As you look through your Connect site, and as you export volunteer data for reporting, you may have noticed that several different terms, such as "anonymous" and "individual" are used for volunteer hours. This article explains the following different types of hours you'll find in your Connect site reporting:

Note: For information on hours statuses (pending, approved, etc.), see this article on statuses.

Need Hours

Need hours are those volunteer hours that are associated with a need response on a Connect site. Most volunteer hours on a Connect site will typically be need hours.

A volunteer can, of course, submit their own need hours, or those hours can be submitted by someone else.

  • Click here to see how a volunteer can submit hours for a need response.
  • Click here to see how an agency manager can submit need hours on behalf of a volunteer.
  • Click here to see how a site manager can submit need hours on behalf of a volunteer.
  • Click here to see how a team leader can submit need hours on behalf of a team member.

Individual Hours

Individual hours are those hours performed by a volunteer on their own—not as a response to a need posted in on a connect site. Individual hours are not required to be verified, but they do show up on the volunteer resume.

Individual hours were added to the Connect platform for the benefit of volunteers who wish to track their hours that were worked outside of Connect site need responses.

A volunteer must submit their own individual hours; a site manager cannot do this for them. In addition, an agency manager cannot submit individual hours on behalf of a volunteer, since the hours are not associated with an agency's need on the Connect site.

Allowing Individual Hours

Individual hours are an optional feature. To allow individual hours on your site, go to Site Settings > Main Settings in your manager panel. For more information, click here.

Anonymous Hours

A volunteer must typically have a Connect account in order to respond to a need and later submit volunteer hours. Some agencies, however, have volunteers who are not frequent users of the Internet and may not have a Connect account. Other agencies might have large groups of one-time volunteers who aren't registered on the site. Both of these situations can be a challenge for agency managers who need to record volunteer hours.

Enter anonymous hours. Anonymous hours are a tool that agency managers can use to submit hours on behalf of volunteers who do not have a Connect account. A need response is not required. For information on how an agency manager would enter anonymous hours, click here.

Note: A site manager can also add anonymous hours by going to Volunteerism > Needs, selecting a need, and scrolling to the Volunteer Hours area at the bottom of the page, where you'll find an Add Anonymous Hours button.

Allowing Anonymous Hours

Anonymous hours are an optional feature. To allow anonymous hours on your site, go to Site Settings > Main Settings in your manager panel. For more information, click here.