Tracking Volunteer Info/Hours

Kim Wisdom

My organization is starting to use the Volunteer tab in RE. I've read the Volunteer & Jobs Guide, and I'm still trying to wrap my head around all the tracking options. Can someone please explain the difference between Job Assignment and Volunteer Type? It seems that a type(s) of volunteer would qualify for job assignment, but only one volunteer type can be applied to a job. For example, we have weekly volunteers who help in the office and/or make deliveries. We also have on-call volunteers for last minute office and/or delivery needs. Previously, the organization listed Office Volunteers & Delivery Volunteers separately under the Attributes tab, and I'm wondering how to effectively transfer that to the Volunteer tab. Any advice is welcome! Thanks!

Vered Siegel

I can't believe no one is jumping on this! One of my favorite topics.

Volunteer Type is more for broad categorization of volunteers. What kind of volunteer are they? For example, are they a Direct Service volunteer? Admin volunteer? Events? Board service? This groups together the kinds of volunteers you have.

Then, you would further define their actual job as the Job Assignment.

This can help you report on, crosslink, etc. to see: I need a volunteer who is a Direct Service type, to assign them a job of Social Work Intern. Or, if you're looking for everyone whose type is Admin to see who might be available for one of your many office assignments, like Chief Paper Shredder or Tribute Writer. You wouldn't assign someone who is an Admin volunteer to (wo)man the Medical Tent, unless you knew they were also up for Direct Service. Someone who is an Events volunteer may have multiple Job Assignments for lots of events.

There are several neat Reports that use both of these fields, so keeping them separate is an important way to make sure those Reports are running in the ways they were built to be run.