’s verification process.
This allows us to ensure the authenticity of each community at the organizational level.
Q: Do groups have to go through the verification process?
A: No, Groups do not require verification.
However, Groups must meet our terms of use policy to use Called.
Q: Who can create a group?
A: If you sign up as an organization (i.e. community) on Called, you are able to create groups. No limit exists to how many groups you can create in your community.
If you sign up as a group on Called, you cannot create additional groups within your existing group (i.e. subgroups).
If you need more groups, you must convert to become a community. This would entail creating an organization account and going through our community verification process.
Q: Do sub-groups exist on Called? If so, who can access them and how can I use them?
A: Sub-groups exist one layer deep, as a premium feature only accessible in Called+.
Q: Will my Organization be visible on the map?
A: Yes, Parishes are marked with a Cross icon.
Other Organizations will be marked by a pin on the map.
Q: Will my group be visible on the map?
A: Yes, groups will be seen on the map.
If your group is associated with a larger community, your group can be found in that community’s details tab.
Q: How do I create a new chat in my Organization or Group?
A: Organizations and Groups auto-create a group chat thread with everyone included.
Q: How can I schedule an event?
A: Here’s how to schedule an event on Called:
- Navigate to the Events tab and tap on the “+” button in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.
- Once you have tapped the “+” button follow the prompts and fill out the required information to create your event.
NOTE: You must be an Organization or Group leader. If you do not see this “+” button, this indicates you are not a leader of this Organization or Group and therefore can not schedule an event.
Q: How can I schedule a recurring event?
A: Here’s how to schedule a recurring event on Called:
- When scheduling an event, below the time and date section you will see a section labeled “Repeat?”. Tap this button.
- From there you can select the frequency of the event.
- The recurring options you can select are Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Yearly.
- Finally, select a stop date for the recurring event.
Q: How do I post in my News Feed?
A: See below
- Navigate to the News tab and tap on the “+” button in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.
- Once you have tapped the “+” button follow the prompts and fill out the required information to create your news post.
NOTE: You must be an Organization or Group leader. If you do not see this “+” button you are not a leader of this Organization or Group and therefore can not make a news post.
Q: Who can see my news post?
A: Here’s who can post in your group or community on Called:
Posting as a Community: all Groups that belong to a given Organization will see your post by unselecting all of their filters on the News tab to see Organization-wide news.
Posting as a Group: all of your Group members will see your post if they have selected your group in their filters on the News tab.
Q: Who has access to Called+: Groups or Communities or both?
A: Communities have access to Called+.
Groups do not have access to Called+.
If you would like access to Called+, your group(s) would need to become a community.
This would entail creating an organization account and going through our community verification process.
Q: How can I add the event to my iCal, gCal, or Outlook calendar?
A: Any member of a Community or Group can subscribe to the Community or Group's calendar of events, and add it to their personal calendars by following the below steps...
- Navigate to your events tab, and use the filter selection on the top right of your screen to filter and select the Community/Group(s) whose calendar you want to subscribe to.
- Tap on the vertical ellipsis in the top right-hand corner of your screen and tap the "Copy Calendar Link" option that will appear at the bottom of your screen.
- For Google Calendar: Open Google Calendar and navigate to the "Other Calendars" section on the left part of your screen. Click on the "+" icon and select "From URL", paste the URL in the section, and click "Add calendar".
- For iCal: Open iCal, click "File" from the top menu selection, click "New Calendar Subscription", and paste the URL in the calendar URL section.
- For Outlook: For Outlook Calendar: Open Outlook and navigate to the Calendar icon, click on the calendar on the left part of your screen. Once in the Calendar, select the “Add Calendar” drop-down menu at the top and select the “from internet” option. Enter the URL to add Calendar to your Outlook.
Q: How can I invite members to my groups or communities?
A: It's easy to invite members to join your groups and communities.
- Simply click on the group, scroll to the members, and click the plus sign in the "Invite" icon.
- Your ministry member list will pop up and you can either search for a particular member or scroll through all members.
- Click the "Invite" button and the member will receive a notification in their group's tab.
Q: How can I remove members?
