Creating A Volunteer Form

Creating A Volunteer Form

Creating a volunteer form consists of a number of steps, including naming the form, setting up the publish and unpublish dates and times, entering your volunteer opportunities, and configuring your emails to go out. Clicking on the "save and continue >" button at the bottom of each screen will guide you through all of the steps.  If you're already a pro, you can skip around by clicking on the tabs at the top of each screen. Your progress will be automatically saved each time.

  1. Step 1 - Go to Dashboard / Volunteers / Forms / select "new volunteer form."




Getting Started Tab

  1. Give the form its own unique Title. It will automatically transfer to the Overview tab.
  2. Decide if you want to create a normal volunteer form OR link to a Signup Genius form instead.

Overview Tab

This is very similar to the Overview Tab for sales and data forms.

Normal Volunteer Forms

If you selected to create a normal volunteer form, you will proceed with the following:

  1. Title:  Shows up as the title for your form.
  2. Extended Description:  This text will appear below the title of the form in a smaller font. Sometimes it is helpful to include a due date here.
  3. Mode:  There are four choices - Draft, Test, Active, Archived
  1. Draft mode is only available to Admins working on the form.
  2. Test mode allows your Admins to see the form and to use the form to test the functions. It will be highlighted yellow in the list of Open Forms and can only be seen by Admins. A form in test mode will only be visible if the Publish and Unpublish Dates/Times are current.
  3. Active mode is when you want your form to be available to your users!
  4. Archived mode is used when you are done with a form and no longer want it to be presented in your list of forms on the Dashboard. It will move to the Archived List.
  1. Publish and Unpublish Date/Time:  Don't forget these must be current or the form will not be presented in the Open Forms list.
If you selected to link to a signup genius form, you will proceed with the following:


  1. Title:  Shows up as the title for your form.
  2. Extended Description:  This text will appear below the title of the form in a smaller font. Sometimes it is helpful to include a due date here.
  3. Mode:  There are four choices - Draft, Test, Active, Archived
  1. Draft mode is only available to Admins working on the form.
  2. Test mode allows your Admins to see the form and to use the form to test the functions. It will be highlighted yellow in the list of Open Forms and can only be seen by Admins. A form in test mode will only be visible if the Publish and Unpublish Dates/Times are current.
  3. Active mode is when you want your form to be available to your users!
  4. Archived mode is used when you are done with a form and no longer want it to be presented in your list of forms on the Dashboard. It will move to the Archived List.

  1. Publish and Unpublish Date/Time:  Don't forget these must be current or the form will not be presented in the Open Forms list.
  2. Once you Save, the form will then be added to the Open Forms block as a volunteer form option.

Presentation Tab


The Presentation tab controls how the form looks and what the user/volunteer will be able to see on the form.

1. Who can Volunteer? - Select Parents Only, Students Only, or Both Parents AND Students. (More Information about Student Volunteers)



2. Presentation Style - Choose from List or Calendar.
  1. The List style presents the opportunities in a list format (see screen shot below.) This is most useful when you have opportunities that are mostly job-based.
  2. The Calendar style presents the opportunities on an actual calendar (see screen shot below.) This is most useful if the opportunities are mostly date/time-based. Volunteers can see the date for the opportunity on a calendar and then click the opportunity from there to sign up.

If you select Calendar for the Presentation Style, you will be presented with additional options:
  1. Show Calendar Color Key - Selecting Yes presents the color code key at the bottom of the calendar, illustrating what each color-coded entry signifies.
  2. Opportunity Foreground/Background Color - This is for opportunities that are still available.
  3. Full Opportunity Foreground/Background Color - This is for opportunities that are no longer available.


3. Show Entries that have Passed - When set to No, only the current and upcoming opportunities will be displayed.
4. Show Volunteers - When set to Yes, this will display the names of those who have already volunteered for each opportunity.
5. Show Count of Open Slots - When set to Yes, this will display the number of slots that are still open for each opportunity.
6. Show How Many have Signed Up - When set to Yes, this will display the number of slots that have already been filled for each opportunity.
7. Preamble - This will appear at the top of the volunteer form, before the volunteer opportunities.   You can include text and pictures.  It's a great place to include a motivating volunteer statement about volunteering and who to contact with questions.



