❖ Heads up! This article is intended for Site Managers. The Events feature isn't available on all sites.
Events are a great way to promote engagement and grow your volunteer community. Keep in mind that an event is not the same thing as a volunteer Opportunity.
Events are your chance to invite people to attend as members of the community, not to volunteer. Volunteers cannot add hours for events, since they are not volunteer opportunities. Events are great for celebrations, parties, award ceremonies, or even volunteer appreciation events.
Volunteer Needs or Opportunities, are the opportunities you or your Agencies/Programs post for volunteers to sign up and participate in. Volunteers can add hours for Needs or Opportunities.
ℹ️ So you know: Some sites have language overrides in place. This means you might see Needs in place of Opportunities or Agencies in place of Programs.
Creating an Event
To get started with creating an event:
Go to Volunteerism > Events.
Select Add New Event.
Fill out the Create Event form.
Click Create Event to finish.
Create Event Form
It's time to customize your event!
Start by selecting a Status:
Active: Select Active if you want the event to be live on your site when you click Create Event.
Pending: Select Pending if you aren't ready to share the event on your site. You can come back to finish setting up the event and change the status to Active at a later time.
Give your event a Title.
Select a Program to associate the event with.
Decide if you want to Enable RSVPs.
Turn On and select an RSVP Capacity limit or the maximum limit of attendees.
Place a 0 in the RSVP Capacity field if you don't want to set a limit. Turn Off to disable RSVPing.
Fill in the Description field.
You can be as detailed as you want here
Use the text editor to include images, links, etc.
Remember, the description field is a place where you can generate a lot of excitement about the event by including details about it and more
Turn the button beside All Day Event to On if it is an all-day event; otherwise, toggle it Off. Turning this On removes the End Date/Time field.
Select your start and end dates and times.
The next fields are optional but important. You may want to consider listing a contact for the event and, unless it occurs online, be sure to include the physical address where the event takes place. Zip Code and Country are the only required location fields on the form.
You can add Tags to make your event more searchable for volunteers and the community.
Want to add private comments about the event that only you and another site manager can review? Add them to the Comments field at the bottom of the form.
When you're ready, click Create Event.
Editing Existing Events
To edit an existing event:
Go to Volunteerism > Events.
Select the Event Title from the table to edit.
Make all necessary edits and click Update Event to save your changes.
We don't recommend making any changes to an event that's already expired—i.e., changing the date and time, even if the event description and location are the same. Especially if you had RSVPing enabled.
This would create inaccurate reporting for RSVPs. Instead, we recommend cloning the event. This copies over most of the important details from the original event, and you can edit it as applicable.
Cloning an Event
To clone an event:
Go to Volunteerism > Events.
Select the Event Title from the table that you wish to edit.
Scroll to the bottom of the Update Event page and click Clone Event.
You can find this button beside the red Deactivate Event button.
A warning pops up asking you to confirm your selection—select Yes to confirm or No to cancel.
A new Create Event form appears with the information copied over from the original event.
The title copies over from the original event with (copy) at the end. Be sure to update this for the new event.
Fill out the Create Event form, making any necessary changes for the newly cloned event.
When you're ready, click Create Event.
Deactivating an Event
If you need to deactivate an event:
Go to Volunteerism > Events.
Select the Event Title from the table to deactivate.
Scroll to the bottom of the Update Event page and click the red Deactivate Event button. A warning pops up asking you to confirm your selection—select Yes to confirm or No to cancel.
Deactivating an event doesn't delete it completely. You can always reactivate a deactivated event.
Exporting Event Data
To export events data:
Go to Volunteerism > Events.
Click Export Events.
Your export downloads to a CSV file.
Exporting RSVP Data
Go to Volunteerism > Events.
Select the Event Title from the table to export RSVP data for.
Scroll to the bottom where it says Event RSVPs and click Export RSVPs. Your export downloads to a CSV file.
Sharing an Event Link
You can also share an event link with someone you think might be interested in attending!
Go to Volunteerism > Events.
Select the Event Title from the table.
The Event Link is in the top right corner of the Update Event page. Copy the link and start sharing!
Events also have a share link on their profile page that you, Advanced Program Managers, and volunteers can access and share!
Emailing Users Who RSVP'd
You can send a quick message to the users who submitted an RSVP to an event on the Update Event page.
Go to Volunteerism > Events.
Select the Event Title from the table.
Scroll to the bottom where it says Event RSVP's and click Email RSVPs. This takes you to the Email Blast area, where you can continue drafting the email you wish to send to those individuals.
