User Management

NeedBridge is an email-powered need-matching platform for nonprofits -- foster care agencies, churches, disaster relief organizations, and community groups. "Users" in NeedBridge refers to your internal team members -- the case workers, coordinators, and admins who run the platform. (Volunteers are managed separately; see the Volunteer Management article.) This guide covers roles, invitations, approvals, and team configuration.

Roles Overview

NeedBridge has four user roles. Each role has different permissions that determine what a user can see and do in the admin panel.

Case Worker

Case workers are the front-line team members who interact directly with the people your organization serves. They create and manage needs on behalf of families and individuals.

What case workers can do:

  • Create new needs
  • Edit and manage their own needs
  • View and respond to claims on their needs
  • Mark claims and needs as completed
  • Record outcomes and stories
  • View their own performance data
  • Access the needs list (filtered to their own needs and their areas)

What case workers cannot do:

  • Manage other case workers' needs (unless given explicit access)
  • Invite or approve new team members
  • Change organization settings
  • Access organization-wide reports
  • Manage volunteers, areas, or categories

Coordinator

Coordinators are team leaders who oversee one or more service areas. They manage case workers within their areas and have broader visibility into operations.

What coordinators can do:

  • Everything a case worker can do
  • View and manage all needs in their assigned areas (not just their own)
  • Approve or reject new team members who register for their areas
  • View engagement and performance reports for their areas
  • Manage volunteers in their areas (view details, update subscriptions)
  • Access coordinator-level reports (scoped to their areas)

What coordinators cannot do:

  • Manage needs or team members outside their assigned areas
  • Change organization-wide settings
  • Manage billing or subscription
  • Approve users for areas they are not assigned to

Organization Admin

Organization admins manage the overall NeedBridge account and have broad access across the platform.

What organization admins can do:

  • Everything a coordinator can do, across all areas
  • Invite new team members
  • Approve or reject pending user registrations (all areas)
  • Change organization settings (branding, terminology, areas, categories, tags, etc.)
  • Manage the volunteer directory (all areas)
  • View all reports across the organization
  • Configure integrations and API keys
  • Export data
  • Configure tax receipt settings

What organization admins cannot do:

  • Manage billing and subscription (this is reserved for Executive Admins in some configurations)

Executive Admin

Executive admins have the highest level of access. In addition to everything an organization admin can do, executive admins can:

  • Manage billing and subscription
  • Change plan tiers
  • Access all administrative functions without restriction

In many organizations, the executive admin is the person who initially set up the NeedBridge account.

Inviting Team Members

Organization admins (and executive admins) can invite new team members to join NeedBridge.

The Invitation Flow

  1. Admin sends an invitation. From the admin panel, go to the team or users section and click to invite a new member. Enter the person's email address and select their initial role.
  2. The invitee receives an email. They receive an email with a link to create their account.
  3. The invitee registers. They click the link, fill in their name and create their account.
  4. The account may require approval. Depending on your organization's configuration, the new user's account may need to be approved before they gain access. See the "Registration and Approval Workflow" section below.
  5. The user gains access. Once approved (or immediately if approval is not required), the user can log in to the admin panel with the permissions of their assigned role.

Tips for Invitations

  • Invite team members with the lowest role that covers their responsibilities. You can always upgrade their role later.
  • Include a brief message when inviting so the recipient understands what NeedBridge is and why they are being invited.
  • Follow up if an invitee has not accepted their invitation after a few days. Check that the email did not go to spam.

Registration and Approval Workflow

NeedBridge supports a registration and approval workflow to ensure that new team members are vetted before they gain access to the system.

How It Works

  1. A new user registers. They can register through an invitation link or through the public case worker registration page (if your organization has one enabled).
  2. The account enters Pending Approval status. The user sees a message indicating that their account is being reviewed.
  3. An authorized user approves or rejects the registration. Who can approve depends on the role and area:
    • Coordinators can approve users who are registering for areas the coordinator is assigned to.
    • Organization Admins and Executive Admins can approve any pending registration regardless of area.
  4. The user is notified. If approved, they gain access and can begin using the admin panel. If rejected, they are notified that their registration was not approved.

