In Good Grants, notifications are pre-configured emails or SMS messages that are sent by the platform based on a related trigger. For example, users can receive a notification when they submit an application or when an action stage has been started. While there are default notifications included in your account, these can be customised to fit your needs.
In this guide, we'll discuss how to create, edit, and customise a notification as well as reviewing some commonly asked questions.
Create a notification
To create a new notification for your program, follow the simple steps outlined below.
- From the Manage workspace, go to Settings > Communications > Notifications
- Click New notification
- Select the Trigger for the notification; see the list of available triggers below
- For programs configuring multiple notifications with the same trigger, it is recommended that an optional Description is added to differentiate between them
- If desired, select whether this notification should apply to all forms or just some under the Forms heading
- Set the Recipient(s) for the notification, from the following options
Tip: you may create multiple notifications with the same trigger, so the event sends different notifications to different people.- User: the person the event relates to
-
Email addresses and/or phone numbers: one or more specified addresses separated by a comma or semicolon
Note: mobile notifications are a feature of the Enterprise plan. -
Address specified in a field: allows an email or phone number field from the application process to be selected. This setting allows for someone an application relates to, to receive a notification
Tip: if you don't see this option, double check that a form is selected!
- A Sender name and Reply-to address may optionally be set--we strongly recommend adding a reply-to address so your users may contact you if necessary
Note: to improve email deliverability, the sending address cannot be updated. - Write an Email subject and compose an Email body message and SMS body using merge fields and markdown formatting as desired; see the Customise a notification section of this guide for more information
Note: if both an email and SMS are defined, what is sent depends on the recipient. Should the recipient have both an email address and a mobile number defined, only the email is sent. SMS messages are limited to 160 characters and available only on the Enterprise plan. - Save
Edit an existing notification
If you would like to edit an existing notification, follow these steps:
- From the Manage workspace, navigate to Settings > Communications > Notifications
- Click the subject of the notification you need to update
- Make your required changes
- Save
Customise a notification
When creating or editing an existing notification, you have the ability to not only customise your message by editing its text, but also through the use of text formatting (including Markdown) and merge fields. These tools allow you to pull in information from the user's registration, their submission, or even documents from your organisation's website. To learn about the options available to you, check out these guides:
- Can I personalise emails? What are merge fields?
- Formatting using Markdown: linking documents/websites, adding images and stylising text
Available triggers
Trigger | Action |
Application moderated |
Triggered when an application is moderated (Approved, Rejected or Undecided). For more information, see: Moderation explained. |
Application submitted | Triggered when an application is successfully submitted, whether by the applicant or a manager. |
Application resubmitted |
Trigged when an application is resubmitted, whether by the applicant or a manager. To learn more, see: Application resubmission. |
Application tagged |
Triggered when an application is tagged. |
Application eligible |
Triggered when an application is found to be eligible when using the eligibility screener feature. |
Application ineligible | Triggered when an application is found to be ineligible when using the eligibility screener feature. |
Collaborator invited |
Triggered when an applicant invites a contributor to work on an application. To learn more about collaborative submissions, see our guide: Collaborative submissions (beta) |
User registered | Triggered when a user registers successfully. |
User invited | Triggered when a user is invited to the platform.
Note: this notification is required and will be sent to users whether it has been configured for your account or not.
|
Payment due |
Triggered when a scheduled payment is marked as due. To learn more, see: Payment tracking |
Payment status changed |
Triggered when the payment status for an application has been changed. |
Payment pending |
Triggered on application submission when the invoice option is selected by the applicant. |
Payment success | Triggered on application submission when a payment succeeds via your payment gateway. |
Role granted | Triggered when role is assigned to a user. To learn more about assigning roles, see our guide: Assign/remove user roles in bulk or individually. |
Action stage started | Triggered when an action stage is started. The notification needs to be selected on the action stage before being triggered. See Action flow configuration for more information. |
Action stage completed |
Triggered when an action stage is completed; i.e when a 'Proceed' or 'Stop' decision is made. The notification must be selected on the action stage before being triggered. |
Grant report due |
Triggered before, after, or when a grant report is marked due based on all or selected grant statuses. To learn more, see our dedicated guide: Post-grant reporting. |
Grant report scheduled |
Triggered when a grant report has been scheduled with a due date in the future. |
Grant report submitted |
Triggered when a grant report has been submitted by an applicant. |
Grant status changed |
Triggered when an application's grant status been edited (Closed, In progress, Fully allocated, etc). See our Grant status guide for more information. |
Assignment created |
Triggered when pairing reviewers with applications via the Applications view of the Manage workspace. To learn more, check out this guide: Assign reviewers via the Applications view. |
Assignment completed |
Triggered when a reviewing assignment has been completed by a reviewer. |
Application invited |
Triggered when a user is invited to complete an application from the Users view of the Manage workspace. |
Document created |
Triggered when a document is assigned to a user or application. To learn more about the documents feature, see our guide: Documents and document templates |
FAQ
Good Grants uses a third party mail provider to send your program's broadcasts and notifications. While the system has been refined to improve the chances of delivery, it's impossible to guarantee that an email will arrive. Individual inboxes may have advanced filters applied that could reject even crucial messages.
If some users have reported not receiving email notifications (or broadcasts), there are a few things you can check:
- Ask the user to look for the message in their junk or spam folders or any social/promotional tabs that they've configured in their inbox. Broadcasts and notifications from the Award Force platform can occasionally be routed to these areas.
- Ask your user to mark the address from which notifications and broadcasts are sent, no-reply@app.goodgrants.com and sender@app.goodgrants.com, as allowed or safelisted.
- Look at the user's profile to see whether they have unsubscribed from broadcasts and notifications. To do so, go to Users and click on the user's name, then open the Preferences tab. Do note that the account confirmation notification is sent regardless of the users's preferences as it is a system requirement.