Who this is for: coaches, administrators and any member who needs to message a group. Permission required: none to write a message. To send without review you need Manage Communications, Approve Communications, or Send Communications to Allowed Groups (for groups you belong to). Messages to practice attendees from the lineups page need Create Practices, Practice Communications or Set Practice Lineups.
Boathouse Connect sends email and text messages to your members on the organization's behalf. You pick recipients by group, so you never maintain a separate mailing list: when someone joins or leaves a group, they start or stop receiving that group's messages.
Anyone in the organization can compose a message. Whether it goes out straight away or waits for approval depends on your permissions — see Who can send and who must request below and Message review.
Send a message
- Go to Communications → Send Message.
- Under Which groups would you like to send the message to?, tick each group that should receive it. Groups you belong to are marked (Member). Use Select All to tick every group.
- Under Which group stakeholders should also receive this message? (Email only), tick a group to include its stakeholders. Only selected groups that have stakeholders are listed.
- Under Are there any other users you would like this message to be sent to?, pick people from Select user to add. Each person appears in a list below; click X to remove them.
- Choose the Message Type: Email or Text Message.
- Write the message (see the table below).
- Set What time should this message send?.
- Click Schedule Message.
- For an email, the Preview Message window opens. Check the subject, send time and the Light Mode, Dark Mode and Recipient List tabs, then click Schedule / Send Message — or Modify Message to go back. Text messages skip the preview.
| Message type | What you fill in | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Subject, the message body, and optionally one file under Upload Attachment | The editor supports formatting, lists, tables, links and images by URL. A subject is required. | |
| Text Message | Message | Limited to 140 characters so that every phone receives it as a single text. Stakeholders cannot receive texts. |
You must select at least one group or one individual; otherwise you see Error - No Recipients Selected.
Tip: Text copied from another program can carry hidden formatting that is hard to read in dark mode. Highlight it and click the eraser (clear formatting) icon in the editor, then check the Dark Mode preview again.
Scheduling
- A send time in the past (including the default, which is "now") means the message goes out as soon as possible.
- A future send time holds the message until that time.
- The recipient list is built when the message sends, not when you schedule it. Someone who leaves a selected group before then will not receive it, unless they are in another selected group.
- A person in several selected groups receives the message only once.
To change or cancel a scheduled message, use My Messages (below).
Message attendees of a practice or regatta
Practices. Go to Practices → Lineups. In the Upcoming Practices table, use Email or Text in the Send Message column. The message goes to members marked Attending for that practice, including any additional email addresses or phone numbers on their profiles. See Attendance.
Regattas. Open the regatta in the regatta planner and go to its Communications page. Use Send Email or Send Text Message; messages go to all athletes attending the regatta, and earlier ones are listed under Regatta Messages Sent. See The regatta planner.
Who can send and who must request
When you click Schedule / Send Message, Boathouse Connect checks your permissions:
| Your permissions | What happens |
|---|---|
| Manage Communications or Approve Communications | The message is scheduled; no review needed. |
| Send Communications to Allowed Groups, and every selected group is one you belong to | The message is scheduled; no review needed. |
| Send Communications to Allowed Groups, but at least one selected group is not yours | The message waits in Pending Review. |
| None of the above | The message waits in Pending Review. |
If no review is needed you see Success — "Your message is in the send queue!". Otherwise you see Insufficient Permissions, and reviewers are notified that a message is waiting. Permissions come from your groups; see Roles & permissions.
My Messages
Communications → My Messages has three tabs:
| Tab | Shows |
|---|---|
| Received Messages | Emails and texts the organization has sent you. Click View to read an email. |
| Scheduled Messages | Your messages that have not sent yet, with the Scheduled Date, the Approval status (Not Required, Pending or Approved), View Recipients and the subject or text. |
| Sent Messages | Your messages that have gone out, with View Recipients and View. |
On Scheduled Messages:
- Click Edit to open Modify Message, where you can change the send time, subject and body. Click Save & Close.
- Click X to delete the message so it never sends.
There is no separate drafts folder. A message is only saved to My Messages once you schedule it; if you leave Send Message before then, the message is not kept.
Automated email templates
Administrators can have an email sent automatically when someone joins the organization or a group.
Permission required: Manage Communications.
- Go to Communications → Templates.
- Click + to open New Email Template. Enter the Template Name, Email Subject Line and Email Body, then click Create Template. Every recipient receives the same text.
- To send a template to everyone who joins the organization, choose it under New User Welcome Email. Choose Do not send an email to new users to turn this off.
- To send a template when someone joins a particular group, click Assign on its row in All Templates and add the group. Only people who join after you assign it receive it; current members do not.
The All Templates table shows each template's Last Updated date, Total Sends and Total Opens. Click Edit on a row to change a template, then Save Changes.
FAQ
Can parents receive our messages without joining a group? Yes, by email. Add them as stakeholders on the group (see Stakeholders) and tick that group under the stakeholders question when you send. Stakeholders only have an email address on file, so they cannot receive texts.
Why can't I select "Text Message" for stakeholders? Switching to Text Message hides the stakeholders question, because Boathouse Connect only stores email addresses for stakeholders.
My text was cut off. Texts are limited to 140 characters. Send a longer message as an email.
Someone says they did not get a message. Check View Recipients in My Messages to confirm they were on the list, then point them to Not receiving emails or texts?. Administrators can check delivery in Email analytics.
Can I change a message after it was approved? Yes, until it sends. Use Edit on the Scheduled Messages tab of My Messages.
Can I email only the members who haven't paid? There is no filter for that. Find them on the Overdue Accounts tab of Finances → All Accounts (needs Assess Fees or Manage Finances), then add each one under Are there any other users you would like this message to be sent to? when you compose the message.