When Spiritual Meets Practical
Involved has redefined how faith-based organizations and community groups maintain engagement through prayer chains and member interactions. But behind every thriving community lies practical operational needs - approving volunteer roles, vetting sensitive profile updates, or managing outreach budgets. This is where ApproveThis transforms good intentions into accountable action.
By connecting Involved's community insights with ApproveThis' structured approval system through Zapier, organizations gain precision without losing humanity. Leadership teams preserve the sacred nature of community building while ensuring financial and operational integrity through automated guardrails.
Why This Integration Matters
Consider a church updating volunteer permissions in Involved after background checks. Without automation, this triggers emails to pastors for approval, which get buried in inboxes. With ApproveThis integrated:
1. The Involved profile update automatically generates an approval request
2. Approvers receive email notifications with one-click decisions
3. Approved changes sync back while denials trigger review workflows
Operations directors at mid-sized congregations report processing permissions 68% faster using this method. More importantly, it prevents unauthorized access without adding bureaucratic layers.
Real-World Impact Across Teams
Volunteer Coordinators
When new youth ministry volunteers update their Involved profiles, ApproveThis automatically routes background check approvals to designated team leads. Vacation delegation ensures substitute approvers handle requests during mission trips.
Finance Committees
Budget increase requests tied to community outreach events in Involved trigger approval workflows with calculated fields. If a request exceeds $5,000, it escalates automatically to the board treasurer while notifying the event coordinator.
Cross-Team Collaboration
External partners like food bank coordinators can approve inventory requests without needing access to Involved's database. ApproveThis' email-based approvals maintain security while extending accountability beyond internal teams.
Technical Synergy in Action
Involved's strength lies in capturing nuanced community interactions - prayer requests, attendance patterns, and small group participation. ApproveThis adds structure to actions requiring oversight:
Example: A member's Involved profile shows increased leadership potential. The integration automatically creates an approval request for elder review using custom fields for spiritual gifts assessment and volunteer history. Conditional routing sends it to the nominations committee only if the member attended 75% of services.
This combination respects the organic nature of community growth while implementing necessary safeguards. Approval thresholds prevent decision fatigue - routine updates auto-approve below set limits, while significant changes get proper scrutiny.
Implementation Made Simple
Setting up the integration requires 15 minutes in Zapier:
1. Create a Zap with Involved's "Person Updated" trigger
2. Filter for critical fields like roles or permissions
3. Map data to ApproveThis' approval templates
4. Test with sample profile changes
Pro Tip: Use ApproveThis' calculated fields to set dynamic approval rules. For instance, require additional sign-offs if a member's access level increases more than two tiers in 30 days.
Beyond Basic Approvals
While the person update use case drives immediate value, mature implementations leverage ApproveThis' deeper features:
Approval Groups: Require consensus from pastoral staff and finance leads for capital expenditure requests linked to Involved event pages.
Real-Time Tracking: Monitor pending prayer chain modifications during sensitive periods like holiday services.
Audit Trails: Maintain compliance records for membership status changes in high-security environments like addiction recovery programs.
The Human Factor
Some worry automation might depersonalize community management. The opposite proves true. By handling procedural approvals automatically, staff gain capacity for meaningful interactions. A Midwest megachurch reported 12 additional hours weekly for pastoral care after implementing these workflows.
Email approvals maintain familiar interfaces for less tech-inclined leaders. Approval reminders adapt to ministry schedules - pausing during worship services but escalating before event deadlines.
Getting Started
Begin with high-impact, low-risk workflows:
1. Volunteer role promotions
2. Prayer chain admin updates
3. Small group budget allocations
As teams adapt, expand to complex scenarios like multi-campus permissions or disaster relief fund approvals. Involved's team offers sandbox environments for testing integrations without live data exposure.
Your Next Step
Faith-based organizations using Involved face unique operational challenges. Traditional project tools feel impersonal, while manual approvals create bottlenecks. ApproveThis bridges the gap with purpose-built automation that respects your mission.
Visit ApproveThis.com to start your free trial, or explore Involved's latest features for community engagement. For personalized guidance, schedule a demo showing how approval workflows can amplify your team's impact without compromising values.
Integrate with Involved Integration and get 90 days of ApproveThis for free.
After you create a Zapier integration, please email us at support@approve-this.com with your account name and we'll add 3 months of ApproveThis to your account. Limit one redemption per account.
Learn More
Best Approval Workflows for Involved
Suggested workflows (and their Zapier components) for Involved
Create approval requests for updated people
Whenever a person record is updated in Involved, this integration creates a new approval request in ApproveThis. It ensures that critical updates are vetted efficiently to streamline decision-making. *Note: Ensure that person details are mapped to the corresponding approval fields.*
Zapier Components

Trigger
Person Updated
Triggers when a a person is updated
Action
Create Request
Creates a new request, probably with input from previous steps.
You'll ❤️ these other ApproveThis integrations
-
Platform.ly
Published: April 17, 2025Platformly is your marketing automation platform that empowers you to engage your audience at every step of their journey.
-
ProWorkflow
Published: April 17, 2025Interact with Companies, Contacts, Projects, Tasks, Time, Quotes & Invoices. Take full control of integrating with ProWorkflow to build a better team.
-
Start Booking
Published: April 17, 2025StartBooking.com simplifies appointment scheduling for businesses with its easy-to-use, customizable and affordable online booking software.