Contributors, their contributions, points, and rewards are all configured and tracked in your community dashboard. Gradual tracks some contributions automatically, and you can track and log activities that are custom to your members using this feature.
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 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, providing a referral, 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Unlisted events will log contributions, but unpublished events will not.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.
Contribution | Description | Displays in Profile | Assigns points |
Event Organizer | Organized an event within the community | When the event is published | When the published event has reached its end time |
Event Speaker | When the event is published | When the published event has reached its end time | |
Meeting-Event / Webinar Host | Assigned a host for a meeting or webinar event | When the event is published | When the published event has reached its end time |
In-event Meeting Host | Host of a meeting session within a livestream/webinar event | When the event is published | When the published event has reached its end time |
In-event Roundtable Host | Host of a roundtable within a livestream/webinar event | When the event is published | When the published event has reached its end time |
Event Participation | Attended an event (> 1 minute logged in to virtual live event page, or checked in to in person event) | ~1-2 minutes after they've logged into the event or been checked in | ~1-2 minutes after they've logged into the event or been checked in |
Event Registration | Registered for an event - Members manually added in dashboard or via API will still receive contribution log and points
| ~2-3 seconds after the user has registered | ~2-3 seconds after the user has registered |
Content
These are logged when a content piece is published.
Contribution | Description | Displays in Profile | Assigns points |
Author | When the content is published, or when the author is added (post-publish) | When the content is published, or when the author is added (post-publish) | |
Video Speaker | When the video is published, or when the speaker is added (post-publish) | When the video is published, or when the speaker is added (post-publish) | |
Read Content | Read an article or other content (visits the content page)
LIMIT: | ~5 minutes after the user has visited the content page | ~5 minutes after the user has visited the content page |
Watch a Video | Viewed video content (visits video page and clicks 'play')
Rewarded up to 5 times per 24 hours | ~5 minutes after the user has visited the content page | ~5 minutes after the user has visited the content page |
Forum
These are logged when a community has the Forum feature enabled.
Contribution | Description | Displays in Profile | Assigns points |
Publish a Post | Posted in the community forum
LIMIT: Rewarded up to 1 time per 24 hours | When the post passes the moderation and is posted | When the post passes the moderation and is posted |
Comment / Reply | Commented and interacted with posts in the community forum
LIMITS: - Rewarded up to 5 times per 24 hours
| When the comment or reply passes the moderation and is posted | When the comment or reply passes the moderation and is posted |
Accepted Answer | The comment is marked as the Accepted Answer
LIMITS: - Each member can receive up to 5 Accepted Answers within 24 hours
- Each member can mark up to 3 Accepted Answers within 24 hours
- This contribution will be withdrawn if the Accepted Answer is unmarked | When the answer is marked as the 'Accepted Answer' | When the answer is marked as the 'Accepted Answer' |
Community Activities
Contribution | Description | Displays in Profile | Assigns points |
Daily Active | Member visits the community each day
| The following day at 12:05 AM PT (but will list the date when the user was active) | The following day at 12:05 AM PT (but will list the date when the user was active) |
Completes Onboarding | Completed the onboarding form/profile | When the member answers all required questions in the profile | When the member answers all required questions in the profile |
Joined a Club | Joined an interest group or club within the community | When the member joins the club | When the member joins the club |
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 here.
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 in this resource.