Announcements

Announcements let administrators send messages to volunteers. You can broadcast to everyone or target a specific group.

Who Can Access This

• Owners and Administrators can create announcements.
• All team members can view announcements.

Viewing Announcements

Volunteers can see recent announcements sent to them from their Overview dashboard. Opening an announcement shows the full message and marks it as read.

The summary cards show the total number of announcements and the latest announcement. The latest card also shows who that announcement was sent to.

Click an announcement row to open a detail view. The detail view shows the full title, full message, sent date, recipient type, and the specific volunteers who received the announcement.

The Announcements page shows a table of all announcements with:

• Title — the announcement heading.
• Message — a preview of the message content.
• Recipient Type — a badge showing whether it was sent to all volunteers, a ministry, or a specific event team.
• Sent At — when the announcement was sent.

Creating an Announcement

1. Click New Announcement.
2. Fill in the form:
   • Title (required) — a short heading for the announcement.
   • Message (required) — the full message text.
   • Communication method — choose Email, SMS, or both. Ministry Steward starts with your church's announcement notification settings, and you can adjust the method for this announcement before sending.
   • Recipient Type — choose who receives it:
     • All Volunteers — everyone in the organization.
     • Ministry — only volunteers in one or more selected ministries (a ministry picker appears). If a volunteer belongs to more than one selected ministry, they receive the announcement once.
     • Specific Event — only volunteers assigned to one event occurrence, such as a Sunday service on a specific date. Use the Future/Past toggle, Event Series filter, or Date filter to find the right event. Each event option shows how many volunteers are assigned.
3. Click Send.

Use Cases

• Schedule Published — let volunteers know a new schedule is available.
• Event Changes — notify affected volunteers about date, time, or location changes.
• Ministry Updates — share information relevant to a specific service area.
• General Communication — welcome messages, reminders, or organizational news.