Approving New Members

How to review, approve, and manage onboarding requests for new members joining your organization.

When someone wants to join your organization through fellos, they submit an onboarding request. This request lands in your workflow queue, where you can review the applicant's information, ask questions, and ultimately approve or decline their membership.

Onboarding requests are one of the most common workflow items you'll handle as an admin. The process is designed to give you all the information you need to make an informed decision, while keeping the applicant in the loop through built-in messaging.

How Onboarding Requests Arrive

When a new member application is submitted, several things happen:

1. The applicant fills out the onboarding form with their personal information, desired organization, member type, and any required documents.
2. If the applicant has a sponsor (an existing member who vouches for them), the sponsor's information is included.
3. The request enters the workflow queue and becomes visible to all admins whose scope includes the target organization.
4. A badge count appears on the "Member Requests" sidebar item, alerting you to the new pending request.
5. Depending on your notification settings, you may also receive an email or push notification.

Reviewing an Onboarding Request

To review a pending onboarding request:

1. Click Member Requests in the sidebar to open the onboarding queue.
2. You'll see a list of requests, with pending items at the top. Each entry shows the applicant's name, requested organization, member type, and submission date.
3. Click on a request to open the detail view.

The detail view shows you everything the applicant submitted:

• Personal information — Name, email, phone, address, and any custom fields your site admin has configured.
• Target organization — Which chapter or org they want to join.
• Member type — The type they're applying for (e.g., Prospect, Associate, Full Member).
• Sponsor — If applicable, the existing member who is sponsoring the applicant.
• Documents — Any files the applicant attached (application forms, ID copies, certifications, etc.).
• Request message — Any notes the applicant included with their submission.

Taking Action on a Request

You have three options when reviewing an onboarding request:

Approve

Clicking Approve creates the member account immediately. The new member will receive a welcome email with their login credentials (or an invitation to set up their account, depending on your site admin's configuration). The request status changes to "Approved" and the badge count decreases by one.

Decline

If the application doesn't meet your criteria, click Decline. You'll be prompted to provide a reason, which is recorded in the request history and may be shared with the applicant (depending on your site admin's settings). The request status changes to "Declined."

Request More Information

If the application is incomplete or you need clarification, click Request More Info. This sends a message to the applicant through the built-in message thread, asking them to provide additional details or documents. The request remains in "Pending" status, but its sub-status changes to "Info Requested" so you can track it separately.

The Message Thread

Every onboarding request includes a built-in message thread. This works like a mini conversation between you and the applicant:

• The applicant can include an initial message when they submit the request.
• You can add messages at any time — to ask questions, provide guidance, or explain your decision.
• The applicant receives notifications when you add a message and can reply.
• All messages are timestamped and attributed, creating a complete communication history.
• Other admins within scope can also see and contribute to the thread.

Managing Multiple Requests

When you have several pending requests, the queue view helps you work through them efficiently:

• Sort by date — Oldest requests first, so nothing gets overlooked.
• Filter by organization — Focus on requests for a specific chapter if you manage multiple.
• Filter by status — View only pending requests, or check on recently approved/declined ones.

What Happens After Approval

Once you approve an onboarding request:

1. A new member account is created with the information from the request.
2. The member is assigned to the organization they specified.
3. They receive their initial member type as selected in the application.
4. The new member receives a welcome email with instructions for logging in.
5. Their profile appears in the member directory and becomes visible to other members (according to visibility rules).
6. The approval is logged in the member's history, including your name and the timestamp.