There is no lack of need for more volunteers in the nonprofit world, making it absolutely crucial to give people an easy and navigable outlet to volunteer for causes they are passionate about. Using your website as a volunteer recruitment hub is an effective way to attract new people and help you manage the details.
In this article, we will show you how to create a new volunteer opportunity using the Volunteer Management System on your website.
FEATURE AVAILABILITY
The Volunteer System is available for Amplify plan websites. Upgrade your plan in the Account & Billing section of your website Dashboard to unlock this feature.
Helpful Terminology
- A one-time opportunity occurs at a fixed date and time. An example is volunteers for an annual concert fundraiser.
- Flexible opportunities can happen on different days and times. An example is a weekly coaching session. Another example is looking for a volunteer to help out with your social media or blog.
Create a New Opportunity
If the Volunteer Management System has been activated on your website, it’s easy to go in and add a new volunteer opportunity.
- In the back end of your website, hover over “Volunteer Management” in the left-hand admin menu and click on “Opportunities”.
- At the top of the Volunteer Management page, click the “Add Volunteer Opportunity” button. You will now be taken to a new page for the opportunity, where you can add and adjust information about volunteering.
Customize the Volunteer Opportunity
Once you have created a new volunteer opportunity page, it’s time to fill in all of the necessary information.
Add a title and description
Much like a headline, the title will be used across the site. Try to be descriptive so that potential volunteers are motivated to learn more.
You’ll also want to include a description with information about the tasks that volunteers will be doing. You could also describe any required skills or attributes, the type of commitment you’re looking for and any other details necessary. To help motivate volunteers, consider explaining the impact that they will have on the community by serving this role.
You can use the block editor to format this description like a normal page, including adding images or photos.
Add volunteer opportunity details
Unlike a typical page or blog post, a volunteer opportunity has a special section where you can add extra details about volunteering. You can add contact information, location information, the date and time, and include a volunteer limit if needed.
Setting the date and time
When you check the box for a one-time opportunity the form will prompt you to input a start and end date/time.
If you are creating a flexible opportunity, input a time range for when the opportunity will occur. For example, “Summer 2019”.
Add a featured image
Similar to adding a featured image to a page or a post, you can add a featured image to your volunteer opportunity.
About the Volunteer Interest Form
When you create a new volunteer opportunity, a volunteer interest form is automatically generated and added to your volunteer opportunity page.
One-time Opportunities
A form submission serves as an RSVP to the volunteer event. The person who submitted the form will receive an email confirming the details. The site administrator will also receive an email notification when someone signs up for the volunteer opportunity.
Flexible Opportunities
Because flexible opportunities vary depending on the volunteer’s experience level and time commitment, the form serves as more of an outlet to express interest as opposed to signing up immediately. The person who expressed interest will receive an email confirming their form submission. The site administrator will also receive an email notification when someone expresses interest.
Preview and Publish
Preview the Opportunity
Preview your new volunteer opportunity to ensure all information is correct and appears as it should. To do this, click the grey “Preview” button in the top right-hand corner. Make any changes you’d like until you’re satisfied with how the volunteer opportunity looks in the preview.
Publish the Opportunity
Congrats on your new volunteer opportunity! Click the blue “Publish” button in the top right-hand corner of the page. Your new volunteer opportunity will now appear on your website.
Once you’ve published a new opportunity, it will automatically add to either the one-time or flexible opportunities page on the front-end of your site. If you haven’t done so already, you may need to add the Volunteer Opportunities block to these pages, as outlined below.
Add the Volunteer Opportunity Block
If you haven’t previously offered volunteer opportunities on your website, you might need to first add the Volunteer Opportunities block in order for them to be seen by visitors. Adding the Volunteer Opportunities block to a page will automatically list all of the opportunities you’ve published in a category, either one-time opportunities or flexible opportunities (but not both).
- Go to the page where you’d like a list of opportunities to appear. Add the Volunteer Opportunities block.
- The block’s default it to display all one-time opportunities. You can change this to show flexible opportunities by selecting the calendar icon on the right.
- The list of related opportunities will automatically update and display on the page, as shown on our demo site.
- Preview the page to see your changes and publish when ready.
Other Volunteer Opportunity Features
Though you don’t need to worry about these features when creating a new opportunity, there are a few additional sections that you’ll see in the back end of each volunteer opportunity.
Volunteer Opportunity RSVPs
Here you will see a list of the people who have signed up or expressed interest in this opportunity. You have the option to remove anyone from this list.
Email Your Volunteers
Here you can send a custom email to all volunteers who signed up for this opportunity. Learn more about sending emails through the volunteer management system.
Emails to Volunteers
In the right sidebar, in the “Emails to Volunteers” section, you will see any emails you previously sent to volunteers about this opportunity.
Still Have Questions?
The quickest way to get support is to reach out to us within your website’s admin dashboard. Log into your website and then fill out the Request Help form. You’ll hear back from us within one business day.