On every Virtuous Volunteer Opportunity, you can manage, assign, and reserve spots for Volunteers, even for Groups of Volunteers. Reserving time spots for Groups provides a better experience for Volunteers by ensuring they can serve together and maximize their collective impact. And reserving serving times in bulk for the Group’s volunteers makes it easier for Admin to manage and plan for the Opportunity. Win-win! Here, we walk through the process of reserving serving times for a Group, claiming reservations for the Volunteers, and adding Guests if necessary.
Table of Contents:
Create a Group
If your Group already exists, skip to the next section to start reserving Serving Times. If you need to create a new Group, start by selecting People from the lefthand menu in the Admin Dashboard. Then, select Groups. Here, find the +Create Group in the top right to begin creating your new Group. You don't have to add any members to that Group yet, but the Group name is required to reserve spots in the Opportunities. Click here to learn more about creating and managing Groups.
Reserve a Time for a Group
Now that your Group is created, navigate to the Opportunities Page by selecting Active under the Opportunities tab in the left-hand menu. If you need to create a new opportunity, select the + New Opportunity button in the top right. Learn more about creating new Opportunities here. If your Opportunity already exists, select the Opportunity Title to start reserving time slots.
Inside the Opportunity’s Dashboard, click the Reserve tab.
Here, search for the Group you want to reserve spots for using the Search Groups bar on the right side of the page.
Select the Group, and then click either the OPEN gray box to add a single reservation on a single serving time, or use the Bulk Reservations box to enter the number of volunteers from the Group for that serving time.
So, if you want to reserve 5 spots for St. Mary’s Church, select St. Mary’s Church from the Group list on the right and then enter 5 in the Bulk Reservations field next to the specific date and select +Add. Note that Admins can change the Group in the drop down to assign multiple slots to different Groups before saving.
If you make an error, you can select the Reset Reservations button to remove ALL selected timeslots. Or, if you’ve added too many reservations to a date, simply click the colored box with the Group initials to remove reservations one at a time.
Once all time slots have been correctly reserved, click the Save Reservations button to the right to lock in your group reservation. Note that if you move away from this screen without selecting Save Reservations, your reserved time slots will not be saved.
To confirm the reservation has been saved, the Manage tab of your Opportunity will display a reserved icon with the number of reservations.
Selecting this icon will allow you to claim the time slot reservations for the Group.
Claim Reservations
After you reserve spots for a Group, you may choose to Claim Reservations on behalf of members of the Group. This will send an email confirmation to the Volunteer notifying them that they are now signed up to serve on this Opportunity. But keep in mind that Claiming Reservations requires the email address of a member from the Group. To get started:
- From the Manage tab on your Opportunity, click the Reservation icon on the specified serving time.
- Find the Group Reservation. Select Claim Reservation under the Status.
- Use the dropdown menu to search for an existing Volunteer within the Group or begin typing an email address to create a new Volunteer. Then select the green Claim button. This will assign the Volunteer and will trigger an automatic email notification informing them of the assignment.
Adding Guests
Lastly, Admin and Volunteers alike have the ability to add the names and emails of the guests they are bringing.
For Admin
Guest information can be added from the same screen as Claiming Reservations by Admin. Select the + icon to add a guest. Then add the guest’s name and email address by selecting the Edit icon. This not only reserves their spots in the Group Reservation, but also adds them to your People page as Invited Volunteers. Click here to learn more about finding a list of guests on an Opportunity.
For Volunteers
Volunteers can add guests to an Opportunity when they Join or Claim the role and timeslot. After Joining, the Volunteer will be asked to enter any guests’ names and email addresses. Click here to learn more about adding guests to an Opportunity.