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Forms are the one part of Campground that can be reached without signing in. Use them to collect structured information from anyone — members, applicants, or the general public. When you mark a form as an application, each submission creates an application record that you can review, accept, or reject. Accepted applicants automatically gain access to their program on the platform. Everything else in Campground requires a sign-in. Only profiles with the member role can sign in to the platform, and members only see content for the programs they’re assigned to.

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Creating a form

1

Open the Forms page

In your admin dashboard, navigate to Forms. Click New form to open the form builder.
2

Name and describe the form

Give the form a clear title and an optional description (supports Markdown). The description appears at the top of the public form page.
3

Add custom fields

Switch to the Questions tab. Click Add field and choose a field type. Drag fields to reorder them. Mark individual fields as required to enforce them on submission.
4

Set destinations

Under Destinations, choose the program and season where applications should be routed. You can add multiple destinations — when you do, applicants see a selector to choose which program they are applying to.
5

Configure form settings

Set an optional closing date, customize the post-submission message, and choose whether a profile photo is required, optional, or hidden. You can also enable auto-acceptance here.
6

Publish the form URL

Copy the public form URL from the form settings and share it on your website, social media, or via email. Anyone with the link can submit — no Campground account required.

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Field types

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How submissions create profiles

When someone submits a form, Campground looks up or creates a profile by email address. The role assigned to that profile depends on who is submitting and what kind of form they are filling out. Anonymous form submissions never grant member access on their own. A new submitter shows up on the Applications page until you accept their application or manually change their role.
General forms — forms not marked as applications — are a good fit for newsletter signups, event RSVPs, or interest surveys when you don’t want submitters added to your member directory. Submitters appear as applicants so you can review, contact, or delete them without expanding your active membership.

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Application forms vs. general forms

Use an application form when you want each submission to enter a review queue tied to a program or season. Submitters become applicants for a specific program, and accepting an application grants the profile access to that program. Use a general form when you only need to collect data — for example, an interest list, an event RSVP, or a public feedback survey. General forms create a profile and a form response but do not create an application record or grant program access.

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Saving a draft

Applicants can click Save Draft at any time without completing every required field. The minimum required to save a draft is an email address, first name, and last name. When an applicant returns to the same form URL and enters their email, they are prompted to verify their identity, and the form reloads with their saved answers.
Draft applications appear in the Applications table with an In Progress badge and do not trigger any notification emails. They only become active applications once the applicant clicks Submit.

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Reviewing submissions

Navigate to Applications in your admin dashboard to see all submissions. You can filter by status, program, season, or search by name. Click Details on any application to see the full form response.

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Application status lifecycle

To change an application’s status, select one or more applications and use the bulk action menu in the Applications table.
Both admins and sub-admins can review applications and change their status. Sub-admins can only act on applications for the programs they’re scoped to.

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Bulk actions

Select one or more applications using the checkboxes in the Applications table. The bulk action menu lets you:
  • Change status (accept, reject, or apply a custom status)
  • Delete applications
  • Export to an email list

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Auto-acceptance

If you want every submission to be accepted immediately — for example, for an open-enrollment community — set the Initial application status to Accepted in the form settings. Applicants are added to the program and granted platform access as soon as they submit.

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Custom statuses

Your organization can define additional review stages beyond new, accepted, and rejected — for example, “Waitlisted” or “Interview Scheduled.” Create custom statuses in your organization settings and they will appear alongside the standard statuses in the status selector.
When you accept an application, the applicant is automatically added to the program and granted access to the platform as a member. If your program has task lists linked to it, those are assigned to the new member at the same time.

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Common setups

Set Initial application status to Accepted in the form settings. Anyone who submits the form is immediately added to your program. There is no manual review step.
Leave the initial status as the default (New). Applications land in your review queue. You and other admins can read each response, then accept or reject individually or in bulk. Configure acceptance and rejection email templates in your program settings so applicants are notified automatically when you update their status.
Add more than one destination to your form. Applicants see a program selector and pick the cohort or season they want to join. Their application is routed to the program they select.
Set a closing date on the form to automatically stop accepting new submissions after your intake period ends. You can still review and update the status of applications that came in before the deadline.