Getting started with Eklo: set up your church's workspace

Eklo is one workspace for a church's staff and volunteers, with request forms and approvals, tasks and team chat; this guide takes a church from its first account to its first forms and invitations.

Eklo is in an invite-only private beta for tax-exempt churches and ministries. The beta is paid: the person who sets up the workspace chooses a plan for the church. There are two ways in:

• Your church was approved for the beta. Whoever requested access gets an email once Eklo approves it. That person creates the workspace.
• Someone invited you. Use the link in your invitation email. See Joining a workspace.

If your church isn't approved yet, request access at Request access.

Create your accountCopy Anchor Link

1. Go to the Eklo sign-up page and enter Your name and Email. Use the address your beta approval was sent to. If someone invited you, use the link in your invitation email instead.
2. Click Send my code. Eklo emails you a 6-digit code.
3. Type the code. It works for 5 minutes.

There's no password. You sign in with an emailed code each time, or with a passkey once you add one. See Signing in.

Name your workspaceCopy Anchor Link

One workspace holds one church. You become its owner. It's for your staff and the volunteers who serve with them, not the whole congregation. See Who belongs in a workspace.

1. Enter the Church name.
2. Check the URL handle. Eklo fills it in from the name. It can use lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens, 3–40 characters. You can rename the church later, but the handle can't be changed, so keep it short.
3. Click Create workspace.

The workspace uses your browser's time zone. It starts with two channels: #general for everyone, and #announcements, where only owners and admins can post.

If the page says Your church isn't approved yet, the email you used doesn't have an approved beta request or a pending invitation. Sign out and use the address that was approved, or click Request access.

Set up your church and choose a planCopy Anchor Link

Before anyone can use the workspace, its owner finishes three more steps. If you leave part-way, Eklo picks up at the first step you haven't finished.

1. Your church's details. Check the church's name and enter its legal name, its US billing address and, if you like, its EIN. Eklo fills in the legal name from your beta request.
2. Tax exemption. Tick We are a tax-exempt organization and upload proof: your IRS determination letter or your state's sales-tax exemption certificate, as a PDF, PNG or JPEG of up to 10 MB. Eklo's staff review it. Until they verify it, Stripe may add sales tax to your bill.
3. Choose a plan. Choose Standard or Multi-Site, billed Monthly or Annual. Prices are plus any sales tax that applies. Tick I agree to Eklo's Terms of Service, click Continue to checkout, then pay in Stripe's checkout. If Eklo is covering your church's plan, the plan step says so and checkout doesn't ask for a card.

When the payment goes through, Eklo opens your workspace. People you invite before then see that it's finishing setup. If you belong to other churches in Eklo, you can open one of them from the setup page at any point.

Install starter request formsCopy Anchor Link

Next, Eklo offers nine ready-made forms: Facility Request, Event Request, Purchase Request, Check Request, Creative and Communications Request, Time Off Request, Volunteer Application, Background Check Authorization and Incident Report. Each comes with its own approval steps.

• Untick any you don't want, then click Install N selected.
• Or click Skip for now. You can install any of them later from Forms → From template.

Approvals go to the workspace owner until you add admins.

Volunteer Application and Background Check Authorization are installed as public forms: anyone with their link can submit them straight away. If you aren't ready for that, change their visibility. See Forms.

The setup checklistCopy Anchor Link

Everyone except guests sees Set up your church, with how many steps are done and what's next. On a computer it sits under the sidebar; on a phone it's one row under the top bar. Click or tap it to see the steps:

• Invite your team (owners and admins)
• Create a team (owners, admins and managers)
• Build your first form
• Set up an approval workflow
• Connect your domain or SSO (owners and admins, where your plan includes it)

Each step ticks itself off when it's done. To hide the checklist for yourself, open it and click Dismiss; it can't be brought back.

Find your way aroundCopy Anchor Link

The rail on the left switches between the parts of Eklo:

• Chat: channels for topics and teams, plus direct messages. See Chat.
• Tasks: projects, tasks and your approvals inbox. See Tasks & projects.
• Forms: request forms, submissions and approval workflows. See Forms.
• Teams: the team directory and each team's home page. See Teams.
• Settings: the workspace and your own profile.

Your church's logo or initials sit at the top of the rail. Click it to switch to another church, start a new workspace or, as an owner or admin, open workspace settings.

On a phone, the bar along the bottom has Chat, Tasks, Forms and Ask Eklo. Tap More for Teams, Help & support, Settings and your profile.

Press ⌘K (Ctrl+K on Windows) to jump to a channel, person, project or form. Press c anywhere outside a text box to create a task.

Guests see only Chat and Tasks.

Put Eklo on your phone's home screenCopy Anchor Link

Eklo can open from your home screen, full screen, like an app:

• iPhone or iPad: in Safari, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen.
• Android: in Chrome, tap the ⋮ menu, then Add to Home screen or Install app.