Contents

• Introduction
• Schedule volunteers
  • Configure volunteer roles
    • Edit volunteer roles
  • Assign volunteers
• Email Volunteers
  • Email the Schedule
  • Email Volunteers (general email)
• Set Volunteer Reminders
  • Edit reminders
• RSVP Options
  • RSVP by Volunteers
  • RSVP by Leaders or Admins
  • RSVP Status 
• Download a volunteer sheet
• The Calendar Tab

This is a paid feature.

This is a beta feature that is still being improved. We encourage you to submit your feedback here.

Introduction

The Volunteer Scheduling / Rota feature is available within the Events area and allows you to add roles and volunteers for each one-time or recurring event (including occurrences). This feature also allows you to print volunteer sheets, for better event management.

For one-time events, you will find a Volunteers button, at the top right of the event screen.

For recurring events, you will find the Volunteers button at the top right of the screen, as well as the Volunteers option in the menu that corresponds to each event instance.

Schedule volunteers

You can schedule volunteers the same way, whether your event is one-time or recurring. In the Volunteer Scheduler, you will find two tabs: Occurrence and Calendar. Both of these sections provide the same features, discussed below. 

• The Occurrence tab lets you manage volunteers as a list, per day and role;
• The Calendar tab lets you manage lists of volunteers assigned per day and role, but allows you to view several days in one go. 

The feature explanations below are based on the Occurrence tab. The Calend

ar tab provides access to the same features with the same interface elements.

Configure volunteer roles

When your event is new and has no volunteers scheduled yet, you will need to first configure the roles that you want volunteers to fulfill. Click Configure Roles to do so.

You can now add your roles, assign a leader and a number of volunteers needed for the specific role. You can delete a role by clicking the ⊖ sign on its right. You can add more roles using the corresponding Add Role option at the bottom. Click Save to save your role assignments. You can also Reorder the list of roles by dragging the reorder handle on the left side of each role. Click Save to save your role assignments.

If you are working with a recurring event, the roles you configure will be added to all instances of the event.

 

Edit volunteer roles

Once your roles have been set up, you can edit them by clicking the pencil icon next to them. From here, you can edit the number of needed volunteers per role. For recurring events, this is the only editing option at the moment (for now, roles can’t be changed otherwise for such events).

You can also click the Configure Roles button to fully edit existing roles or add new ones.

Any changes you make in the main role configuration screen will be reflected across all dates if you are working with a recurring event.

Assign volunteers

Once you are happy with your role configuration, you can assign volunteers to each role. This is done using the Assign button, available for each role. This will allow you to choose someone from your list of people, then to click Add. Please keep in mind that your volunteer needs to be added to your list of People (See how) before they are available to select here. 

You can use the same process to add all of the volunteers you need. To Remove a Volunteer, click the Options menu next to them and choose Remove.

If you are working with a recurring event, there will be a date at the top right of your volunteer assignment screen. Click the arrows to navigate the dates and assign volunteers to each date. Your roles will be predefined per day - you can edit the number of volunteers needed and assign volunteers separately, for each date. For the moment you cannot add or remove roles for specific instances of a recurring event.

Email Volunteers

Once you have assigned volunteers to your event, you have the option to 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.

Email Volunteers (general email)

The Email Volunteers option lets you send any email communication to event volunteers. You can choose to send to All or Specific Volunteers.

All you need to do next is edit the subject and body, then send out your email when ready. 

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 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, either an email or a push notification. Note that to receive notifications, your volunteers need to have installed and logged into the ChMeetings mobile app. 
• Click Save to enable this reminder.

Please watch the short demo below, to see how this feature works in ChMeetings: 

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.

RSVP Options

RSVP by Volunteers

There are two ways for volunteers to RSVP for your events:

1. Via Email: Volunteer schedule emails will include an option to RSVP.
2. Via their ChMeetings Account, if the volunteers are also registered members, with active ChMeetings accounts. The RSVP options are available by going to the Volunteer Schedule section. Here is where there is a list of events to which members are added as volunteers, and where they can easily Accept or Reject participation.

RSVP by Leaders or Admins

Leaders or Admins can manage RSVP on behalf of Volunteers, from within the Volunteers section of an event. Clicking the Options menu allows you to update the status RSVP Status as either Accepted or Rejected.

RSVP Status 

Leaders and Admins can view the RSVP status of each volunteer from within the event’s Volunteers section. Here, every volunteer is assigned a color, which is displayed on the left side of their list item, as follows:

• Green - Accepted,
• Red - Rejected,
• Yellow - No response.

Download a volunteer sheet

Once you have assigned volunteers to your event, you can also print a volunteer sheet, for better management on the day of the event. To do so, simply click the Volunteer Sheet button at the bottom of your assignment screen. 

This will open a new screen, where you can view the contents of your sheet and filter by dates.  Click the Download button to download an Excel file containing volunteers assigned per role and event dates.

The Calendar Tab

The Calendar tab lets you view your volunteer scheduler per day while displaying several days on one screen. This allows you to see and manage your assignments faster and more efficiently.