The cards at the top

The dashboard is the first page you see after you log in. It only ever shows totals and counts for your church. It never shows who gave what.

Getting started

A church that has only just signed up sees a Getting started list at the top: add your first member, record your first gift, add your bank routing number for deposit slips, and write your end-of-year giving letter. Each item is a link, and each one disappears from the list once it's done. When all four are done, the list goes away.

The year-end reminder

In December, and in January if your church gave anything last year, a card reminds you that it's time to prepare your giving letters, with a button, Open End of year, that takes you straight there. See End of year giving letters.

The four cards

• Given this year is everything given from January 1 to today. Underneath, ECM compares it with the same stretch of last year, so you can see whether you're ahead or behind, and by how much.
• Given this month is this month so far. Underneath are last month's total and the total for the same month a year ago.
• Average attendance this year is the average number of people counted at a service this year, with the comparison to last year. If you've limited the attendance figures to one service (see Trends), the card says which service.
• Active members is how many active members you have. Underneath: how many visitors there are, and how many members are new this month.

A new church

Until you've added a member or a gift, the dashboard shows "Your dashboard will fill in as you go". It fills in as you add members, record gifts and count attendance.