Approving Circle and Group Join Requests
Review the requests people send to join an open group or circle, and approve or decline each one. A help center guide for admins and group mentors.
Mentees can ask to join an open group or circle. They do not become members straight away. Each request waits as pending until someone with approval rights decides. This page explains who can decide, where the requests are, and what can block an approval.
Who can approve
| Format | Who can approve or decline |
|---|---|
| Group | An admin, or the mentor of that group |
| Circle | An admin only |
A person with a pending request does not have access to the group or circle yet. They cannot reach its messages, meetings, goals, or attachments until you approve them.
The format must be turned on for your organization. See Matching Formats.
How a request starts
A mentee opens Matches, then the Browse Groups or Browse Circles tab. These tabs show when the format is on. In a group, the mentee clicks Join. In a circle, the mentee clicks Request to Join.
The mentee sees one of these messages:
- Groups: a note that the request was sent and is waiting for the mentor or an admin to approve it.
- Circles:
Join request sent. An admin will review it shortly.
Approve or decline a request
- Go to Matches and open the group or circle. It must be Active.
- On the Overview tab, find the Pending requests panel. It shows the count, for example Pending requests (2). The panel does not show when no requests are waiting.
- Find the person. Click Approve to add them, or Decline to turn them down.
A message confirms with Request approved or Request declined. The panel and the member list update right away.
Note
Declining deletes the pending request. The decline action sends no notification, and the person can ask again. Tell them yourself if the reason matters.
What can block an approval
MentorStack checks the limits again when you click Approve, because they may have changed since the person asked. An approval can fail with one of these messages:
| Message | Meaning |
|---|---|
This group is full | The group reached the Maximum Group Size from Settings → Program → Formats. |
Circle is full. Cannot approve more members. | The circle reached its Max Members value, set when the circle was created. If none was set, the limit is 20. |
| A mentor capacity message | Groups only. The group's mentor reached their capacity of active mentees. |
| A plan limit message | The person is at the plan's limit for active matches. The Free Pilot plan allows 2 active matches per person. Starter and above have no default limit. |
Pending join request not found | The request was already decided. Reopen the panel to see the current list. |
Decline does not run these checks, so you can always clear a request.
Warning
Admins cannot override the plan limit on active matches. To make room in a full group, raise Maximum Group Size in Settings → Program → Formats, or remove a member who is no longer taking part.
Approving needs an Active group or circle. The Pending requests panel only shows on active ones.