Introducing multi-factor authentication (MFA)

Be Collective is committed to ensuring the security of our users' data, and with that in mind we're excited to announce the introduction of multi-factor authentication (MFA) to our platform.

MFA provides an added layer of security to your Be Collective account by requesting a secondary method of authentication – the first being your username and password – in the form of a verification code.

This code is generated each time you log in and sent by SMS to your mobile phone. You must then enter this code when prompted during login to verify your identity.

This helps to prevent fraudalent access by requiring you not only to know your username and password, but also have access to your mobile device before you can be logged in.

Activating MFA is optional, but we recommend you do so to secure your account and personal data. If you're a new or existing Be Collective user, MFA is disabled by default and can be enabled at any time through the Settings tab in My dashboard.

To learn more about MFA, please see the Help Centre articles linked below:

What is multi-factor authentication (MFA)?
How do I activate multi-factor authentication (MFA)?

If you have any queries or feedback, please don't hesitate to contact our friendly support team at help@becollective.com

Updates to group types

Following feedback from a number of our users, we've made updates to the group types that can be selected on our platform.

These changes have been made to improve the clarity and consistency of our group types, and to ensure our platform reflects current terminology across all regions.

 Our new group types are as follows:

  • Business (previously: Corporate/Business)
  • Charity/Not-for-profit (previously: Not for profit)
  • Club/Community group (previously: Community group)
  • Education provider (previously: Education)
  • Government/Public sector (previously: Council)
  • Volunteer services & centre (new group type)

If you already own or administrate a group on Be Collective, you do not need to do anything – our new group types have been applied automatically to all existing groups, replacing the old group types as shown above. For example, if your group was previously used the 'Not for profit' group type, it is now a Charity/Not-for-profit.

Group types can be selected when you first create a group on Be Collective, or through our group editor. To learn more, please see the Help Centre articles linked below:

How do I create a group?
How do I edit my group?

If you have any queries or feedback, please don't hesitate to contact our friendly support team at help@becollective.com

Causes update

Following feedback from a number of our users, the Elderly & Aged Care cause has been removed from our platform. All existing selections of this cause have been transferred to the Older People cause.

This change has been made to maintain clarity and consistency across our list of causes, and to ensure our platform reflects current terminology.

Causes can be selected against users, groups, opportunities and events. To learn more about how causes can be used in Be Collective to facilitate connections between volunteers and volunteer organisations, please see the Help Centre article linked below:

Causes explained

If you have any queries or feedback, please don't hesitate to contact our friendly support team at help@becollective.com

Introducing Be Collective's product plans

Exciting news! Be Collective is now available as three tiered product plans, each designed to address the needs and budgets of different sized organisations across the community, charity, government, education, and private sectors.

Product plans are available now in Australia and New Zealand, and will be released in the United Kingdom soon.

Why has Be Collective introduced new product plans? 

After analysing how Be Collective is used by numerous organisations of all sizes, we recognised the need for an new, more affordable plan with more functionality.

Our new plans are:

  • Be Collective Standard: free access to Be Collective for smaller-sized groups, which only require access to our standard suite of tools.
  • Be Collective Plus: for any group which needs a range of additional features to better manage volunteer programs at an affordable price.
  • Be Collective Pro: for organisations requiring full functionality, customisation, innovative engagement and evidence-based reporting.

All three plans are available now to all new and existing Be Collective groups. Volunteer access to Be Collective remains unaffected by this change.

To learn more about what each of our plans include and how to subscribe, please see the Help Centre article linked below:

Be Collective's product plans and pricing

I'm an existing Be Collective group owner - what happens to my group?

If your group has no paid subscription, you now have an ongoing subscription to our Be Collective Standard plan, which remains free! To learn more about the features available to you as a Standard subscriber, please see the Help Centre article linked below:

What features do Be Collective's plans include?

If your group has an existing subscription to our deprecated Be Collective Plus+ plan, your subscription been migrated automatically to our Be Collective Pro plan at no additional cost. This ensures you experience no loss of functionality or access to data.

For details on how to upgrade or manage your subscription, please see the Help Centre article linked below:

How do I subscribe to a Be Collective plan?

