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Getting started: migrate your organization to MapleGather

By the end of this guide, you’ll have your members imported into MapleGather and a welcome email sent to them with a personal link to set up their accounts. The whole process takes about 30–45 minutes, depending on the size of your member list. It’s free during your trial.

What you’ll need

Section titled “What you’ll need”
  • An admin account for your MapleGather organization
  • A member export file from your current system — CSV or Excel (.xlsx) works best
  • About 30 minutes

Step 1 — Start the AI migration wizard

Section titled “Step 1 — Start the AI migration wizard”

The AI migration wizard is the easiest way to get started. It guides you through each setup step and helps you map your member data without needing to figure it all out yourself.

  1. When you first sign in to your MapleGather admin account, the wizard greets you in a conversation pane on the right side of the screen.
  2. Answer the question “What’s your current tool?” by selecting your system from the chips shown, or type Other if yours isn’t listed.
  3. The wizard opens a 6-step checklist on the left. You can see at a glance where you are and what’s coming next.

You should now see the 6-step checklist on the left and the wizard’s first message in the conversation pane. If you closed the wizard, go to Migration > Run migration wizard to reopen it.

Step 2 — Upload your member file

Section titled “Step 2 — Upload your member file”
  1. In the wizard, select the Import members step from the checklist. The wizard guides you to the import screen.
  2. Drag your member export file onto the upload area, or select Browse files to pick it from your computer.
  3. If your file is an Excel workbook with multiple sheets, a sheet picker appears. The sheet that looks most like member data is pre-selected — check any others you want to include, then select Continue with selected sheets.
  4. Wait a moment while MapleGather reads your file and suggests a mapping for each column.
  5. Review the mappings in the grid. The wizard explains any it’s unsure about and asks you to confirm or change them. If a target field doesn’t exist yet, select Create new… to create it on the spot.
  6. When every column is mapped or skipped, select Confirm mappings →.

You should now see the Preview import screen showing how many members will be created, updated, or skipped.

Step 3 — Review the preview and commit

Section titled “Step 3 — Review the preview and commit”
  1. On the preview screen, check the warning band at the top. It counts anything MapleGather found that you should look at before committing — formula cells, duplicate emails, or disabled-membership flags.
  2. Select the warning band to filter the table to just those rows and review each one.
  3. Scroll down to Relationships in this file and select Spot-check 3 sample structures to confirm that households and corporate relationships look right.
  4. When you’re satisfied, select Confirm import → at the bottom of the page.
  5. Read the confirmation dialog — it tells you the record count and that you have 48 hours to undo the import if needed. Select Commit import.
  6. Watch the progress screen. For smaller files the import completes quickly; for larger files a progress bar shows the count in real time.

You should now see the Import complete (or Import complete — N rows need attention) summary screen with counts of created, updated, and failed rows.

Step 4 — Handle any errors

Section titled “Step 4 — Handle any errors”

If the amber header shows rows that need attention:

  1. Select Download error report to get a CSV with a plain-English explanation of each failure.
  2. Fix the rows in your source file and select Retry failed rows only to re-import just those rows without re-uploading everything.

Step 5 — Send your members their welcome email

Section titled “Step 5 — Send your members their welcome email”

Tip: For better inbox delivery, set up your organization’s sending domain before this step. See Set up your sending domain — it takes about 20 minutes but significantly improves deliverability. You can also send from the generic MapleGather address now and set up your domain later, but emails sent without a custom domain are more likely to land in spam.

  1. Select Set up the broadcast on the import summary page. The broadcast configurator opens with your imported members already selected as the audience.
  2. Read the orientation banner: “This email goes to the N members you just imported. Nothing sends until you review and click Send.”
  3. Review the email draft. Select Preview to see what your members will receive, including a stand-in for the personal claim link.
  4. When the email looks right, select Send now in the footer.

You should now see the Transition dashboard showing the broadcast status as Queued or Sending.

What you’ve set up

Section titled “What you’ve set up”

You now have your members in MapleGather and a welcome email on its way to them. Each member’s email contains a personal 30-day link they use to confirm their profile and set a password. You can track who has claimed their account on the transition dashboard.

Next, you might want to:

What your members should expect: After claiming their account, members sign in with a link sent to their email — not with the password they set during the claim flow. Share Sign in to MapleGather with members who ask how to sign in after claiming their account.