Chip in: let members pay for your group

Chip in lets your members pay towards your group's Gaggle Mail subscription, so the group pays for itself. You turn it on once. Members chip in from a link in the group's emails, with no login. What they give goes into your group's balance, and the balance comes off your Gaggle Mail invoices automatically, so you pay less, or nothing at all. A free group even upgrades itself once members have covered it.

There's nothing to run. No chasing people for money, no spreadsheets, and no paying the bill yourself and asking to be paid back.

Chip in at a glance

• Who can chip in: Anyone with your group's Chip in link: members, former members, family and friends. No account or password.

• How much: Any amount from $5 to $1,000, one-off, monthly or yearly. The buttons suggest $5, $20 or $50, or $5, $10 or $20 a month.

• Where it goes: Your group's balance, used only to pay your group's Gaggle Mail invoices. Never paid out.

• What it costs: Nothing. Included on every plan, and Gaggle Mail takes 0%: 100% reaches your balance.

• Free groups: Upgrade to Standard by themselves once members cover the goal, a month or a year. No card on file.

• Your effort: One switch. Optionally, an Ask members email when you choose.

The whole feature on one page: gaggle.email/chip-in.

Turn it on

1. Log in, open your group and click Chip in in the menu:

   

2. Click Turn on Chip in. The tab shows what your group costs and how few members it would take to cover it:

   

That's all there is to set up. Turning it on creates your group's Chip in page and adds one line to the bottom of group messages until you're funded. Nothing is emailed to members until you choose to send it.

Your Chip in tab

Once Chip in is on, the tab's Overview shows everything at a glance:

• The status bar says Chip in is on, links to your live Chip in page (Page live), and shows whether the footer line is showing.

• Progress is your balance against what your group costs (the target), for example "$62 of $90 covered", with what members have pledged each month and whether your next renewal is covered. If you're short, it says how many members chipping in would cover it.

• Ask your members holds your note and the button to send the ask (see below).

• Share link is your Chip in page's address, to paste into a newsletter, a WhatsApp group or a meeting agenda. Whoever opens it can chip in straight away.

The target follows the plan you're on. If your group doesn't pay yet, you choose its goal under Customise: Monthly (the default, and easier for members to reach) or Annual. Where the money goes explains how the balance pays your invoices, and what happens when a free group is funded.

The Contributions tab lists everyone who has chipped in, with their name, email, amount, how often and whether it has been used yet. You can download it as a spreadsheet for your treasurer, and refund unused contributions from it. The Customise tab lets you change the emails, the footer line and the page's colour: see What your members see.

If your group is part of an Organization, contributions to any of its groups pool into one balance that pays the Organization's invoices, and the tab shows the Organization's balance and target.

Ask your members (optional)

One email is the quickest way to get the first contributions in. Click Send your first ask (later, Ask again) on the Overview. It's already written: it goes to every member, from your name, with what the group costs, how far along it is and a Chip in button. Add a sentence in your own words as your note and you see exactly what members will get:

Your note also appears on your Chip in page, and you can send yourself a test first. Send an ask whenever you like: the Overview shows when the last one went and how many people have chipped in since, and if you sent one in the last 7 days we'll check with you before sending again. We never send members reminders of our own.

Turning it off

Turn off is on the Chip in tab's Overview, at any time, and it tells you exactly what will happen before you confirm. Your Chip in page then says Chip in is switched off (refund links still work), the footer line and asks stop, and we stop emailing you about it.

• Anything in the balance is still used on your next invoice.

• Monthly and yearly contributions made through your page are cancelled, and we email each contributor to let them know, so nobody keeps paying for a page they can't see.

• Turn it back on and your settings are as you left them, your edited emails and note included. Members who gave monthly or yearly can chip in again from the page.

If you used donations before

You don't need to do anything. Here's what changed:

• Your balance carried over to the cent, and is still taken off your next invoice automatically.

• Monthly donations already running carry on, and show as Monthly in Contributions. New contributions can be one-off, monthly or yearly.

• Your donate description became your note. There's no plan to pick any more: the target follows the plan you're actually on.

• Members no longer need to log in, and groups with Chip in on get the footer line until they're funded. You can change that under Customise.

• Refunds are now limited to 30 days for contributors, and the Refund unused payments button has been replaced by Refund on each unused row in Contributions. See Refunds.

• Groups in an Organization now pool with it.

More about Chip in

• Chip in: where the money goes: how the balance pays your invoices, free groups upgrading themselves, the emails we send you, refunds.

• Chip in: what your members see: the Chip in page, how members pay, who sees their name, and changing the emails and footer line.

Got questions about Chip in or feedback about any aspect of Gaggle Mail? Please contact us.