If you have have any questions or feedback on Be Collective's subscription plans, please contact our friendly support team at help@becollective.com.

Exporting your custom fields data (Be Collective Plus+ Only)

We're excited to announce the latest enhancement to our custom fields feature, which now allows you to export your group's custom fields data!

How do I export custom fields data?

As a Be Collective group manager, you can export your group's data through the Reports and Exports tab of your group management page, under Export data.

Simply select the Custom fields export type then click Download data to export your custom fields data in CSV format, which can be opened as a spreadsheet for analysis.

Long-time Be Collective users will notice we've also improved the entire data export interface, making the export process quicker and more intuitive. We've also added links to relevant Help Centre articles for each export type so you can easily learn more about what each export file contains.

More information on how to export your group's data can be found in Be Collective's Help Centre here.

If you have have any questions or feedback on Be Collective's custom fields functionality, please contact our friendly support team at help@becollective.com.

Importing data to custom fields (Be Collective Plus+ Only)

We're excited to announce that we've already enhanced our new custom fields feature with a data import wizard! This makes bulk uploads of data for your existing members to your group's custom fields quick and easy.

How do I upload custom fields data?

An upload template file is provided for your convenience with your group's custom fields and members already included. To begin, simply download this template, add the data you'd like to import, save as a CSV file and upload this file in the first step of the import wizard.

The second step of the import wizard gives you the opportunity to match the columns in your data file to your custom fields. This is particularly useful if you choose to upload your own data (for instance, an exported file from another platform) Any columns that match the names of your custom fields are matched automatically.

Once you've matched your file columns, you can then verify your data. This allows you to correct any errors immediately instead of updating and re-uploading your data file. Once you've verified your data, all you need to do is click 'Next' to upload it!

More information on how to upload data to your custom fields can be found in Be Collective's Help Centre here.

If you have have any questions or feedback on Be Collective's custom fields functionality, please contact our friendly support team at help@becollective.com.

Introducing custom fields! (Be Collective Plus+ only)


We're very excited to announce that Be Collective now offers the functionality for volunteer managers to create custom fields for their members!

This is a great new way for Be Collective Plus+ groups to capture and store more data on your members. With custom fields, it's now easier than even for volunteer managers to:

  • match volunteers to opportunities
  • complete induction processes
  • manage vaccination details

And so much more! If you manage a Be Collective Plus+ group, you can create as many custom fields as you like across nine field types from text to dropdown menus, all tailored to the needs of your organisation.

To learn more about using custom fields, please see the following articles in our Help Centre:

How do I set up custom fields?

How do I enter data in my group's custom fields?

If you have have any questions or feedback on Be Collective's custom fields functionality, please contact our friendly support team at help@becollective.com.

Partnership table updates - searching your partners

Great news for volunteer resource centres, and any group with lots of partners - Be Collective's partnerships table is now searchable!

Searching the table is easy - you'll now see a search box above each tab of the table, which you can use to search the partners in the open tab of the table by group name.

The Group and Request Date columns in all tabs of the Partnerships table can also be sorted by clicking on the column header.

More information on how to search your group's partners can be found in Be Collective's Help Centre here.

If you have have any questions or feedback on Be Collective's partnerships functionality, please contact our friendly support team at help@becollective.com.

Messenger updates - messaging multiple users

Be Collective's messenger has recently been updated to make it more clear when you're sending messages to more than one recipient.

When you're in a conversation with any set of Be Collective users, a Group chat icon is now shown above the chat box. This appears in the following scenarios:

- a conversation with more than one Be Collective user
- a conversation with all members of a Be Collective group
- a conversation with all volunteers assigned to an opportunity

The text box also shows exactly who your message will be going to, e.g. 'Write a message to The Community Gardens group ...'; 'Write a message to Sara and Amie ...'

This can be a helpful prompt if you're in a conversation with all of your group members and would like to reply to only one member in that conversation. In such cases, you can start a new conversation with that group member only, instead of posting in the group chat and messaging everybody!

More information on how to use Be Collective Messenger can be found in Be Collective's Help Centre here.

If you have have any questions about Be Collective's messaging functionality, please contact our friendly support team at help@becollective.com.

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