Manage Volunteers
Approve or deny new applications as they come in, via Volunteer Applicants.
As time goes on, volunteers will stop working on particular projects. If the project is ongoing and a volunteer is inactive, update this information by navigating to Volunteer > Opportunities > Select the Opportunity. Under the Volunteers section, locate the volunteer name you wish to manage. Select the Action button. Here, you can view time sheets, make inactive, email the volunteer, or delete them from the opportunity.
On the Opportunity page, you can view a summary of the project's information, as well as a detailed list of the volunteers assigned to this project.
From here, you can view how many hours/miles/expenses your volunteers have contributed to this opportunity. As on the Volunteer Projects page, hours/mile/expenses marked as pending will link you to the related time sheet page.
From the Opportunity Details you can also
- Edit or Delete the Opportunity.
- Assign constituents and system users.
- Email the volunteers for this opportunity.
- Set active volunteers as Inactive. They will no longer be able to submit new time sheets for this opportunity and will not be active for this project in reports. Previously created time sheets for this opportunity will be saved.
- Set inactive volunteers as Active. They will be able to create time sheets for this opportunity and will be included for this opportunity in reports.
- Delete a volunteer from the opportunity. The volunteer will no longer be assigned to this project and all of their associated time sheets will be deleted.
Track Volunteer Time
To track volunteer hours, expenses, and/or mileage, system users can enter time sheets for volunteers via Volunteer Time Sheets. Also, volunteers can submit time sheets via the Constituent Login Portal.
Time Sheets Entered by a System User
System Users can record hours, expenses, and mileage by entering time sheets for volunteers. To enter a time sheet, go to Volunteer > Time Sheet > New Time Sheet.
To submit one or more time sheets for a specific volunteer, use the By Volunteer option.
Select the volunteer by name, add an opportunity, and then add hours, mileage, and/or expenses for the days they volunteered.
If instead you have multiple volunteers who volunteered the same number of hours to a single opportunity, use the By Opportunity option. Start by selecting the opportunity, then add all of the volunteers who participated.
This will create an identical time sheet for each volunteer on the list, with the same opportunity and time/expenses/mileage.
The timesheet creation page will show the current week by default, but you can add additional weeks by clicking + Add a Week at the bottom. You can also add a note to any timesheet or set of timesheets as you create them.
Time Sheets Submitted by Volunteers
Volunteers can self-report the hours, mileage, and expenses from their volunteer service with timesheets.
A Volunteer must be assigned to an opportunity by a System User (or approved by a System User if they applied online) to submit hours inside the constituent login portal. After logging in, they click on “My Projects” in the navigation menu (this page can be re-titled inside Global Settings Constituent Login Portal Dropdown Navigation Options, so it may be named differently inside your CRM).
This page will list all projects to which the volunteer is assigned along with a summary of the hours/expenses/mileage they have contributed to each.
To view specific time sheets or to create a new one, click Time Sheets.
This will bring up the My Time Sheets page. Here, constituents can view and Edit existing time sheets or create new time sheets for their assigned projects by clicking New Time Sheet.
Constituents will need to select the project they worked on, then which week they were involved, then, they can start entering total hours/expenses/miles for each day.
Save Time Sheet saves the time sheet with a status of Still Working, indicating the volunteer would like to come back and possibly add more hours.
Save and Submit for Approval flags the time sheet as ready for review by an administrator - i.e. Pending Approval.
Until the time sheet is Approved by a system user, it will remain available for edits by the constituent.
Approving Time Sheets
System Users can "sign off on" submitted time sheets.
Navigate to: Volunteer Time Sheets
Use the filters at the top of the screen to view hours submitted by Project, Volunteer, Status, or Time Sheet Start Date.
Filtering the Status to Pending shows you the time sheets that are marked as ready to be approved, although time sheets can be approved from a status of either Still Working or Pending if you need.
Approve time sheets in bulk by checking the box next to each time sheet and clicking Update Status Approve.
Alternatively, you can review time sheets individually using the Actions button next to each time sheet. View the details of each time sheet before approving it by clicking Actions Edit.
From here, you can see the breakdown of what was contributed each day. You can either Approve the time sheet, Edit it, or add a note to the timesheet.
Editing will give you the chance to adjust what was entered on each day. You can save your edits as
- Approved - This is the official amount submitted. It is included in totals calculations and the constituent can no longer make adjustments.
- Pending - Flags the time sheet as ready for approval by a system user. The constituent can still review and make adjustments.
- Still Working - The time sheet is not yet ready for approval. The constituent and/or system users can still make adjustments.
Track Your Volunteer Program
For grant reporting, honoring your volunteers, and annual reports, you will need to gather data on your volunteer program. Here's where to find information.
To calculate volunteer hours, filter the Time Sheets page. The Total Hours/Expenses/Mileage at the top of the page will automatically update to reflect your filtered results.
To see all current volunteers in an opportunity, use the status filters in the volunteer project. You can easily email everyone from here as well.
You can also query volunteer data in Reports.
The volunteer columns and criteria available in New Reports are: Assigned Opportunities, Total hours, Total miles, and Total expenses. These totals include the cumulative total of hours, expenses, or miles for all opportunities. Pending timesheets will not be included in the totals.
You can find Volunteer columns and criteria in the following reports:
- Mailing Report
- All Accounts Report
- Household Report
- Email Audience Report
- Donor Report
- Member Report
- Event Registration Report
- Event Attendee Report