Geared toward volunteers, students, and others performing community service, this article explains:

For more information on user groups, check our user group FAQs for volunteers.

Joining a User Group

You can be added to a user group in several ways:

  • A site manager adds you to the group.
  • You click a "join link," sent to you by a site manager or someone who is already associated with the user group. When you click this link, you'll be added to the group. Note that you may be asked to answer some user group questions before you can join.
  • Some user groups allow people with certain email domains (such as "microsoft.com" for a user group of Microsoft employees). If you create an account with an allowed domain, you'll automatically be added to the user group.

You cannot currently select from a list of user groups and request to join through the site. If you wish to be added to a user group, or if you wish to start a user group, contact your site manager. 

Accessing User Group Information

If you belong to a user group, you'll have a My User Groups option in your profile dropdown.

This option leads to your My User Groups table, which lists all of your user group information. Here's an example of a student's user groups:

Click View Needs to see any opportunities that have been assigned to your user group. Click View Resume to see your user group's résumé.

Note: Depending on your user group's settings, you may not have access to a group résumé.

Managing a User Group (if you are a group leader)

Site Managers can designate a User Group Leader. You will be notified by the Site Manager if that is the case. You will also know if you are a User Group Leader if you have an edit pencil by the name of the user group.

When you click that pencil, you will be given the opportunity to perform a few actions as a User Group Leader. You will be able to:

  1. Export information about the team to a CSV spreadsheet.
  2. Copy a join link to send to members.
  3. View the user group resume.
  4. Add new members to the user group.
  5. Delete members from the user group

Associating Your Volunteer Hours with a User Group

When you log your volunteer hours, you can associate those hours with one or more user groups. This option is under the Hours Details heading of the hour-submission form.

If the User Groups field is required, an n/a option will also be available. SLM students should note that their user group may be limited to specific, course-assigned needs. In that case, not all user groups will be available when students are recording hours for other needs.

Logging Hours as a Team Leader

If you are a team leader logging hours for another team member, you can select a user group only if you belong to the same group.

Viewing Your User Group's Assigned Needs

If needs have been assigned to your user group, you can view them as follows:

  1. Select My User Groups from your profile menu.
  2. In the table of user groups, click View Needs, located in the Assigned Needs column. Your user group will be displayed with a banner and may include a description.
    Needs that have been marked private will appear with a "lock" icon next to the title, as shown in the "Youth Literacy Carnival and Crafts Fair" example above.

Viewing Your User Group Résumé

To access the user group résumé, select My User Groups from your profile menu, and then click the View Resume button for a listed user group. The report opens in a new tab. Click Export as PDF to generate a PDF of the report.

This report uses attractive, user-friendly graphics to convey the following information for the entire user group for the past six months:

  • Total number of volunteer hours submitted
  • Overall impact value
  • Number of group members
  • Total number of needs to which the group responded
  • Volunteer hours by month
  • Need responses by month
  • Need responses by primary interest (the interest assigned to the need by the person who posted it)
  • List of needs to which the group responded
  • List of agencies with which the need responses are associated

Leaving a User Group

To leave a user group:

  1. Log in and select My User Groups from your profile dropdown.
  2. In the My User Groups area that is displayed, click the applicable X in the Options column.
  3. Click Yes to confirm that you want to leave the user group.

Note: If you leave a user group that has access to private needs, you may no longer have access to those needs.