Join requests
Review the people who have asked to join your organisation, then approve them with a role or turn the request down.
Sometimes a colleague will sign in and ask to join your organisation themselves, rather than waiting for you to invite them. Those requests don't add anyone automatically — they wait for you in the Join requests area, where you decide whether to let each person in and, if so, what role they start with. This page explains how that review works and what happens when you approve or turn someone down.
It's the self-service counterpart to Inviting members: an invitation is you reaching out to a specific person, whereas a join request is them knocking on the door.
Who can do this. You need a role that grants member approval — in practice the Owner or Org Admin. The everyday module roles (Accountant, Finance Manager, Site Editor, and so on) do not include it. If the Join requests entry isn't in your sidebar, your role doesn't allow it; see Roles & permissions reference.
Where to find it. The dashboard sidebar → Join requests (the person-with-a-plus icon). The entry only appears for roles that can approve members, so a colleague without that permission won't see it at all — that's expected, not a fault.
How a join request appears
When a signed-in person asks to join your organisation, their request lands here as pending. Each row shows you who they are and when they asked:
- Person — their name and email address, with an avatar.
- Requested — the date and time the request came in.
- The approve and reject controls for that row.
If there's nothing waiting, you'll see No pending join requests. — which simply means no one is currently asking to join.
Some requests never reach this list. If your organisation has set up an auto-approve email domain under its login and security policy, anyone signing up with a verified email on that domain is admitted straight away as a Member, so you only see the requests that genuinely need a human decision. See Login & security policy.
Approving a request
When you approve, you also choose the role the new member starts with. That's the whole point of reviewing by hand: you decide not just whether someone joins, but as what.
Open Join requests
From the sidebar, open Join requests. Find the person you want to admit in the list.
Pick the role they'll start with
Each row has a role picker that defaults to Member. Open it and choose the role you want this person to begin with — for example Accountant, Site Editor, or Donor Viewer.
The list deliberately leaves out Owner and Org Admin: those carry organisation-wide control and are never handed out as part of approving a request. If someone genuinely needs that level of access, approve them with an ordinary role first, then promote them afterwards from their member record — see Assigning & changing roles.
Approve
Click Approve. The person becomes a member of your organisation with the role you chose, and you'll see a Request approved confirmation. Their request leaves the pending list, and they'll have access the next time they open the dashboard.
You grant one role on approval, and it defaults to Member. That isn't a limit on the person — roles in WAQAF combine, so an Owner or Org Admin can add more roles to them later from their member record. Approving is just the starting point.
Rejecting a request
If someone shouldn't join — they asked the wrong organisation, you don't recognise them, or they simply don't need access — you can turn the request down.
Open the row's menu
On the person's row, open the more menu (the three dots) and choose Reject.
Add a reason (optional)
A short dialog opens with a Reason (optional) box. You can note why you're declining — this is for your own records — or leave it blank. Then click Reject.
You'll see a Request rejected confirmation, and the request leaves the pending list.
Rejecting does not ban the person — it only declines this particular request. They remain free to ask again later. If you want to actively keep someone out, that's a matter for your organisation's login & security policy, not the reject button.
What if I approve the wrong person?
Approving simply makes someone a member — it doesn't touch any financial records, so there's nothing irreversible about it. If you admit someone by mistake, an Owner or Org Admin can remove them again from the members list at any time. See Removing members & leaving.
See also
Inviting members
Reach out to a specific person and bring them in with a role.
Assigning & changing roles
Add, swap, or remove a member's roles after they've joined.
Roles & permissions reference
What each WAQAF role can and can't do, in plain language.
Login & security policy
Set who may sign in and which email domains join automatically.