Contributors, their contributions, points, and rewards are all configured and tracked in your community dashboard.
Follow the steps in this article to turn on the visibility and feature elements of the contributions feature, specifically adding and designing your badges.
The contributions feature in your dashboard has been updated as of December 15, 2024. Depending on the configuration of your community's contribution module, you may see some notable changes to the dashboard.
Contributions
Members' contributions to the community can include preset actions like organizing a webinar, authoring a blog, or attending an event. You can also create custom contributions that apply to your community like being an ambassador, volunteering at an event, etc., and add those custom activities to members' profiles, point values, and accounts.
Setting these contribution rules and actions is all handled in the dashboard, in the Contributors menu → Contributions. Customize which contributions your community will log and reward your community members from that menu item.
Preset contributions
There are several contributions that the platform can automatically log and track for your members. These contributions surround event activity, content engagement, and more.
Here is a list of available preset contributions and how the system logs the action:
Events
These are logged when an event is published, and after it has ended.
Unlisted events will log contributions, but unpublished events will not.
Note: If these contributors are added after the event has ended, contributions and points will not be added to their account.
Event Organizer | Organized an event within the community |
Event Speaker | |
Meeting-Event / Webinar Host | Assigned a host for a meeting or webinar event |
In-event Meeting Host | Host of a meeting session within a livestream/webinar event |
In-event Roundtable Host | Host of a roundtable within a livestream/webinar event |
Event Participation | Attended an event (> 1 minute logged in, or checked in) |
Content
These are logged when a content piece is published.
Author | |
Video Speaker | |
Read Content | Read an article or other content (visit the content page) |
Watch a Video | Viewed video content (visits video page and clicks 'play') |
Forum
These are logged when a community has the Forum feature enabled.
Publish a Post | Posted in the community forum - Rewarded up to 1 time per 24 hours |
Comment / Reply | Commented and interacted with posts in the community forum - Rewarded up to 5 times per 24 hours |
Community Activities
Daily Active | Member visits the community each day |
Completes Onboarding | Completed the onboarding form/profile |
Joined a Club | Joined an interest group or club within the community |
These contributions are automatically logged by the system, but can also be manually added to a contributor's account in the dashboard. The system also defaults a point value to each of these, but you can make changes to that from the Contributions tab.
Learn more about how to assign contributions below.
Any contribution-related actions taken in the event or content dashboard after it is published, such as adding a new speaker, removing a speaker, or linking a new user to a speaker will not automatically update badge counts. These changes must be made manually.
Custom contributions
You can add up to 100 custom contributions to your community account to celebrate the accomplishments, input, and actions your members take for the betterment of the network. Each of these contributions can have a badge assigned to the contribution, a point value, and notes on what the contribution acknowledges.
Add custom contributions
Navigate to the Contributor menu and to Contributions
Select the +Custom Contribution button
You must name the contribution and if the points module is enabled, allocate how many points the contributor will receive
If there is a badge created for this contribution, you will assign it in this pop-up as well
Because custom contributions are not automatically logging actions, you will have to assign contributions to members by following the steps below.
Assigning Contributions
Preset contributions
The system will automatically assign contributions to the preset actions listed above. If you want to edit or change which contributions log in the community, reference the Contributions tab in the dashboard.
Any contribution-related actions taken in the event or content dashboard after it is published, such as adding a new speaker, removing a speaker, or linking a new user to a speaker will not automatically update badge counts. These changes must be made manually.
Manual assignments
You can log a contribution to a contributor's account (one-by-one) from the dashboard.
Navigate to the Contributors menu and to the Contribution Logs tab
Select the +Log Contribution button in the upper right
Select the contributor you'd like to assign a new contribution
Select the contribution, the date and time of the contribution, and how many times the user earned it
You can add notes if needed to this entry, and be sure to hit 'Add' to save your work
The contributor will immediately see this contribution logged, and any points associated with it in their account.
Bulk upload point values
You can update a bulk list of contributors from the dashboard
Navigate to the Contributors menu and to the Contribution Logs tab
Select the +Import Member Contribution button in the upper right
We recommend downloading the CSV template before proceeding to ensure your data is received by the system
This CSV template includes all available types of contributions in your community.
To record contributions, input an integer of 1 or higher under each type to show how many times a member contributed.
Leave the fields blank for types with no contributions to import.
You will verify the mapping of column headers and example fields to the right fields, and the system will do a preliminary check of the data
Once complete, the system will email confirmation and any errors to the email inbox of the admin user
Once it is successfully uploaded, the contributors will immediately see this contribution logged, and any points associated with it in their accounts.
Retracting Contributions
As the admin, you can retract or withdraw contributions or points from a member's profile and account.
Note: The system will automatically withdraw contributions and points in these scenarios:
Registration was canceled for the event
The forum post is deleted
The forum comment/reply is deleted
Exited the club
Any contribution-related actions taken in the event or content dashboard after it is published, such as adding a new speaker, removing a speaker, or linking a new user to a speaker will not automatically update badge counts. These changes must be made manually
Withdraw contribution
Navigate to the Contributions Log page
Navigate to the contribution in question, and select the edit button
Select Withdraw and enter the reasoning (if you'd like) in the Notes column
This will not be shared with the user
Select 'Confirm to withdraw' to save your work
Once it is successfully withdrawn, the contribution, badge and point value will immediately be removed from the contributor's account/profile.
