❖ Heads up! This article is only intended for Agency Managers. Agency Managers are only available on Center sites.
By the end of this article, you will be able to:
Understand the difference between a Volunteer Need and an Event
Decide when to post a Need versus an Event
Link Needs and Events together to increase engagement
Understanding the Difference Between Needs and Events
As an Agency Manager, you can create and share opportunities with your community. When posting opportunities, it’s important to understand the difference between Volunteer Needs and Events, because they serve different purposes.
What Is a Volunteer Need?
A Need is a volunteer opportunity where you are actively looking for people to help.
Volunteers sign up for Needs to contribute their time and can submit hours for the work they complete. Needs act as a call to action for volunteers who want to support your organization.
Example:
Help Pack Weekend Meal Kits — Volunteers Needed on Saturday!
Examples of Needs
The following are common examples of Needs agencies may post:
Plant in the community garden
Maintain a local hiking trail
Play with shelter puppies
Pack backpacks with food
Table at a nonprofit fair
Each of these examples asks volunteers to actively participate.
What Is an Event?
An Event is something you share with the community that people attend as guests or participants rather than volunteers.
Since no volunteer work is required, attendees do not submit hours for Events. Events may include fundraisers, celebrations, workshops, or awareness campaigns.
Example:
Join Us for Our Annual Charity Gala — Tickets Available Now!
Examples of Events
The following are common examples of Events agencies may post:
Community block party — come celebrate with us
Join us for our annual gala
Workshop about invasive plants
In these examples, people are invited to attend or participate, but they are not being asked to complete volunteer tasks.
How Needs and Events Work Together
Although Needs and Events serve different purposes, they can complement each other.
If you are hosting an event that requires volunteers, you can post a Need and link it within your Event description. This allows people who are interested in attending to also learn how they can volunteer.
Example:
Want to do more? Sign up to volunteer at one of our upcoming cleanup projects!
Linking Needs within Event descriptions can help increase engagement and recruit additional volunteers.
Sharing Needs Through Event Descriptions
You can promote your volunteer Needs by linking them in your Event descriptions.
You can either:
Share links to individual Needs, or
Share the List of Public Needs link so visitors can view all of your current opportunities.
Link Needs in an Event Description
To copy and share a list of your current Needs:
Go to My Agency > Needs.
Scroll to the bottom of the Manage Needs page.
Locate Needs Links and copy the List of Public Needs link.
Go to Events and click Edit for the event you want to update.
Click the Insert/Edit Link button in the text editor.
Paste the link into the URL field.
If needed, update the Text to display field.
You can also add a link to existing text by:
Highlighting the text in the Description field
Clicking Insert/Edit Link
Click Update Event to save your changes.
(You can also add links when creating a new event.)
You can also share the individual link for a specific Need. The process for inserting the link is the same.
The Volunteer Perspective
When volunteers visit your Event page, they can click the links in the description to view the related Needs and sign up to help.
Sharing Event Links in Need Descriptions
You can also share Event links within Need descriptions.
The steps for inserting links are the same as they are for Event descriptions. Event links can be added when creating a new Need or when editing an existing one.
To share an Event link, copy the share link from the public site and paste it into the Need description.
