Creating a new group

If there's no group for your area or no group for the kind of project you'd like to lead, you can start one yourself.

Before you start

Have a quick chat with a few volunteers in your area first. A group of one is hard to keep alive; a small group of two or three people who'll post a few times a month is the right minimum.

Step 1 — Open Groups

Click Groups in the sidebar. Look for the Create Group button near the top-right of the page.

Step 2 — Fill in the basics

Give the group a Group Name (the placeholder hints at a project-style name like "Downtown Canvassers", but a city name works too). Add a Description of up to 500 characters — that's what new members read on the group's page before they join. City is optional; pick one if the group is tied to a specific Alberta city, or leave it blank.

Step 3 — Choose visibility

Under Who can join?, pick Open if you want anyone signed in to be able to join with one click — that's the default for city groups. Pick Invite Only if the group is for a specific small project.

Step 4 — Press Create Group

Once you press Create Group, you're added as the group's creator and the group shows up immediately in your My groups list (and in Elsewhere in Alberta for everyone else, if it's Open). You can post, invite, and manage members right away.

Inviting your first members

There's a separate help article on sending group invitations. The short version: open the group, click the person-add icon in the header (tooltip Invite to group), and pick people from your connections or search the site.

Once you're set up

The first post in your new group sets the tone. A friendly welcome and a sentence on what you'd like to do this month works well.