Referrals

Sending a person to another organization and hearing back what happened, without chasing anyone by phone. Referrals are part of membership.

Kinshare won’t send a referral without a consent on file that names the receiving organization.

Open the client’s page and choose Record consent.
Under Who may receive information, pick each organization by name. A consent covers only the organizations it names.
Under What may be shared, tick what may go to them. Name and phone number is the minimum. Only what’s ticked is sent.
Under What can come back to us, three boxes start ticked: What help you got, Notes the other organization writes while helping you and Ask me by email whether I got help. Read them to the client. They can untick any of them now, or change their mind later.
Record how and when they signed.

The email check-in needs the client’s email on their profile. Without one, that box can’t be offered.

Send a referral

From the client’s page, choose New referral.
Search the directory for the service, pick the need it’s for and the consent to use.
In What the provider needs to know, write only what they need to serve the person. If the consent doesn’t cover the note, Kinshare tells you and won’t send it.
Choose Send referral, or Save as draft to finish later.

The receiving organization has 5 business days to respond. They can accept, decline or put the person on a waitlist. If they decline, Kinshare suggests the nearest other services for the same need. You can message each other on the referral page; keep messages to scheduling and logistics.

When the other organization isn’t on Kinshare yet

Only member organizations receive referrals in Kinshare. If the one you picked isn’t a member, Kinshare tells you and offers two things:

Call them. Their published phone number is right there.
Send them an invitation. The email says someone wants to refer a person to them and asks them to join. It never includes the client’s name or any detail about the client.

Choose Hold referral (or Hold referral and send invitation). The referral stays with you. If they join within 30 days, it’s delivered to them automatically. Until then they see nothing about the client. If they don’t join, it expires and you get a task so you can try someone else.

What comes back

Open the referral to see its whole history in one place: every status change, messages, the outcome, shared notes and the client’s own answers. You only see what the client agreed to.

Status. Always visible to you: received, accepted, in progress, closed.
Notes. From the day the other organization accepts until the referral closes, notes they write in that client’s file are shared with you. They can turn this off for their whole organization, or for one note with Don’t share this note.
Outcome. What help was given, and whether the need was met.
Check-in. The client’s answer to our email.

Record the outcome (receiving organization)

When you close a referral as met or not met, Kinshare asks for the outcome:

What help did your organization give? Pick the kinds of help.
Was the need met? Fully, partly or not met.
Value of the help in dollars, if there is one, such as rent paid or groceries given. It’s optional.
The client needs follow-up from the referring organization. Tick this and they get a task.

If a referral sits accepted or in progress for 14 days with no outcome, you get a reminder task. If you can’t reach the client, choose Couldn’t reach them. A second attempt closes the referral as unable to reach.

Notes you write about a referred client are shared back by default. Each note box says who will see it. An administrator can turn this off in Settings under Share notes back to referring organizations.

Client check-ins

If the client ticked the email check-in, Kinshare emails them 7 days after the referral is sent, and again at 30 days if it’s still open. The email names the organization they were referred to and nothing else about them. They tap one answer: I got help, I did not get help or I have not gone yet. No sign-in is needed. Their answer shows on both organizations’ referral page.

Daily summary email

Navigators and administrators can turn on Daily referral summary email in Settings. Once a day, if referrals your organization sent had new activity, you get one email with counts and short references and a link to sign in. It never contains client details.

If you don’t want to receive referrals

An administrator can turn off Accept referrals from other organizations in Settings. Your organization then isn’t offered when a partner records a consent.