i created a group with some employees then added that group to a saved search that sends email alerts. the alerts work, but not to the group. all group members have their global status opted in. any reason why this wouldn't work?

In these cases I use the Global EMail Preference for BCC to see what mail is actually outbound. Previously (I’ve found changes to organization inbound spam filters. )

you need a distribution email address mentioned in the group record.

yeah, it did have the distribution email address