How to Add Your Entire Church Staff to Monday.com Without Paying for Every User

In any organization — and especially in churches — efficiency and stewardship go hand in hand. Project management platforms like Monday.com offer great tools for coordinating teams, but for growing staffs, costs can quickly escalate when you’re charged per user. Thankfully, there’s a smart and cost-effective way to maximize your use of Monday.com by leveraging guest access, particularly on the Pro plan.

This guide will walk you through how to utilize Monday.com’s guest and permissions features to get the most out of your team collaboration without paying for everyone to have full accounts. Whether you’re managing communications, events, or ministry projects, this solution can save your church hundreds annually.

Step-by-Step Guide to Using Guest Access on Monday.com for Large Church Staffs

1. Understand Monday.com’s Pricing and Plan Tiers

First, review Monday.com’s current pricing structure:

Pro Plan: $19 per seat per month (as of the time of writing)
Guest Access:
- Standard Plan: Limited to 4 guests per seat.
- Pro Plan: Unlimited guest access.

To enable full board control and flexibility in managing permissions, you’ll want to use the Pro Plan. This is critical as it allows for unlimited guest users — perfect for large teams on a budget.

For example: with a 40-person church staff, you could purchase just 5 Pro seats (~$95/month), and invite the rest as guests.

2. Set Up Paid Administrator Accounts

Designate your key team members (e.g., Communications Lead, Pastoral Admins, Ministry Leads) as full users. These users will:

Create and manage boards
Control permissions
Oversee and assign tasks

For me, this meant purchasing 5 Pro seats, which allowed the communications lead full control and permitted guest functionality for the rest of the team.

3. Use Guest Accounts the Right Way

Anyone with an email address can be invited as a guest. These users won’t cost extra under the Pro plan and can still:

View assigned items
Comment on tasks
Edit tasks they’re specifically assigned to

This is perfect for designers, volunteers, or ministry assistants who only need to interact with their specific responsibilities.

How to Invite Guests:

Click the “Invite” button in the top-right of your board.
Select the option to invite as a guest (not a full user).
Input their email address.
Monday.com will prompt them to create a basic account.

4. Setting Up Permissions by Role

Managing permissions is critical to maintain board integrity so that guests cannot modify tasks they shouldn’t.

Instructions:

Go to any board.
Click on the hamburger menu (top-right) and select “Board Settings” > Permissions.
Choose “Members can only edit assigned tasks.” This ensures:
- Guests can only modify the tasks they’ve been assigned to.
- They cannot delete or alter project structures.

For further control:

Under Subitems Permissions, limit guests to edit only subitems they are assigned to through the corresponding “Assigned” column.

This is how you avoid errors and make the platform manageable.

5. Use People Columns Strategically

In each board or task, you can add multiple “People” columns. This allows you to set different access levels per user depending on which column they are listed in.

Example Setup:

Owner Column: For the person who submitted the request (view-only rights).
Editor Column: Users here can modify the card and subtasks.
Subitem Assigned Column: Assign users to individual sub-items such as Design, Print, etc. They can only edit the tasks they’re specifically assigned to.

This design lets, for instance, a graphic designer edit and complete design-specific sub-items but nothing else.

Important Note:

Always test permissions using a test guest account before onboarding others to ensure proper access is granted.

6. Using Guest Access to Manage Projects

The author uses Monday.com to manage all communication projects in the church — from events to advertising requests. With 48 users on a single board and only 5 paid seats, this setup is both cost-effective and highly functional.

By assigning tasks such as design work, printing, and general communications to guests through structured People columns, each team member knows their role and only interacts with what’s relevant to them.

7. Considerations for Effective Use

Do not make managers or key decision-makers guests — they often need full access and editing rights.
Always communicate to guests how and where their tasks will appear.
Train your team on the commenting vs. editing capabilities inside Monday.com to encourage effective collaboration.

By implementing this method, your church can save significantly while still maintaining a robust and efficient project management workflow that empowers every staff member to contribute meaningfully.