Adjust points
Navigate to their profile from the dashboard Member List
Select the Contributions tab at the top and the Adjust Points button
Add or retract points from their account from the 'Adjustment' field
Points cannot drop to below zero
Once points are adjusted, the contributor will see the adjustment in their account immediately.
Contribution Log
This page in the dashboard shows you all contributions logged in the system, to whom, when, and for what point value. You can sort by a number of fields, and take action to log or withdraw contributions and points to member accounts.
Member's Contribution Log
You can also see a member's contribution log from their profile at any time.
Contributor Rules Page
On the front end, members can reference the contribution rules set by community admins by navigating to the Contribution Rules page. This page is accessible from the Contributor menu or their profile drop-down in the upper right.
Points
You can assign point values to each contribution, so members can start earning points, ranking on the leaderboard, and potentially redeeming them for rewards.
This element is part of an additional module to the contributions feature, so if this would be a solution for your community, reach out to the Gradual team to chat.
Lifetime points: The total points recorded for a member, including those that have been redeemed.
This point value is what is displayed on a member's profile
This point value is used for the contributor board ranking
Redeemable points: The total points available for redemption. Only includes points that have not been redeemed in the rewards center.
This point value is only displayed to the member
Point Values
You can audit the default point values assigned to each contribution from the Contributions tab in the dashboard. Make edits to the points rewarded for each contribution, and add points to custom contributions from this tab as well.
Know that making changes to point values associated with contributions that members have already earned will change their point totals immediately.
You can modify the point values for each contribution within a pre-defined range. The point ranges for contributions has been recently updated system-wide, but cannot be changed beyond the defaulted ranges available.
Assigning points to contributors
Default system point values
The system has default points assigned to many of the preset contributions. You can adjust the point values for each contribution/badge so it automatically grants the correct value for actions from the dashboard.
Navigate to the Contributors menu and to the Contributions tab
Select the edit button in line with the contribution you'd like to adjust the point value for
Set the point value and hit 'Save'
Note: If a contribution is added to an event that has already ended, or an event is published after it has ended, the contributors will not receive the points automatically.
e.g. A speaker is added to a session after the event has ended, that speaker will not receive the points.
Reach out to the Gradual team if points need to be added retroactively.
Manual point values
You can log a contribution and add points to a contributor's account (one-by-one) from the dashboard.
Navigate to the Contributors menu and to the Contribution Logs tab
Select the +Log Contribution button in the upper right
Select the contributor you'd like to assign a contribution and add points to their account
Select the contribution, the date and time of the contribution, and how many times the user earned it
You can add notes if needed to this entry, and be sure to hit 'Add' to save your work
The contributor will immediately see this contribution logged, and any points associated with it in their account.
Adjust points to individual member
At any time you can also add or retract points on a member's account
Navigate to their profile from the dashboard Member List
Select the Contributions tab at the top and the Adjust Points button
Add or retract points from their account from the 'Adjustment' field
Points cannot drop to below zero
Bulk upload point values
You can update a bulk list of contributors, adding points to their accounts from the dashboard.
Navigate to the Contributors menu and to the Contribution Logs tab
Select the +Import Member Contribution button in the upper right
We recommend downloading the CSV template before proceeding to ensure your data is received by the system
This CSV template includes all available types of contributions in your community.
To record contributions, input an integer of 1 or higher under each type to show how many times a member contributed.
Leave the fields blank for types with no contributions to import.
You will verify the mapping of column headers and example fields to the right fields, and the system will do a preliminary check of the data.
Once complete, the system will email confirmation and any errors to the email inbox of the admin user.
Once it is successfully uploaded, the contributors will immediately see this contribution logged, and any points associated with it in their accounts.
Retracting points
As the admin, you can retract or withdraw contributions or points from a member's profile and account.
Note: The system will automatically withdraw contributions and points in these scenarios:
Registration was canceled for the event
The forum post is deleted
The forum comment/reply is deleted
Exited the club
Withdraw contribution
Navigate to the Contributions Log page
Navigate to the contribution in question, and select the edit button
Select Withdraw and enter the reasoning (if you'd like) in the Notes column
This will not be shared with the user
Select 'Confirm to withdraw' to save your work
Once it is successfully withdrawn, the contribution, badge and point value will immediately be removed from the contributor's account/profile.
Adjust points
Navigate to their profile from the dashboard Member List
Select the Contributions tab at the top and the Adjust Points button
Add or retract points from their account from the 'Adjustment' field
Points cannot drop to below zero
Once points are adjusted, the contributor will see the adjustment in their account immediately.
Badges
You can customize the badges available in your community, assign them to preset contribution or custom contributions, and have them display on members' profiles or stay hidden.
To learn more about the badges available or how to build custom badges, follow the steps in this article.
Rewards
You can build a rewards center in your community to offer items in exchange for redeemable points from your contributors.
This element is part of an additional module to the contributions feature, so if this would be a solution for your community, reach out to the Gradual team to chat.
Learn more about the rewards center configuration here and more about the user experience in redeeming points here.