Many thanks to our fabulous beta program participants who have been using VolunteerSpot with their PTA groups, Scout and youth groups, mentoring and literacy programs, pet rescue, races, tournaments and more!!
We've learned a lot from you in a few short months and are pleased to announce the following enhancements to our simple, free, online volunteer scheduler:
Capture of volunteer names and phone # upon sign up. No need for you to spend time entering contact info.-- each person enters their own, when they sign up!
Invite volunteers through a URL link you paste in your own message or on a website. No more re-entry of email addresses. Use this option to invite people using your own email group, or through a listserve like Yahoo!Groups. Choose this option in the Planning Wizard or click the option in the left column of your Activity Status tab. Learn more.
Put a 'Sign Up Now' button for your activity on your website. We'll give you HTML code to drop a button on your website allowing volunteers to sign up. Please note, we don't screen volunteers for you, that's your responsibility! Learn More
Volunteer entrance on home page. If a volunteer looses the email invitation that has your activity's sign up link, they may request new link(s) directly from the Volunteer Entrance.
View your month's signups at a glance. Calendar Status View replaces the Activity Status Tab. Quickly see which days are full (green icons) and which still have open spots (pencil and gold icons). Click a clipboard to view status and see who has signed up.
Print a roster & day's sign up sheet. Grab a list of your volunteers to take with you to your activity. Print using the File tab in your browser.
Download your signup to Excel. Keep a copy of your volunteer lists and signup items for your own records.
Allow volunteers to view who else has signed up. Now volunteers can signup with their friends! Activate this option in the Planning Wizard for new activities, and in the green Volunteer tab for existing activities. As volunteers sign up, they can see who else is working their shift by clicking the underlined number of people signed up.
Planning calendar enhancements. Click to Plan and Copy days -- no more drag and drop in the calendar planning view. The copy pad now highlights 'today' and alerts you if you copy over a previously planned day.
See a volunteer's entire schedule. Clicking a volunteer's name in the green Volunteer tab shows all their assignments for a specific activity. Add contact info. here and make any changes by clicking a day.
Alerts of last-minute cancellations. We'll send you an email alert if anyone cancels their commitments after receiving their reminder email. (Reminder emails are sent two days prior to an assignment). At this time, we don't send you an alert if anyone cancels prior to that - so do keep an eye out on your signup.
Examples in the Planning Wizard. Several activity examples are provided to help you configure your signup and organize what you want volunteers To Do and To Bring.
Capturing volunteers without email addresses.You may now make assignments for volunteers without email addresses by recording their names and phone numbers in the assignment screen. Reminders will alert you two days before their shift so you may call them directly.
Invite volunteers through a URL link you paste in your own message or on a website. No more re-entry of email addresses. Use this option to invite people using your own email group, or through a listserve like Yahoo!Groups. Choose this option in the Planning Wizard or click the option in the left column of your Activity Status tab. Learn more.
Put a 'Sign Up Now' button for your activity on your website. We'll give you HTML code to drop a button on your website allowing volunteers to sign up. Please note, we don't screen volunteers for you, that's your responsibility! Learn More
Volunteer entrance on home page. If a volunteer looses the email invitation that has your activity's sign up link, they may request new link(s) directly from the Volunteer Entrance.
View your month's signups at a glance. Calendar Status View replaces the Activity Status Tab. Quickly see which days are full (green icons) and which still have open spots (pencil and gold icons). Click a clipboard to view status and see who has signed up.
Print a roster & day's sign up sheet. Grab a list of your volunteers to take with you to your activity. Print using the File tab in your browser.
Download your signup to Excel. Keep a copy of your volunteer lists and signup items for your own records.
Allow volunteers to view who else has signed up. Now volunteers can signup with their friends! Activate this option in the Planning Wizard for new activities, and in the green Volunteer tab for existing activities. As volunteers sign up, they can see who else is working their shift by clicking the underlined number of people signed up.
Planning calendar enhancements. Click to Plan and Copy days -- no more drag and drop in the calendar planning view. The copy pad now highlights 'today' and alerts you if you copy over a previously planned day.
See a volunteer's entire schedule. Clicking a volunteer's name in the green Volunteer tab shows all their assignments for a specific activity. Add contact info. here and make any changes by clicking a day.
Alerts of last-minute cancellations. We'll send you an email alert if anyone cancels their commitments after receiving their reminder email. (Reminder emails are sent two days prior to an assignment). At this time, we don't send you an alert if anyone cancels prior to that - so do keep an eye out on your signup.
Examples in the Planning Wizard. Several activity examples are provided to help you configure your signup and organize what you want volunteers To Do and To Bring.
Capturing volunteers without email addresses.You may now make assignments for volunteers without email addresses by recording their names and phone numbers in the assignment screen. Reminders will alert you two days before their shift so you may call them directly.
We hope you find these new features helpful. Please keep us posted about what you like and what you would like to see improved - we're listening!! With your help, we can be the BEST free, volunteer scheduling software on the web!
-- Team VolunteerSpot
Thank you for rosters - VolunteerSpot I love you more and more each time you add new stuff!!
Posted by: VOAAusVols | February 16, 2009 at 05:55 PM
Thanks for the updates and for the wonderful service your provide! I am anxiously awaiting the ability to record volunteers without email addresses. Thank you so much for adding this feature! It helps so much as many of our volunteers do not have or do not use email. A job well done VolunteerSpot!
Posted by: Heather Tollefson | April 07, 2009 at 11:31 AM
I have a daily event with ~20 categories people sign up for an hour or two each slot. I like volunteer spot, but with so many slots in a day, and no "daily" view, only monthly, it becomes too crowded.
Posted by: Hans Granqvist | April 17, 2009 at 12:20 PM
Thanks for all the new views and print functions! I love the month view so I can see where my holes are (and when I have to start making calls). The new status views give me great day-based detail - and PRINTING is AWESOME so I can share our tutoring schedule with our teachers. You are this PTA mom's dream come true!
Posted by: MerryMom | April 26, 2009 at 10:00 PM