Updated February 2018 to reflect version 2.12 changes.

Your Connect platform may use initiatives to group needs that fall under a certain umbrella. Initiatives are a useful need-grouping tool in various situations, including:

  • When needs are associated with a specific event, such as Stuff the Bus and Day of Caring
  • When needs are associated with a particular time of year, such as summer or the holidays
  • When needs are associated with a particular group of volunteers, such as a youth volunteers, or employees of a company
  • When needs are associate with a particular effort, such as disaster preparedness or disaster response

Initiatives are set up by your Connect site's administrator. This article is a general introduction to initiatives, and it explains how to view an initiative need, how to find initiative needs, and where you can view initiative information for your past need responses.

Viewing an Initiative Need

If you view a need that is associated with an initiative, you'll see a banner for that initiative above the need title and description. The example below shows a need associated with the initiative titled "Earth Day: Volunteer Opportunities."

Finding Initiative Needs

When searching for volunteer opportunities on your local Connect site, you can search for specific initiatives by selecting from the Search By tab on the Needs page:

Note: To access the Needs page, click Needs in the left-hand column of your Connect dashboard. (If you can't find Needs, this may be because your site has overridden "Needs" with a different term, such as "Opportunities.")

Once you've selected Initiative, you can select from all initiatives available on the site. Click Search to view all the needs associated with your selected initiative.

The needs are displayed with the unique initiative banner (such as the Earth Day banner shown previously.)

Note: Because needs can be privately available to certain groups, not all needs on your local Connect site may be available to you. If you do have access to a private need, it will be indicated by a "lock" icon next to the need title.

Availability of Initiative Information

If you respond to a need that is associated with an initiative, you'll see the initiative information for that need in the following areas of your user profile:

  • My Responses
  • My Teams
  • Team Resume
  • Track Hours
  • Volunteer Resume

To learn how to access the items listed above, see our article titled Managing Your Volunteer Profile. For more on Teams, visit our Team Information folder. 

Note: Not all initiatives on your local Connect site may be available to you. Some initiatives are available only to certain user groups. If you are trying to access a certain initiative but cannot find it, contact your site's administrator.