Here is an example of what the user/volunteer will see if all of the above options are set to "Yes":



Opportunities Tab


The Opportunities tab is where you will put your "jobs" for volunteers and your date/time slots for the shifts you need covered.

To add an Opportunity:
  1. Go to the Opportunities tab for the volunteer form and click "add section."



  1. Choose a Section Title and any additional information you want to include about it.  Save.
  2. When you scroll over the New Section with your mouse, the blue "edit" and "add" buttons pop up.  Selecting "edit section" will allow you to edit the Section Title and Section Information.  Selecting "add" will allow you to Add an Opportunity.

Add Opportunity:  Select the Opportunity Type, then "add opportunities..."

  1. Volunteer Interest - This is for expessing general interest and does not usually have a date/time associated with it. It allows for an unlimited number to sign up.
  2. One Time Event - This is for a single date and/or time and usually does not recur.  The date/time information is used for sending out ticklers (reminders).
  3. Recurring Event - This is for an event that repeats throughout a range of dates. The date/time information is used for sending out ticklers (reminders).

Note:  No matter which type of Opportunity you choose to start with, each type can be edited to include single and recurring dates/times. 









Creating/Editing Volunteer Opportunities

  1. Go to Dashboard / Volunteers / Active Forms / select form / "edit this form" / Opportunities tab.

You can add a new section, edit an existing section, or add new opportunities to a section.  Scroll over an existing section with your mouse, to get the blue "edit" and "add" buttons pop up. 
  1. Selecting "edit section" will allow you to edit the Section Title and Section Information.  To delete a section, you must first move all of the opportunities out of it.
  2. Selecting "add" will allow you to Add an Opportunity.

To Rearrange Sections and Opportunities - click and drag the section/opportunity, then be sure to Save.

To Edit an Opportunity - scroll over the existing opportunities with your mouse.  This will get the blue "edit" and "add data field..." buttons to pop up.  Select the "edit" button.

*No matter which type of Opportunity you chose originally, the edit screen will look the same and each type of opportunity can be edited to include single and recurring dates/times.



1. Opportunity - The title of the opportunity.
2. Description - More information about the opportunity.
3. Opportunity Active - Select Yes if you want the opportunity to be presented to users.
4. HTML Anchor - If you don't know anything about using anchors, leave this blank.
5. Opportunity Slots - This information will present on the same line as the opportunity or on the following lines if there is more than one slot.
  1. Displayed as - Whatever you type in this field will override the Start and End Date/Time fields.  If you leave it blank, the system will publish the Start Date/Time if it is filled in. (When using the Volunteer Kiosk, the system will only present the Displayed as field when the Start/End Time is left blank.)
  2. Start Date/Time and End Date/Time - Use the pop up calendar to enter information into these fields. Once they have been populated, you can edit directly in the field itself.
  3. Max Vols and Min Vols - Do you have a maximum or minimum number of volunteers for this slot?  Once the maximum number of volunteers is reached, the form will show that the opportunity is full. 
  4. Actions - Once slots have been added and saved, an option to delete them will be presented here.
6. Add Another Time - Select this if you need to add another time slot.  Note: If you add another slot, but leave it blank, it will show as an empty slot on your form.

7. Add Recurring Times - Select this if you have an event that will repeat.  This makes it very easy to add multiple dates all at once.



To Move an Opportunity to Another Form - hover over the opportunity and select "move to another form..." You will then select the form and which section you'd like to move it to.

Confirmation Email Tab

When someone volunteers you can send them a confirmation email that details what volunteer selections they made. This is also a great place to include a reminder on volunteer responsibilities.


When changes are made to a volunteer's sign up, the system send volunteer notices to Parent 1 or Parent 2 (or both) depending on the changes made.  
* If changes are only made to parent 1's column, then parent 1 will receive an email.
* If changes are only made to parent 2's column, then only parent 2 will receive an email.  
* If changes are made to both, Parent 1 will receive an email and Parent 2 will be CC'd on that email.

To set this up, go to Volunteers / Active Forms / Select Form / Edit this Form / Confirmation Email tab.

