Guide: How to Connect Your Telegram Channel to NEST

Modern non-profits rely on timely information to act fast and stay coordinated. Whether it is a new donation, a volunteer signup, or a form submission, your team should know immediately.

NEST allows every organization to connect its own Telegram group or channel to receive real-time updates directly where your team already communicates. This guide walks you through preparing a Telegram group and connecting it to NEST step by step.

By the end of this guide, your organization will have a fully connected Telegram setup and be ready to receive live notifications from NEST.

Why Telegram Integration Matters

Telegram is fast, reliable, and widely used by distributed teams. By connecting Telegram to NEST, your organization can:

• Receive instant notifications for donations, volunteer signups, and form submissions

• Keep leadership and operations teams aligned without logging into dashboards

• Reduce missed updates and manual follow-ups

• Centralize operational alerts in one trusted channel

Each organization in NEST connects its own Telegram group, ensuring privacy and separation between tenants.

What You Need Before You Start

Before beginning, make sure you have:

• Access to Telegram on web or mobile

• Permission to create and manage your organization's Telegram group

• Admin access to your organization’s NEST dashboard

Using Telegram Web is recommended since it makes it easier to copy your group ID later.

Step 1: Create a Private Telegram Group

Start by creating a new private group in Telegram.

• Open Telegram Web or the mobile app

• Create a new group

• Set it as private

This group will be used only for internal updates from NEST.

Step 2: Add Your Team and the NEST Bot

Add your team members to the group so they can receive updates.

Next, add the official NEST Bot to the group. This bot is responsible for sending notifications from your NEST workspace into Telegram.

You can add or remove team members at any time. The bot must always remain in the group.

Step 3: Set a Clear Group Name and Image

Give your group a clear and recognizable name such as <YOUR_ORGANIZATION_NAME> Updates

Adding a profile image helps team members quickly identify the group, especially if they are part of multiple Telegram groups.

Step 4: Make the Bot an Administrator

This is the most important step.

The bot must be an administrator in your group to post messages.

To do this:

• Open the group info

• Go to Edit

• Open Administrators

• Add the NEST bot as an administrator

• Enable permission to post messages

If the bot is not an admin, NEST will not be able to deliver notifications.

First go to Group info.

Click on Edit button on top right.

Click on 'Administrators' and then 'Add Admin' button.

Select NESTBot or K34a Bot.

Promote the bot to an Admin and allow it to 'Post Stories'. You can add more options if you want to.

Step 5: Get Your Telegram Group ID

NEST connects to Telegram using your group or channel ID.

To find it:

• Open your group in Telegram Web

• Look at the URL in your browser

It will look like this:https://web.telegram.org/a/#-1002546861828

You will see a number at the end of the URL, usually starting with -100.

Copy only the numeric part including the minus sign. This is your group ID.

The minus sign is required. Do not remove it.

Step 6: Connect Telegram in the NEST Dashboard

Now open your NEST admin dashboard.

• Go to the Telegram setup section

• Paste the copied group ID

• Click Connect Telegram

NEST will save this configuration and prepare the connection.

Each organization can connect only one Telegram group at a time.

Step 7: Test the Connection

After connecting, use the Send Test Notification option in the dashboard.

If everything is set up correctly, you will see a test message appear in your Telegram group immediately.

This confirms that your integration is working.

What Notifications Will You Receive

Once connected, your Telegram group will receive updates for key events such as:

• New donations

• Volunteer signups

• Form submissions

• Selected analytics and operational alerts

This ensures your team stays informed without constantly checking the dashboard.

Best Practices and Tips

• You can rename your Telegram group anytime without breaking the connection

• Do not remove the bot from the administrators list

• Keep the group private to avoid exposing internal updates

• You can re-test the connection anytime from the NEST dashboard

NEST is built to help non-profits operate with clarity, speed, and accountability. Telegram integration brings critical updates directly to your team’s communication space, reducing friction and improving response times.

With just a few minutes of setup, your organization can stay connected to what matters most in real time.

If you ever need to change your Telegram group or reconfigure the connection, NEST makes it easy to manage directly from your dashboard.