Volunteer Module process

Beth Unruh-Arnold

We currently have RE database and Nxt and need to start using the volunteer module to add committees and there members.

Does anyone have any procedures on how they setup volunteers in database view they wouldn’t mind sharing or any pointers?

Christine Robertson

@Beth UnruhArnold To be transparent, I really haven't found the Volunteer module overly helpful in most circumstances. I've often tended to track volunteer committees via an Organization Relationship.

Organization = Band Boosters
Relationship = Current Member (change code to Former when they rotate off)
Reciprocal = Current Committee (change code to Former when they rotate off)

Position = President, Member at Large, etc.

Use Notes/Attributes for all additional history.

JoAnn Strommen

@Beth UnruhArnold I agree with @Christine. We got the module, played with it a bit, never fully implemented and have dropped it from our contract. Some things are just backwards, IMO. We are also going the route of relationships.

On one of the BB webinars the presenter commented that things like tracking volunteer activity might be better done by one of their software partners. That was discouraging.

I wish I had an inspiring solution for you. Entry will certainly take some time. That was one of our biggest obstacles.

Laura Curry

@Christine Robertson

This is an interesting work-around. I have been using attributes but I think this might be the better choice. It may also allow for more info on the committee itself to be stored in the record.

Thank you!

Joe Moretti

@Beth UnruhArnold I would use attribute with a category of committes and the description of the particular committe, use the date, and comments for when they becom former or their role. Use the constituent code of Volunteer. I think that is easier to query of of than relationships and mucking up something that already tends to get mucked up. I found the volunteer module convuluted and not worth it. Way too complicated.

Liz Fay

@Joe Moretti
I'm curious what the difficulties were. We use attributes and I dislike it. We have some records with rows and rows of attributes to the point where you lose all clarity. Yes it works for queries, but to look at a record with so many rows of attributes is not helpful. Many of our committees are event committees that have different rosters each year, so for our most dedicated who are on the committees year after year, it creates a mess on the attribute page.

Kisha Baker

@Beth UnruhArnold NXT does not display all of the information that you can store in the DBV Volunteer Module, it's not worth the $ IMO. We have it and still use relationships for most volunteer activity.

Joe Moretti

@Liz Fay We do not use the Attributes for Volunteers, but we do use it for Committees for Board Members and we have not had any issues and we do have many attributes on a person's record.

Christine Robertson

@Laura Curry I found it helpful with several of my clients. If you need to, you can also set the members up as Contacts and then use functionality in Mail to generate mailing lists if you need to send direct mail to them, etc.

roger berg

@Beth UnruhArnold
I second what @Christine Robertson said. I have done this with our Board committees as well. Set up an Org record for each Subcommittee and link the members on the relationship tab. You can keep the expired ones (changed to Former Member) for reference. It's an easy way to see all of the committee members at once. I also add future meeting dates in the notes section of the Committee Org record - seems like someone is always asking…

Now the trick is canceling the Volunteer module and getting credit - or adding a more useful module lol.

JoAnn Strommen

Really liked in db view being able to see all the relationships on one screen. Still think it's the best option but not a fan of only seeing 5 names at a time on screen in web view relationships.

I mentioned at bbcon that my dream is that once they get web view functioning as planned that they create a database admin viewing option that would show full lists of relationships, gifts, addresses, appeals, ‘custom fields’/attributes, actions, etc. on one screen!!!! Hate paging thru and no legends.