A: You must be a leader of the community or group to remove members.
- Navigate to the Community Details page of the Community or Group that you wish to remove someone from.
- Tap the member's button, and find the person that you wish to remove from the Group or Community.
- Tap the ellipsis next to the person's name, and tap "Remove Member".
Q: What if I start as a group and we want to become part of a larger community?
A: If you start a group and want to join a larger community, here's what you do:
- If you are the leader of the group that should be connected to a larger Community, navigate to the group community details page.
- Tap on the pencil icon in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen, scroll to the bottom of the page, and tap "Connect to a parent community".
- Find the Community that you wish to connect to on the map or list view, and tap "Connect".
- The owner of the Community will be notified and must accept your connection request.
- If accepted, the group will be linked to the Community and if public, listed under "Groups" on the community details page.
Q: What if my group is part of a larger community that is not in the app yet?
A: If your group is part of a larger community that isn't on Called, here's what you do.
Your group can exist as a free-standing group on Called if your larger community is not yet on the app. We highly encourage you to work to get the larger community on the app so you can enjoy the benefits of being a part of a Called community.
The community will need to be verified by our team, and as such needs to be created by an official representative of that community.
Q: How do I block/report someone?
A: To block or report someone in chat on Called follow these steps...
- Open the chat thread with the person that you are attempting to block.
- Tap the ellipsis in the top right-hand corner of the chat window.
- Tap "Block" and confirm in the popup window.
- To report a conversation, a person, or a news post follow the same process but instead of "Block" tap the "Report" option. When something is reported, our team will be notified and review the incident.
Q: Where to view all community or group members
A: Here’s how and where to view members in a community or group on Called:
- Navigate to the Community Details page of the Community or Group.
- Tap on the Members button to view all members of the Community or Group.
Q: How to change notification preferences
A: Here’s how to update your notification preferences on Called:
- Navigate to the "You" tab in the app, at the bottom right-hand corner of the tray.
- Select "Notification Settings" and you will be directed to your device's notification preferences for Called.
Q: How to transfer group or community ownership
A: If you want to transfer ownership within your community, here’s what you need to do:
- Navigate to the community details page and tap on members.
- Find the member that you would like to promote to a leader, and tap on the ellipsis next to their name.
- Select "Promote Member", once this is completed navigate back to the community details page.
- Tap the vertical ellipsis in the top right-hand corner of the screen and select "Leave Community".
- You will be prompted to transfer any events and news posts that you own to the leader that you have promoted or another leader in the community.
Q: How do I create a direct chat with a member of my Organization or Group?
A: All direct messages are contextualized to the Community that you are in. If you are in the same Community as the person to whom you wish to send a direct message:
- Navigate to your chat tab and press the pencil icon in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen.
- Select or search for the person you would like to send a direct message to and tap the appropriate selection.
- Write and send your message.
- The other party will need to first accept your message, and until they do you will see a "Message Request Sent" text.
Q: How to delete a group
A: If you want to delete a group, here's the simple process.
- Simply click on the group you would like to delete.
- Select the three dots in the upper right-hand corner, and choose to delete.
- You will receive a confirm delete message.
CAUTION: Please be aware that once you delete the group you will lose all corresponding information. The group chat and events will be deleted.
This is not a recoverable action so proceed with caution.
Q: How to delete a community
A: If you want to delete a community, here’s the simple process:
- Select the Community that you want to delete from the Community Menu.
- Navigate to the Community Details page.
- Tap the vertical ellipsis in the top right-hand corner and select "Delete Community".
- You will be prompted to type "DELETE" into the confirmation bar to confirm this action.
- Complete this and tap "Delete".
Next Steps
That’s it for now!
We recommend you earmark this document and refer back to it as you ramp up building your groups and community on Called.
Don’t see a question answered here? Check out our knowledge base—we update it frequently!
If you have any questions or issues, you can reach us at support@called.app.
God Bless,
- The Called Team
P.S. Be sure to follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook for future updates and content.
P.S.S. If you want more content on growing your ministry and building community, subscribe to our newsletter, Called to Growth.