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Communicate with Volunteers

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Introduction

There are several ways in which you can communicate with event volunteers. For this, you must go to Events > Select Event > Volunteers. Your volunteers must already be assigned in order to send them any communications. Learn more about assignments.

Let’s explore the available communication tools below.
 

Email 

Once you have assigned volunteers to your event, you can email them. This can be done by clicking the envelope icon at the top right of the Volunteers window. 


 

From here, there are two options: 

  1. Email the Schedule allows you to send volunteers their event schedule via email.
  2. Email Volunteers allows you to send a regular email to all or specific volunteers.

Let’s look at these two options in detail below. 

 

Email the Schedule

Once you select the Email the Schedule option, you are presented with the corresponding window, where you can select the event occurrence and/or roles for which to email volunteers their schedule. To do so, just follow the steps below:

  • If your event is recurring, first choose whether to send the schedule for all occurrences, or to specific ones. You can choose the occurrences you want by switching the toggle to the ON position.  If you are working with a one-time event, this selection is not needed, so the option is not visible.
  • Next, you can choose to email the schedule to the volunteers fulfilling specific roles, by activating the toggle corresponding to each role.
  • You can then edit the email’s subject and body, then send it out when you are ready.
  • You can save your email as a template to use later, and if you already have templates saved, you can use them to send your emails faster. 
    Learn more about working with the email editor.

 

Email Volunteers (general email)

The Email Volunteers option lets you send any email communication to event volunteers. You can choose to send it to All or Specific Volunteers, where you can also include people who are not listed as volunteers for the event (these records are listed with black text, while already assigned people are listed in blue).  

All you need to do next is edit the subject and body, attach any required files (up to 20 MB, add CC or BCC, save a template, choose the email sender as needed. then send out your email when ready. Learn more about working with the email editor.


 

Mobile Push Notifications

The Push Notification option lets you send mobile push notifications to event volunteers, who will receive them if they are assigned to the event (including via the signup sheet), and if they are logged into their account via the mobile app.

These notifications can only be sent to everyone participating in the event, so they may not be individual. The acceptance status does not matter. 

All you need to do is add a subject, use merge fields to personalize the message to each recipient, type your message, and attach a file, if needed (max. 2MB in size).

To find previously sent and scheduled push notifications go to Reports > Notification History.

 

Set Volunteer Reminders

Reminders can be configured per role. You can decide how many days in advance to send the reminder, and whether you do so via email and/or push notification. The reminder is sent at 9am within the day when it should be sent, rather than based on the number of hours before the event. So if you organize an event at 8pm and want to send a reminder 1 day before, then it will be sent 1 day before at 9am rather than at 8pm. If you need to configure your timezone, please go to Settings > Account Settings.

The message text and formatting are customizable and merge fields are available. You can also decide whether to apply the reminder to the selected role or to all roles.  

Note: Please keep in mind that your roles need to be configured prior to accessing reminders. 

Here is how to set volunteer reminders: 

  • Open the event you are managing, then access the Volunteers section.
  • Find the role for which you want to set a reminder. If you want to set it for everyone, then you can pick any role. 
  • Click Reminder.
  • Now configure your reminder: 
    • Choose whether to apply this reminder to all roles or not. If not, it will only apply to the role that you have previously selected. 
    • Set a subject.
    • Edit the reminder message. There is a full editor available, just like for your emails. 
    • Choose how many days in advance to send the reminder, before the event takes place. The default value is 3 days.
    • Choose the delivery method: an email, a push notification, or a text message. Note that to receive notifications, your volunteers need to have installed and logged into the ChMeetings mobile app. Additionally, text reminders can only be sent using ChMeetings Credits. Note that text reminders contain shortened links, to save you credits.
    • Click Save to enable this reminder.

 

Edit Reminders

To edit an existing reminder, you can follow the same steps. When clicking the Reminder option next to a role, ChMeetings will open the currently active reminder for that specific role, or for all roles if that is the case. Simply make your changes and save to enable them. 

If you have set reminders for all roles, but now want to adjust the reminder for a specific role, then you can select the role in question, and edit its reminder, ensuring that you switch off the option to apply the same reminder to all roles. This way, the change will only be applied to the one you selected.

 

Text Volunteers (SMS)

You can text volunteers directly from the event volunteer schedule. The texting process is the same as in any other area of ChMeetings. See how to send text messages.

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