In this lesson, we’ll discuss how Site Managers and Agency Managers work together to manage a Get Connected site. We’ll introduce what Agency Managers can do to support your site and their programs. Finally, we’ll look at what your volunteers can accomplish using your site.
It's a Team Effort
Your local United Way succeeds through the efforts of lots of different people. Even on your Get Connected site, you will find yourself interacting with people in different roles - from the agency partners posting needs to volunteers ready to make an impact.
As you set up and use your site, it will be important for you to ask how you want each of these people to engage with your site. How much do you want to manage on your own? Or how much do you want to get Agency Managers involved with the site and the volunteers? Depending on the business model of your United Way, will you even have Agency Managers, or will you focus on internal programs? What kind of experience do you envision for your volunteers?
You can discuss these strategies with your launcher or with other members of our Customer Care team. In the meantime, here are a few possibilities to consider.
What You Can Do
As Site Manager, you are responsible for managing and making decisions for your Get Connected platform, from Site Design to running detailed reporting.
As part of site setup, you can establish your approvals process, communicate with all site users, and customize your site in some interesting ways. You’ll learn more about what those are as you work through this course and complete other trainings.
Once the site is built out, you also have the ability to add users and needs, approve volunteer hours, and edit agency profiles.
Further along, you will get into building out additional features like User Groups and Initiatives.
Site Managers can do anything an Agency Manager can do, which makes it easy to run everything behind-the-scenes.
What Agency Managers Can Do
Depending on the plans within your local United Way, you might have internal programs that you manage by yourself as a Site Manager. Or you might have Agency Managers who take care of certain tasks themselves. Which path you choose is up to you and the needs of your United Way. The platform can accommodate you either way. Let’s look at what Agency Managers can do.
Agency Managers can play a critical role in the success of a Get Connected platform. They are in charge of posting needs and events on behalf of their unique agency or nonprofit, and they make sure their profile is eye-catching and informative. If a volunteer has responded to an agency’s need, the Agency Manager can add hours for those volunteers - and can even add additional need responses. Agency Managers receive some helpful emails, like when someone responds to a need. They can also approve or decline volunteer hours and perform other tasks - all from their Agency Manager Toolbar.
There are limitations to being an Agency Manager though. They have access to reporting, but not as much as a Site Manager does for the entire platform. Also, Agency Managers can email their volunteers from the platform, but they have limited information about them and can't reach out to all the volunteers using the site. They only have information on the volunteers who have interacted with their specific agency.
Tip: The automated emails will come from an email address that you, as the Site Manager choose. Agency Managers can initiate the email, but it will come from the “site,” not the agency program. So we recommend using a “no-reply” email address. Your launcher can help with that setup.
Ensuring you have an engaging platform is all about content. Agency Managers provide dynamic and up to date volunteer opportunities so there is always something new for a volunteer to see when they come to your site.
You can share this roadmap with your Agency Managers to help them visualize their role.
Allowing Agency Managers on your platform can give you (as a Site Manager) balance and can empower other members of the community to utilize the platform. You can definitely choose to manage everything on your own as a Site Manager, but sharing the load can be ideal for some folks.
What About My Volunteers?
Volunteers are the heart & soul of what you do with a Get Connected platform. Volunteers have the ability to search for needs by interest, location, date, and so much more. They can respond individually or as a team and will receive an email letting them know their response has gone through. Once they have completed their volunteer work, they can enter their hours so that they and you can track their accomplishments.
Volunteers can go into their profiles at any time to edit their own information. They also have a volunteer resume that they can share with employers, teachers, and friends.
You can share this roadmap with your volunteers to help them visualize the experience.
Volunteers work hand-in-hand with Agency Managers and Site Managers. Keeping volunteers at the forefront of your thinking is key to having a successful platform.