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Restricting Access to Needs or Opportunities with User Groups: Site Managers
Restricting Access to Needs or Opportunities with User Groups: Site Managers

How Site Managers can restrict access to specific Needs or Opportunities with User Groups

Brittany Crow avatar
Written by Brittany Crow
Updated over a month ago

❖ Heads up! This article is only intended for Site Managers.

The User Groups feature allows you to group users with similar skills or backgrounds and share Needs or Opportunities directly with them. It’s also a fantastic way to limit access to specific Needs or Opportunities, ensuring only members of the designated User Group can respond.

Consider using User Groups as an alternative to Prerequisites or Qualifications! While Prerequisites or Qualifications apply universally to all Needs and Opportunities, User Groups let you customize restrictions for specific cases.

When to Use User Groups

Here are some scenarios where creating a User Group could be the perfect solution:

  • Restrict access to certain volunteer opportunities.

  • Exclude specific groups of users from accessing opportunities.

  • Limit access to a targeted audience, such as members of a club, class, or fraternity, or individuals with required licenses or certifications.

By tailoring access through User Groups, you can ensure your Needs and Opportunities are shared with the right audience.

ℹ️ So you know: Some sites have language overrides. This means you may see Needs instead of Opportunities, Agencies instead of Programs, or Prerequisites instead of Qualifications. You may also see different menu options than those in the examples since all sites are set up differently.

Four Steps to Restricted Opportunity Access

1. Setup Your User Group(s)

The first step is to create your User Group(s). We recommend clear and relevant titles for your User Groups. This can be specific to your use cases, i.e., if the volunteer opportunity you are trying to restrict access to requires special certifications, you might title the User Group "Licensed Veterinarians" or "Certified Lifeguards".

You can add a Private Description that details limitations for that User Group. This is only shared with other Site Managers. For example, you might include a detail like, "Please do not share private opportunities associated with this User Group with outside users."

2. Add Join Questions to Your User Group(s)

After you finish setting up your User Group, be sure to add join questions. These can help you vet the users in that group. For example, you can require that they upload a copy of their current license or certification when joining the User Group.

3. Add users

Now it's time to add users to your User Group. You, or a designated User Group leader can add or remove users. We recommend inviting users to join the User Group. That way they will be asked to complete the Join Questions before they can join the User Group and see volunteer opportunities.

4. Add Private Opportunities to the User Group

The last step is to associate private volunteer opportunities with the User Group. Be sure to set the privacy of these opportunities to Private so that the User Group members can see and respond to them.

Now, the User Group members in a User Group with the private volunteer opportunity associated can access and respond to it.

Please note that all volunteer opportunities, including private ones, have a URL that can be shared. This means another Site Manager could share a private opportunity link with users outside the User Group.

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