Volunteering is fun and rewarding, especially when you get to do something you already love while giving back to your community. Depending on how the site you registered with is set up, you may have already selected Skills, Causes, or Interests during registration.
These help match you with volunteer Needs, or Opportunities, that align with your interests and skill sets. If you didn't select those, no worries! There are other ways to ensure you can find and match with the best opportunities for you.
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.
Causes, Interests, and Skills
You may have selected your Causes, Interests, or Skills during registration; however, if the site you have an account on didn't include those in the registration process, you can always add or edit them from the View Profile area.
Feature | Description | Limitations |
Causes | Causes help match you with Agencies or Programs that post volunteer opportunities that align with your interests. | Not all sites have Causes enabled. |
Interests | Interests help match you with volunteer Needs that align with your interests. | Some sites have Skills instead of Interests, but they function the same. |
Skills | Skills help match you with volunteer Opportunities that align with your interests. | Some sites have Interests instead of Skills, but they function the same. |
Editing Your Selections
If you want to edit your Causes, Interests, or Skills, you can from the View Profile area.
Log into your volunteer account.
Click your photo or initials in the top right-hand menu.
Select View Profile.
Click either Causes, Interests, or Skills on the My Profile page.
Not all sites have the same options on this page.
Select or unselect the ones you want applied to your account.
Click the Update button to save your selections.
Searching for Needs or Opportunities
You can filter Agencies or Programs and Needs or Opportunities to find the best ones for you.
Go to either the Agencies/Programs or Needs/Opportunities area of the site from your dashboard.
Some sites use language overrides, so you may see Agencies instead of Programs, Needs instead of Opportunities, or vice versa.
Some sites may have other terms in place of these.
If you're unsure about the language, please contact the site owner for assistance.
Use the Select a Filter dropdown to refine your search.
Every site is set up according to how that organization has configured it. This means you may not see the same options as those in the examples provided. Please contact a manager for the site you're registered on with any questions.
Configuring Your Profile
In addition to selecting Causes, Interests, or Skills to help match you with volunteer opportunities, you can also update your Availability from the Edit Profile area to let managers know when you're available for shifts. You can also enable or disable allowing the managers to schedule you for shifts from this area of the site.
Log into your volunteer account.
Click your photo or initials in the top right-hand menu.
Select Edit Profile.
Scroll to the Availability area and make your selections.
Click Update Availability.
If you wish to allow managers to schedule you based on your availability, scroll to the Settings section found under the Availability section.
Toggle the button beside Allow scheduling to On to allow or Off to prevent them from scheduling you.
Agencies Fanned
Not all sites have this feature enabled. If the site you are registered on uses Agencies, instead of Programs you may see this from the View Profile area.
This is essentially the same thing as favoriting something. When you fan an Agency, you receive email notifications about new volunteer Needs or Events for that Agency.
There are two ways to fan an Agency. You can either Become a Fan from the Agencies area of a site or you can select Agencies to fan from your profile.
Agencies Area
Go to Agencies from your dashboard.
Click Become a Fan or visit the Agency's Profile Page and click Become a Fan.
View Profile Area
Click your photo or initials from the top right-hand menu.
Select View Profile.
Click + Add Agencies, then click Become a Fan for the Agencies you want to fan.