Pending Approvals

Pending approvals appear in the admin panel for authorized users. Here is where to find them and who can act on them:

Coordinator Users registering for the coordinator's assigned areas Organization Admin All pending registrations Executive Admin All pending registrations

Important: Coordinators can only approve users for areas they are assigned to. If a new user selects an area that no coordinator covers, only an admin can approve that registration.

Why Use Approval Workflow

The approval workflow is useful for:

  • Verifying the identity of people who find the registration page through public links
  • Ensuring case workers are assigned to the correct areas
  • Maintaining control over who has access to need and volunteer data
  • Preventing unauthorized access to the admin panel

Changing Roles

Admins can change a user's role at any time from the user management section of the admin panel.

When to Change Roles

  • A case worker is promoted to coordinator and needs to oversee an area
  • A coordinator takes on admin responsibilities
  • A team member's responsibilities change

How to Change a Role

  1. Go to the user management section.
  2. Find the user whose role you want to change.
  3. Select the new role.
  4. Save.

The user's permissions update immediately. If you are downgrading a role (for example, from coordinator to case worker), the user will lose access to coordinator-level features the next time they load the admin panel.

Deactivating Users

When a team member leaves your organization or no longer needs access, you can deactivate their account.

What Deactivation Does

  • The user can no longer log in to the admin panel
  • Their data (needs posted, claims managed, outcomes recorded) is preserved
  • Their name still appears in historical reports and on needs they created
  • The deactivation can be reversed if the user returns

How to Deactivate

  1. Go to the user management section.
  2. Find the user.
  3. Click to deactivate their account.
  4. Confirm.

Deactivation does not delete any data. If the user returns, an admin can reactivate their account and they will have access to their previous work.

Area Assignments for Coordinators

Coordinators are assigned to specific service areas. This assignment determines:

  • Which needs they can see and manage
  • Which pending user registrations they can approve
  • Which reports and metrics they can access

Assigning Areas

  1. Go to the user management section.
  2. Find the coordinator.
  3. Edit their profile or area assignments.
  4. Select the areas they should oversee.
  5. Save.

Multiple Area Assignments

A coordinator can be assigned to multiple areas. They will see needs, volunteers, and reports across all their assigned areas.

Changing Area Assignments

Area assignments can be changed at any time by an admin. Common reasons include:

  • A coordinator takes on responsibility for a new area
  • Organizational restructuring requires shifting area oversight
  • A coordinator is leaving and their areas need to be reassigned

When you change area assignments, make sure there are no gaps -- every active area should have at least one coordinator assigned.

The Case Worker Registration Page

In addition to the invitation flow, NeedBridge supports a public registration page where prospective case workers can sign up on their own.

How It Works

The case worker registration page is a public URL that your organization can share with potential team members. Anyone with the link can fill out the registration form with their name, email, and desired areas.

Registrations through this page always go through the approval workflow -- no one gains access without being approved by a coordinator or admin.

When to Use the Registration Page

This is useful for:

  • Large organizations where individually inviting every case worker is impractical
  • Organizations that recruit case workers through training programs, partner organizations, or community outreach
  • Seasonal or event-based staffing where many people need to register at once

Sharing the Registration Link

Share the case worker registration link through:

  • Internal communications and training materials
  • Partner organization referrals
  • Onboarding packets
  • Your organization's internal website or intranet

Best Practices

  • Assign the minimum necessary role. Give team members the access they need and no more. This reduces the risk of accidental changes and keeps the interface simpler for each user.
  • Review pending approvals regularly. Do not let new team members wait days for their registration to be approved. Check pending approvals daily or set up a process so someone is always responsible.
  • Keep area assignments current. As your organization grows or changes, update coordinator area assignments so every area has oversight.
  • Deactivate promptly when team members leave. This protects your organization's data and prevents unauthorized access.
  • Document your role structure. If your organization has specific policies about who gets which role, write them down so new admins can follow the same guidelines.
  • Use the invitation flow for targeted additions and the registration page for broader recruitment. Invitations give you more control over who joins; the registration page scales better for large groups.