Set up your new team
Team setup walks you from sign-up to a launched team in about 15 minutes. Ugo, your River Guide, explains each step as you go. Every step is optional: skip anything and come back later. Your progress is saved after each step, so you can close Team setup at any time and pick up where you left off.
Team setup opens on its own right after you start your subscription (sign-up no longer asks for your logo and cover; you add them on the Look step here). Later, find it under Team setup in the admin menu, with the Team setup link at the top of Settings, from Setup 5 of 9 on the trial banner, or from Finish setting up in your welcome email (on a phone, that link opens the app if it's installed).
How it works
A blue band across the top shows every step as a numbered pebble. A check means the step is done, a dash means you skipped it (or your plan doesn't include it), and the glowing pebble is the step you're on. Tap any pebble to jump to that step. On a phone the band shows the step you're on and how far along you are (for example "3 of 9").
Each step has:
- a question with a few inputs on the left,
- Ugo's tip for the step, and
- a live preview on the right (below the inputs on a phone) of what members see. It changes as you type.
At the bottom:
- Continue (or Looks good when you've done the step before) saves the step and moves on. A small splash of water tells you it worked.
- Skip for now moves on without saving and marks the step skipped.
- Back returns to the previous step.
Ask Ugo in Ugo's speech bubble opens the help assistant on larger screens.
Done, Reviewed and Skipped
A step reads Done only when what it sets up really exists, using the same data as the Finish setting up checklist:
- Look, Values, Drops, Invite and Kick off are done when every checklist item they cover is done (for Look: a logo, a cover image and a description; for Kick off: a season and your first post). If you went through the step but something is still missing, it reads Reviewed instead, and stays open on the checklist.
- You, Features and Runs are done once you've saved them.
- Skipped never counts as done.
- A step your plan doesn't include (Runs on the Free plan) reads Not in your plan and isn't counted.
Team setup is a guided way into settings you already have. Everything it saves also appears in its usual place in Settings and Rewards, and you can change it there at any time.
The steps
| Step | What you set | Where it lives afterwards |
|---|---|---|
| 1. You (1 min) | Your name, photo, and a line about what you do | Your profile |
| 2. Look (2 min) | Your logo, banner and a sentence about your team. Find our logo and banner looks for them on your website (see below). Fill it in from our website reads your public website and suggests the about text; nothing is saved until you choose Use this and continue | Settings › Team Details |
| 3. Values (2 min) | Your core values. New teams start with Supportive. Add ideas from your website, popular picks or your own words. Each value saves as soon as you add it | Settings › Tags |
| 4. Drops (3 min) | Drops each person can give per week or month (25 a week is a good start), what one drop is worth ($0.25 is common), and the Drop Shop on or off. A live estimate shows the most you could spend in a month, for example "40 people × 25 drops × $0.25 = up to about $1,080 a month" | Rewards › Drop Defaults and Settings › Features |
| 5. Features (2 min) | What your team gets (see The Features step): Recognition and the Team Hub are included in every team; turn River Runs, Wellspring and River Rankings on or off; the rest (Milestones, Surveys & polls, Charity Channel, Events, Games) are under More options. Pick Essentials for a calm start or Everything. Turning on Milestones also switches on the Birthday and Work anniversary milestones | Settings › Features and Rewards › Milestones |
| 6. Runs (2 min) | River Runs on or off, and one starter run that everyone joins automatically, including people who join later. Remind me later skips the step so it stays open in Team setup. On the Free plan, River Runs isn't included: the step says so, with Upgrade to unlock, and Continue just moves on | Engage › River Runs (Required Training) |
| 7. Invite (3 min) | Your join link (with a QR code to share), auto-join for your company email domain (on by default with the domain you signed up with), CSV import, adding people by hand, and a setup call if you use an HR system such as BambooHR | Settings › Team Details, Our Team and Settings › Integrations |
| 8. Kick off (2 min) | Ugo has already posted a welcome and an "Introduce yourself" thread in your feed (Ugo isn't a member: Ugo's posts don't take drops or gifts, and Ugo isn't suggested as a teammate to recognize). Write your own first post, and plan a first season if you like | The feed and Engage › Seasons |
| 9. Launch (under a minute) | A summary of what's set, with your progress, for example "7 of 8 done · 1 skipped". Skipped and reviewed steps are listed so you can finish them now or later. Then Launch my team: after a moment of celebration you land on your Admin Dashboard (see below) |
The Features step
The step leads with the features that shape your members' day, each as a card with an icon and one line about it:
- Recognition: members give each other drops to say thanks. Marked Included in every team; it can't be turned off.
- River Runs, Wellspring and River Rankings: each with its own switch.
- Team Hub: group chats, events (when your plan includes Events) and everyone on the team. Also Included in every team.
Below them, More options (closed at first; its header says how many are on, for example "2 of 5 on") holds the other switches: Milestones, Surveys & polls, Charity Channel, Events and Games. A feature your plan doesn't include (on the Free plan: River Runs and Events) shows a lock and Upgrade to unlock instead of a switch.
Essentials and Everything at the top set every switch at once, in both groups. You can always change this later in Settings › Features.
Find your logo and banner
On the Look step, Find our logo and banner reads the website in Your website (fill that in first) and shows up to three logo ideas and three banner ideas it found there. It can take up to half a minute.
