Text Messaging

Opt in individuals to receive text messages. As of August 9, 2023, only individuals who have opted in to Realm text messaging will receive texts.

An individual can opt in by:

• Filling out the consent form. You can email the opt-in consent form to everyone from the Text Messaging page. You can also email the consent to an individual from their profile page.

• Texting START to your Realm texting number.

You can view your text messaging number on the Text Messaging page, with a reminder underneath that you can text START to opt in.

Send a text message up to 320 characters. If you send a text longer than 320 characters, the text is truncated at the character limit and no additional texts are sent. If the text was for an inbox notification, individuals can view the entire message in the inbox itself or the notification email if they have enabled emails in their notification settings.

View more information about the last time someone sent the opt-in email. When you click Send Opt-In Email on the Text Messaging page, you can now see the date of the previous email and who sent it. This can help you determine if it's time to send another email to everyone, or if it's too soon to send the email again.

Know how many individuals are opted in to receive a one-way text. When you select individuals to send a one-way text from a location such as a roster, pathway, or query, you will now know how many of those individuals are opted in to receive the text. You can click for more information about the text recipients.

Set all opted-in individuals to receive group or team texts. If you've enabled text messaging for a group or team, you can enable group texts for all opted-in individuals. From the Text Messaging page, click Edit Settings, then click the Connect Inbox Texts tab. By default, you are editing group settings, but you can click on +Add Serving Team to edit team settings.

Select the Include Opted-In box next to the group or team name. All opted-in individuals will now automatically receive texts from this group or team, and this adds the group or team to the individuals' text notification settings. The individual can later change this in their notification settings if they no longer wish to receive texts from a specific group or team.

Growth Method Integration

Visitor follow-up and member engagement with Growth Method. Growth Method now integrates with Realm to create and nurture one-on-one relationships in your church. You can track tasks, follow up, and move people through processes such as bereavement support, baptism, or premarital counseling and weddings.

When you update campaigns and processes in Growth Method, this automatically syncs with Realm , and changes you make in Realm automatically apply in Growth Method. Synced data includes family information, addresses, member statuses, and more.

To learn more about Growth Method, see Getting Started with Growth Method and our MinistrySmart webinar, Engagement is the New Attendance.

Envelope Extract

Select a name format. Before you extract envelopes from the Giving Dashboard or run an Envelope Number Report from Predefined Reports, select whether you want to display formal or informal labels.

Permissions

We've updated note permissions. Individuals with the Manage Notes or Manage Private Notes permission can view, add, and edit notes. These permissions no longer allow an individual the right to add or edit profiles. To make profile changes, individuals need the Add Individual or Edit Individual permission.