Online communities are an important part of how people connect, share experience, and learn from each other, but they are spread across many platforms and organisations and can be difficult to find.
The Community Connector is an open directory of online communities, discussion groups, networks, and communities of practice across the development and humanitarian sector. It aims to make communities easier to discover and join, helping people connect with others working on similar issues, share experiences, learn from peers, and collaborate across organisations and regions.
The Connector is a growing resource, and we encourage organisations and community members across the sector to help expand and improve the directory.
What types of communities can be included?
The Connector focuses on online communities that support dialogue, learning, knowledge sharing, collaboration, or peer exchange.
Examples include:
- Communities of practice
- Professional networks
- Discussion groups
- Peer-learning communities
- Thematic online networks
- Programme or project communities with a broader learning purpose
Communities may be hosted anywhere – on platforms such as Groups.io, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Discourse, or dedicated community websites.
How are communities added?
Communities can be:
- Submitted through the online form using +Add Community button on the Community Connector page
- Suggested by community members or organisations
- Added by the Dgroups Foundation and its partners
All submissions are reviewed before publication.
What information is needed?
Where possible, please provide:
- Community name
- Short description
- Community URL or join link
- Platform
- Thematic area(s)
- Geographic coverage
- Language(s)
- Host organisation (if applicable)
You do not need to complete every field. Communities can be updated and improved over time.
Bulk submissions
If you would like to submit multiple communities at once, please contact us to request a bulk upload template.
Bring the Connector to your website
Organisations can also make the Community Connector available through their own website using the Community Connector satellite plugin.
The plugin connects to the central directory, allowing visitors to discover communities directly from your website while the underlying directory continues to be maintained centrally.
If your organisation is interested in trying the satellite plugin, please contact us.
Corrections and updates
If information is incorrect or out of date, please let us know. In the future, we will include the option to add suggested edits from the community record itself so you can update it directly.
Thank you for helping make communities easier to discover and connect across the sector!