  1. Send Confirmation Email - Do you want a confirmation email to be sent?
  2. Include Student information in email - Do you want the user's student information to be part of the email?
  3. Email Confirmation Text - What you want to say to the user in the email.  The volunteer slots they signed up for will automatically be included here when the email is sent.
  4. Send a copy of the email - Does your Volunteer Coordinator want to be notified when someone signs up for a volunteer shift or opportunity?   They can receive a copy of the Confirmation Email. This is helpful if your event coordinator would like to be notified when someone signs up instead of logging on and checking the form sign-ups throughout the duration of the event.




Tickler Emails Tab

Ticklers are simply reminder emails.  They are a great way for Admins to set up reminders and "thank you" emails in advance of an event or volunteer opportunity.

1. To set up a Tickler, go to Volunteers / select the form/event you wish to send reminders for / edit form / Tickler Emails tab.
Note:  at the "Volunteer Opportunity" level, make sure to include the start and end dates and times for each opportunity in addition to how you want them presented to the User.  The reminder email times are set based on this information.  If these fields are blank, the email will not be sent.
2. Select the blue "Tickler" button, then choose "New Tickler".  You can have multiple reminder ticklers for each form.

Status
Select Draft, Active, or Inactive 

Send Tickler
  1. Relative - Use this option if you only want to send an email to a group of volunteers that are scheduled for a particular day.  For instance, if you have a schedule that covers Monday - Friday, you may want the reminder to go to the Monday volunteers on Sunday, the Tuesday volunteers on Monday, etc. You will set the number of days in advance or following the volunteer slots and the time of day you want the email to be sent.
In this example, the email will be sent out at 8 am, 2 days before each day that there is an opportunity scheduled.



  1. Absolute - Use this option when you want to send an email to the entire group of volunteers on the form, no matter their date/time slot.  The email will be sent on the specific day and time you choose.

From
This is the email address the tickler will come from.  You can select from a list of Admins on your site.

Subject
The subject line of the email.

Body
This is where you put what you want the tickler to say.  You can add macros to the email to help personalize the information included. To add a macro, click on the appropriate one when you are ready to add it to your message.

Please Note: Some computers auto-correct causing the macro to read {{first name}} instead of {{firstname}}, for example. This will break the macro and cause it not to populate, so be sure no extra spaces are included when you add it.





Notes About Ticklers
  1. Ticklers are also duplicated when a Volunteer Form is duplicated, but they will in Draft.  You will need to set them to Active if you want them to be sent out.
  2. Tickler emails will be sent to all assigned volunteers whether Active, Inactive, or Outdated. They will not be sent to volunteers with Cancelled status or that are on the Do Not Contact list.
  3. Ticklers will still be sent even if the volunteer form is still in Active Mode, but the form dates have expired. You can switch the ticklers to Inactive or you can put the form in Draft mode if you don't want the ticklers to be sent.


Form Conditions

Form Conditions allow you to restrict a form's availability/presentation to a particular group of users. For example, if you have a form that only applies to your faculty/staff, you can set the form so that it only presents in the list of Open Forms if the user is a faculty/staff member.

How Do You Use Form Conditions? 
You can set a form condition using any of the parent or student data fields, including custom fields. (If you need a custom field created, submit a Ticket to our Help Desk)
  1. Click the "+" sign to create the condition.
  2. Use the drop down menus to select the fields and restrictions.
You can select more that one option for each condition.
  1. For example, if you want the form to present to all parents and all faculty, check the boxes next to both Parent/Guardian and Faculty.

You can have multiple form conditions on a form.  If you have more than one condition, each condition must be met for the user to be presented with the form.
  1. For example, you could set 2 conditions -
1) the user must be a Parent/Guardian, and
2) the Student must be in 5th Grade.

Additional Viewers - Who else should be able to view this volunteer form?
You can add additional viewers to volunteer forms that don't meet the conditions for the form. This is useful for classroom sign ups. Often the teacher can't see the sign up for his/her class because he/she doesn't have a student in the class. Instead of having to give the teacher Admin Access, you can add them as an additional viewer.
  1. Go to Volunteers > Select the Form > Edit this Form > Form Conditions tab.
  2. Click the  Additional Viewers button and then select the Group of users or add their email addresses manually.
  3. Additional Viewers are just like anyone else that matches the conditions, meaning they can view and sign up on the form.


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