Volunteer shifts can be scheduled as part of managing your opportunities using our Forms Module. Forms can be linked to your opportunity on the Thank You page or can be added as a link on your website or in any Notices or Emails sent to your volunteers.
To create a new form, select the Forms Module from the left menu and click Add Form. This will display your Form Settings page for your new form. There are several settings that are necessary for your form to work correctly, including -
Form Title - This will appear at the top of the form when displayed for volunteers to select their shift. It will also appear on the Forms List page. You should include your school name as part of the title, so it is clear and distinct from any other forms in the Forms Module.
Active Date Range - These are the Start and End dates of when you will allow volunteers to sign-up for shifts.
Allow Anonymous Responses - This will allow volunteers to view, complete and submit their form response without being signed in to their account. If you want to require they be signed in beforehand, do not check this box.
The advantage of not allowing Anonymous Responses is you don’t have to ask for the volunteer’s name and email in the form, since that is captured as part of the account authentication. The other advantage is non-Anonymous, or Authenticated responses do not allow duplicate responses. If a volunteer changes their mind their response is updated, rather than duplicated.
Form Instructions - These instructions will appear on the form page below the title and should give clear guidance to volunteers about selecting shifts.
Thank You Message - This appears on a separate page after the volunteer submits his/her form.
Email For Responses - Type the email of the opportunity coordinator for the associated opportunity and they will receive an email for each volunteer who signs up for a shift.
When you have finished with your forms setting click the QUESTIONS link to save your settings and proceed with adding your form questions.
If you are using the Allow Anonymous option you will need to include as your first questions the volunteer’s name and email or phone for follow-up. If you are not using the Allow Anonymous option then you can create a survey with just the questions related to the shift sign-up, as EZVolunteer will track the name, email and phone of each person responding on the form.
The question(s) related to shift sign-up can either be a ‘Radio Button With Limits’ question or a ‘Checkbox With Limits’ question. You can specify the number of sign-ups for each shift, and the text displayed when you reach your maximum number of sign-ups.
Once you have created your form questions you should SAVE and test it by using the URL link on the Forms List page to verify the layout and content of your form.
Now that you have a shift sign-up form created you can add it to your opportunity by returning to the Opportunities Module, editing the opportunity where you want to include your form and in the Thank You Page section, click the ‘Select A Survey/Form’.. Choose the form you created and SAVE your opportunity.