Create Volunteer Opportunities
For each opportunity someone can elect to volunteer, create a volunteer opportunity. This could be
- Gala check in table 4:30 - 6 pm
- Gala check in table 6 - 8 pm
- Office Support
- Tutoring Youth
- Lesson Planning
You can publish an opportunity so that constituents can apply for it, or keep it private and internally assign volunteers. Only System users can create opportunity, and nobody can be assigned to an opportunity without a system user's approval.
Opportunity List
The Opportunity List is found under Volunteers Opportunities.
Click the pencil button to change what information is shown about each opportunity.
Filters at the top allow you to drill down to more specific opportunities based on start date, end date, category, event, whether the opportunity is available online, and whether the opportunity is active or inactive.
Totals shown in blue as "Pending" have not yet been approved by a system user. Click these numbers under Volunteers to see pending applications, or under Hours/Expenses/Mileages to see pending time sheets.
Have several related volunteer opportunities? Select Manage Categories to create and manage your volunteer opportunity categories.
Once your category is created, you can add an opportunity to your category by editing the opportunity.
New Opportunity
To create a new opportunity, click Create Opportunity.
Enter your opportunity name and other details.
- Opportunity Name – This is what the opportunity will be called throughout Neon CRM and on the public Opportunity List.
- Contact – This is which system user is managing this opportunity. If the system user has an email address in System Settings, assigned Volunteers will be able to contact them at that email address.
- Category – This is a way of sorting your different opportunities. To manage categories, see above on the Opportunity List page.
- Event – Similar to Category, you can organize your opportunities by associating them with specific events in your Neon CRM.
- Starts On/Ends On – When the opportunity will be taking place. Opportunities will not remain on the public Opportunity List after the end date.
- Description - Your description can contain any additional information that was not available above.
- Location Information - Helps your volunteers sort and select opportunities based on location, and of course this information also tells them where to go to help.
- Link to an Event - Select an Event from the list below to connect it to the Opportunity so you can easily navigate between the Event and Opportunity.
- Availability Online - Opportunities set to Available Online will also automatically be Active, and they will appear on the Volunteer Project List.
- Enable Mileage and Expenses - If you want to track Mileage and Expenses on Time Sheets for this Opportunity, enable the toggles below. Otherwise, they will not be tracked.
- Shifts - You can use Shifts to track volunteering needs for specific time slots under this Opportunity. Volunteers and Time Sheets can then be associated with specific Shifts
- Roles - Volunteer Roles can be used to specify the types of volunteers or assistance that you need for Opportunities and Shifts. Roles can be tagged on accounts to label your volunteers.
Accept New Volunteer Applications
Find & edit your volunteer application. Then, copy the URL to your website. Be sure someone is watching for new potential volunteers!
Navigate to Forms & Pages > Forms and select the Volunteer Project List tile at the top of the page. This serves as the first page of your volunteer application, for applicants to express interest in one or more opportunities. The next page of the application collects potential volunteers' information.
You can configure the content of the volunteer application by navigating to Global Settings > Configure Fields & Sections and adjusting the Volunteer form(s).
Link to this volunteer application on your website and/or social media. Direct new applicants to this link.
Someone will remain an applicant, or potential volunteer, until someone approves them to an opportunity. Your volunteer coordinator should review volunteer applications & approve volunteers to specific opportunities on an ongoing basis.
To review and approve applicants, navigate to Volunteer Applicants. Individually approve, decline, or email applicants by clicking the Actions button next to their application.
If you have multiple volunteers to email, approve, or decline, select the checkboxes on the left and you'll be able to email them or update their status as a group.
Designate Existing Volunteers
The new volunteers who fill out the application will automatically be visible in the Volunteers module. However, you already have some volunteers from before you started with this new system. Designate that your existing volunteers are in these opportunities by doing one of the following.
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Have just a few volunteers? Head down to Step 2.
Have many volunteers? First, add all of the volunteers in a particular opportunity to a volunteer group based upon the attribute you added. Go to Volunteer Groups New Group. Then, click on the group you created and choose Add Constituents.
2. Navigate to the opportunity where you want to add volunteers. Volunteers > Opportunities > Select your opportunity.
3. Select the Add button. Here, you can add volunteers through a live report, by searching accounts, or adding a system user.
4. Search for their Names OR their Volunteer Group to add them to the opportunity.
Follow Up
- If you need to receive a notification about new volunteer applicants, turn on your Account Creation System Email (Settings Global Settings System Emails Account Creation System Email View Settings & Versions) & BCC yourself.
- If you want existing accounts who apply to volunteer to receive an email, create a Workflow for this purpose.