💡 To learn about creating Custom Celebrations, please click here.
Step 1: Invite teammates to your Celebrations channel.
Once the channel is created in your workspace, you can type "/invite @user" in the channel and replace "user" with their Slack display name.
To add people in bulk, please see Slack Support's guide that walks you through this process on the Desktop, iOS, and Android versions: Adding people to a channel.
Step 2: Add Donut Celebrations to your Slack channel.
Log into your Donut dashboard, find Celebrations on the landing page, and click Preview > Use Template
On the Program Basics tab, please search for and select the channel where Donut will send Celebration messages. If the channel of your choice is private, there is a hyperlink on this tab that will allow you to search for private channels. To learn more about adding Donut to private channels, please check out our guide.
After selecting the channel, please click Save & Continue in the upper right corner.
Step 3. Add the Work Anniversary and Birthdates for each team member in the channel.
Donut will pre-populate the table at the bottom to include the names of each person in the channel. With this in mind, there are 4 ways that you can add Dates:
1. Using HRIS: You can import dates automatically by connecting/ syncing your HRIS with Donut. To learn more about syncing HRIS with Donut, click here.
2. CSV Import: To enter your Dates in bulk, please begin by downloading and editing the template.
There will be three columns: Email, Birthday date, and Work start date.
Please follow these data and formatting requirements for the file you will import:
The email addresses must derive from the users' Slack credentials.
The date format may be mm/dd/yyyy, dd/mm/yyyy, or yyyy/mm/dd.
The file must be in CSV format.
After editing your template, you will then export your file. Please see our guide on
exporting a CSV file for more instructions on how to do this.
Lastly, you will click the Upload filled out sheet button to import your file. If there
are any errors, they will be listed here:
3. The Add Date buttons: You may also manually enter Birthdates and Work start
dates by clicking Add Date in either row:
A calendar will appear where you can choose the corresponding date.
*For Birthdays, please disregard the year. Donut will not save that information.
After selecting Save in the upper right corner, your channel will be officially live!
4. Updating your Settings in Slack: Once dates have been uploaded by a channel
admin, each person in the channel will receive a DM from Donut notifying them:
By clicking Update Settings, you will have the option to edit your Celebrations
preferences. You may edit which channels your celebration messages will be sent to
and change the dates.
Step 4. Manage Celebration Messages
The next tab is Messages; this is where you may toggle on/off which messages you'd like to send to the channel, customize the text, and control the scheduling.
💡 Some teams like to use two separate channels for Birthdays and Work
Anniversaries, which is where this tab comes in handy!
⏰ The Message Send Time will default to 9:00 am in your timezone. Click the downward-facing arrow and choose a new time from the menu to update this. You may also adjust the timezone.
The Messages Cadence can be changed from Daily to Weekly or Monthly. For the Monthly and Weekly options, celebrations messages will be grouped by type (the messages will not be sent separately for each individual team member).
If you choose to keep the cadence to Daily and would like to group the messages, please click the toggle button next to "Group messages by celebration type".
The ability to manage the cadence of your messages is available to teams who are using the Standard and Premium plans. If you are using the Free plan, and are interested in upgrading, you may change plans here.
Do you want to limit your messages to only birthdays or work anniversaries? Clicking the toggle switches for either automated message will effectively turn on or off Celebrations for the corresponding message.
The Customize messages buttons allow you to tailor your congratulatory messages to whatever fits your team best! Please keep in mind the formatting suggestions that appear in the popup, and consider that this message will be sent for every person unless you edit it here beforehand.
The ability to create custom celebration messages is available on our paid plans.
GIFs
Birthday GIFs are customizable on all plans. Clicking the Customize Birthday Gifs button will trigger a popup where you can control which Gifs are included in the queue.
Don't want GIFs at all? We understand! You can turn GIFs off and remove them from your messages by clicking the toggle switch under "Include a GIF in your message."
Step 5. View Upcoming Celebrations
The Upcoming tab will show all celebrations occurring in the next 30 days. The trophy icon represents work anniversaries and the cake icon is for birthdays!
Step 6. Manage Channel Admin Permissions
The last tab is Access. This tab lives in every Donut program's Settings, so you may already be familiar with how it functions!
Here, you will be able to transfer channel ownership and grant people editing permissions. To learn more about this tab, please see: How to view and edit Donut channel ownership and access.
Have questions or feedback? Just click the purple Donut button in the bottom right corner of your screen to open up a chat with our support team!