Get Started with Volunteer Connect
To get started, think about who coordinates different groups of volunteers (the "coordinator"), who leads volunteers on the day of an event (the "team leader"), and who is scheduled to complete the necessary tasks (the "volunteers"). Make sure those volunteers are in a group with the appropriate roles for your scheduling needs. Consider multiple service times as well, since separate events in MinistryPlatform mean separate schedules in Volunteer Connect.
A volunteer group can be as general or as narrow as you need it to be. For example, depending on how you want to schedule for events, you might have one group for all your nursery workers with different roles for various classrooms, or you might place volunteers in different groups for babies, children, and youth.
When you schedule a role, you can only select from the volunteers who have that role. So, if a volunteer will serve in multiple roles, make sure you add them as a participant in the group with each of those roles. For example, if Adam serves as a greeter before the service and attends to the welcome desk after the service, he needs one Group Participant record with the Group Role of "Greeter" and another record with the Group Role of "Welcome Desk Attendant".
Platform Setup
A group can display in Volunteer Connect, Group Life, or both. This is determined by the Available Online field on the Group record and the Volunteer Group field on the Group Type record that selected on the Group record. All groups with Available Online set to Yes will display in Group Life. To also display in Volunteer Connect, a group must have a Group Type that has Volunteer Group set to Yes.
If the group is made up of people who volunteer together, its Group Type should have Volunteer Group set to Yes. Otherwise, if the group is geared toward people who meet for some purpose, it should be set to No. An example of a volunteer group might be a Sunday Service Group for volunteers who have roles like greeter, parking lot attendant, and usher.
A team leader's Group Role must have Manages Volunteers set to Yes. That way, they can see all the details for a volunteer group and create schedules.
When volunteers are scheduled, they receive an email. You'll want to change the From Contact and the Reply To Contact to someone in your organization. Go to , and edit the Assignment notification template.
- CLOUDAPPS, VCGroupMeetingEventTypeId to define the default Event Type of new events.
- CLOUDAPPS, VCGroupMeetingProgramId to define the default Program of new events.
- CLOUDAPPS, VCGroupMeetingRoomId to define the default Room of new events.
Volunteer Connect Configuration Settings
You can edit the following configuration settings in the Platform to control various aspects of Volunteer Connect.
- CLOUDAPPS, VCDefaultHouseholdPosition
- This value specifies the household position assigned to contacts created within Volunteer Connect using the Add Volunteer button.
To use this default, the CLOUDAPPS, VCShowAddVolunteerButton configuration setting must be set to 1.
- CLOUDAPPS, VCEnableEventCreation
- This setting controls whether coordinators can create new events in Volunteer Connect during the schedule creation process. Valid values are 0 or 1. If set to 0, users cannot create new events within Volunteer Connect and can only select from existing group events. If set to 1, users can either select from existing group events or create new group events when creating schedules in Volunteer Connect.
If you choose to enable event creation, also see the following configuration settings to set defaults: CLOUDAPPS, VCGroupMeetingEventTypeId, CLOUDAPPS, VCGroupMeetingProgramId, and CLOUDAPPS, VCGroupMeetingRoomId.
- CLOUDAPPS, VCGroupMeetingEventTypeId
- If you allow coordinators to create new events in Volunteer Connect, this setting specifies the Event Type assigned to those new events. Valid value is an Event Type ID.
To use this default, the CLOUDAPPS, VCEnableEventCreation configuration setting must be set to 1.
- CLOUDAPPS, VCGroupMeetingProgramId
- If you allow coordinators to create new events in Volunteer Connect, this setting specifies the Program assigned to those new events. Valid value is a Program ID.
To use this default, the CLOUDAPPS, VCEnableEventCreation configuration setting must be set to 1.
- CLOUDAPPS, VCGroupMeetingRoomId
- If you allow coordinators to create new events in Volunteer Connect, this setting specifies the Room assigned to Room Reservation records associated with those new events. Valid value is a Room ID.
To use this default, the CLOUDAPPS, VCEnableEventCreation configuration setting must be set to 1.
- CLOUDAPPS, VCShowAddVolunteerButton
- This setting controls whether leaders can add new volunteers to their group. Valid values are 0 or 1. If set to 1, the Add Volunteer button displays in Volunteer Connect. If set to 0, the button is hidden.
- CLOUDAPPS, VCShowEditGroupButton
- This setting controls whether leaders can edit basic group details. Valid values are 0 or 1. If set to 1, the Edit Group button displays in Volunteer Connect. If set to 0, the button is hidden.
- CLOUDAPPS, VCShowEditVolunteerButton
- This setting controls whether leaders can edit contact information on behalf of their group members. Valid values are 0 or 1. If set to 1, the Edit button displays in Volunteer Connect. If set to 0, the button is hidden.