❖ Heads up! This article is only intended for Site Managers.
Your site has several great features and benefits in place to help you boost your volunteer engagement! We know you're ready to start sharing those amazing Needs/Opportunities with your community, so here's a breakdown of how to get started:
The first step is to create an Agency/Program to post Needs/Opportunities.
Next, create a Need/Opportunity and share it with your community of volunteers.
Manage and track submitted volunteer hours to capture and showcase the great contributions your volunteers and organization are making!
ℹ️ So you know: Some sites have language overrides in place. This means you might see Needs in place of Opportunities, Agencies in place of Programs, or Prerequisites in place of Qualifications.
Agencies/Programs are a way for volunteer Needs/Opportunities to be grouped and sorted on a site, kind of like buckets holding a variety of fruit!
For example, let's say your organization has an Agency/Program dedicated to a local soup kitchen, the Needs/Opportunities posted might include:
Come ladle soup at the Soup Kitchen!
Help re-stock the Soup Kitchen pantry!
Calling all soup-oisseurs to make nutritious and delicious soups for our Soup Kitchen!
Delivery Drivers Needs M-F Shifts Available
Or, maybe you have an Agency/Program dedicated to a small non-profit in your area that offers several services to the community, like:
Stitch Bereavement Keepsakes
Back-to-school backpack event
Community cleanup at the Garden Center
Agencies/Programs can even be set up for task-based Needs/Opportunities, location-based Needs/Opportunities, etc.
The volunteer Needs/Opportunities posted in an Agency/Program are dependent on that organization's purpose and mission.
Another way to think of Agencies/Programs and Needs/Opportunities is with this house metaphor:
In other words, a volunteer site can "house" several Agencies/Programs.
Each "room" in that house can be considered an individual "Agency/Program" with its own purpose and use.
You fill each of those "rooms" (Agencies/Programs) with "stuff" (unique volunteer Needs/Opportunities).