Filter Who Receives Announcements with Member Rules

Organizations often need to communicate directly with specific segments of their members—for example, to notify advanced players of new advanced-only events or remind lapsed members to renew. OpenSports provides powerful tools to send targeted announcements using Member Forms and Member Rules.

In this article, we’ll use membership status as the filter. This guide explains how to:

Collect member information
Create a filter using Member Rules
Send announcements to members who match specific conditions

Step 1: Create a Member Form

Note: For Steps 1 & 2, you may not need to take any action if your Member Form and Member Rules are already set up, please skip to Step 3.

Begin by creating a Member Form to collect the data you’ll use to filter members.

To create a Member Form:

Go to your Group Dashboard, select Settings, then Member Forms
Click Set Up Member Form
Use the following configuration:
- Internal Identifier: Membership Status
- Question: What is your current membership status?
- Required Checkbox: Leave Unchecked
- Answer Type: Dropdown (e.g., Active, Expired, Pending)

Note: Leave the required checkbox unchecked to allow members to skip the question. Users will be able to see their response, but only admins can enter or edit the value.

This setup ensures that admins can manage membership status manually—based on verification from external systems—while still allowing players to see their current status.

Step 2: Create a Member Rule

Next, create a Member Rule to filter members based on the data collected in the form.

In the Dashboard, go to Settings, then Member Rules
Click Create New Rule
Use the following configuration:
- Name: Active Members Only
- Condition: Member Form response where Membership Status equals Active
- Error Message:

This rule is used for filtering announcements and will not appear to members.

Note: You can select multiple values (e.g., Active and Pending) if you want to include more than one group in your announcement.

Step 3: Send an Announcement to Filtered Members

Once your Member Rule is set up, you can use it to send targeted messages.

To send an announcement:

Go to your Group Dashboard, onto Announcements
Click Create New Announcement
Create Title and type out your announcement
- (Optional) Pin announcement checkbox

` 4. Select Send Now or Send Later

Under Send To: select Filtered Members
Add Member Rule, apply Members Only rule
- (Optional) Preview recipients to ensure correct members are viewing the announcement

`
7. Click Create to post announcement

Only members who match the Member Rule condition will receive the message.

Advanced Use Cases

1. Follow-Up with Expired Members

Create a rule where Membership Status = Expired and send a renewal reminder with a link to your payment or membership system.

2. Promote Events Based on Skill Level

Use a Member Form to collect skill level (e.g., Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced), then create targeted rules to send training or event invitations only to relevant players.

If you verify membership status manually or via CSV (see below), use rules to send training videos, surveys, or policy updates only to verified members.