- Tap a picture to select it.
- Tap Use this logo or Use this banner.
The picture is saved as your team's logo or banner straight away, and the preview updates. You can still change it later with Change logo or Edit banner, or in Settings › Team Details. If nothing suitable turns up, upload your own instead.
Drop value and gift cards
When your team already has members, the value of a drop can't be changed from Team setup: changing it re-values everyone's balance, so it's scheduled in Rewards › Drop Defaults instead.
Gift cards need funding, a billing contact and a signed agreement. You can set them up later in Settings › Rewards Account.
Inviting on the Free plan
On the Free plan the Invite step shows how many of your 25 member spots are left. When the team is full, Add manually and Import CSV open the upgrade prompt instead. See Plans and the Free plan.
After you launch
Launch my team takes you straight to Dashboard › Overview in Admin view, not the member Home:
- A Your team is live banner at the top, with a See what your members see button. Close it with × once you've read it.
- The Finish setting up checklist (below), so you can see what's left.
- Your Weekly briefing. A brand-new team has no activity yet, so Program pulse and At risk show example numbers marked Sample instead of a row of zeros, and Suggested action says Not enough activity yet. The samples show what the briefing will look like and are never your team's numbers; they disappear as soon as your team has its first real activity (a recognition, a survey response, a River Run). Until the team has at least three members, your own visits don't count as activity, so a team of one never reads "Participation 100%".
For the first 30 days after launch (or after you created the team, if you haven't launched yet), Give River also opens on the Dashboard when you sign in, as long as the checklist still has open items and you haven't hidden it. After that, or once setup is done, you land on Home as usual.
See what your members see
See what your members see switches you to Member view, opens Home and runs a short tour of what your members see (up to seven steps on a phone; every page in the menu on a computer). It stops at each page in the member menu (desktop) or the bottom bar you set up (phones), in that order: Home, then the drops they get to give each week and the Dailies on Home, then the Team Hub, River Runs, the Drop Shop, My River, Wellspring, River Rankings or the Charity Channel, whichever are there. On desktop it covers every page in the menu (up to ten steps); on a phone it stops after seven. Each step highlights the place on screen and dims the rest; a step whose place isn't on screen, such as a page you left out of the bottom bar or Dailies hidden in Settings > Layout, is skipped. Use Next and Back, or Skip tour (or ×) to leave at any point.
New members (who first signed in to Give River less than 14 days ago, even if you invited them or an HR sync added them earlier) get the same tour on their own the first time they open Home (once, never over another dialog). Everyone can replay it from the ? Help button (Take the app tour) or the card at the top of the Help Center. Admins landing on the Dashboard don't get it automatically; a new admin gets it the first time they open member Home, if they haven't taken it yet.
On the last step, Back to the dashboard returns you to Admin view, and Explore member view keeps you in the member app (switch back anytime with Go to Admin View in the menu).
To show the member tour to someone else, open their Member 360 panel and choose ⋮ › Show tour on next sign-in.
Find it on Dashboard › Overview: in the header next to refresh (an eye icon on a phone), in the launch banner, and as a checklist item. It plays every time you open it. Finishing or skipping it once ticks the checklist item, on every device you use.
The admin tour
The admin tour is a one-minute walk through the admin side. It opens Dashboard › Overview in Admin view and stops at:
- Your admin dashboard: your team at a glance.
- Finish setting up: the checklist card, while it's showing.
- Our Team: invites, roles and member profiles.
- Settings › Features: turn features on or off.
- Settings › Layout: what members see on Home and in the Team Hub.
- Engage: surveys, polls, events, announcements and seasons.
- Insights: who's giving and receiving, and how engagement is trending.
- Settings › Billing: your plan, seats and invoices.
Each step highlights the item in the admin menu (on a phone, where the menu is tucked away, the card shows in the middle). A stop you can't use with your role, such as Billing without billing access, is left out. Use Next and Back, or Skip tour (or ×) at any point.
When it starts on its own:
- once, the first time a new admin (someone who first signed in less than 14 days ago) opens the admin dashboard, if they haven't taken it yet;
- once, the next time someone opens Give River after being made an admin (unless they took it before).
Take it again from the round Help & Support (?) button (Take the admin tour), or the Admin tour card in the Help Center. To show it to another admin, open their Member 360 panel and choose ⋮ › Show tour on next sign-in.
Finishing or skipping it is saved on your account, on every device.
The "Finish setting up" checklist
Until everything is in place, the Dashboard › Overview page shows a Finish setting up card at the top, with a progress ring. Its items tick themselves off when the real thing exists, for example when your team has a logo, at least five members, a season, or a first post from an admin. You can't tick them by hand. On a plan without custom rewards (Free), Create a custom reward isn't listed. Tap an item to go straight to its Team setup step. The last item, See what your members see, starts the member tour and is ticked once you've taken (or skipped) it. The card disappears once every item is done.
Don't need it? × on the card hides it for you (other admins still see it); Undo brings it straight back. Every step stays in Team setup in the admin menu.
The same items appear as Onboarding rows in Dashboard › Action Items.
Doing it again
Open Team setup from the admin menu at any time. It shows your current values, checks off the steps you've done, and starts at the first unfinished one. Launching again doesn't change anything: your team keeps its original launch date.
Who can use it
Team setup is for Admins and Workspace Owners.
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