This article is geared toward agency managers. It explains:

• how needs (opportunities) on your site differ from events
• how to post the different types of needs and events, whether you're an agency manager, program manager, or site manager
• how to associate a need with an event (or vice-versa) in your posting 

Note: An advanced event is part of the Advanced Events Module (AEM), which is typically used for large-scale community efforts involving multiple organizations and volunteers. Click here to learn more about the AEM.

Definitions

An event, or standard event (to differentiate it from advanced events), is a nonprofit event that is generally open to the community. When you post an event for your agency, you're publicizing it and essentially inviting community members to attend. An event is not a volunteer opportunity; when someone RSVPs to an event (if the RSVP option is available), they are responding as guests, not as volunteers. Because they are not responding to do volunteer work, they cannot log volunteer hours for a Connect platform event.

A need, or opportunity, is a volunteer opportunity where people are being asked to donate their time, skills, in-kind gifts, elbow grease, etc. When you post a need, either as part of our standard volunteer module or the AEM, you are letting the community know that you need volunteers. Because needs/opportunities typically involve volunteer work, they include the option to log hours for work done.

Posting Needs and Events

See the articles below for details on posting needs (opportunities) and events on your Connect platform.

For agency and program managers:

• Posting and Managing Your Agency's Needs
• Posting and Managing Your Agency's Events

For site managers:

• Managing Needs
• Managing Events

Associating a Need with a Event

With an advanced event, any needs posted are automatically associated with that event. While needs can't automatically be associated with events (or vice versa), you can use our text editor's link feature to link events to needs.

Tip: This is a great solution if you want to both invite people to an event and solicit volunteers to help with the event.

To associate a need with an event:

1. Begin by posting both the need to the site.
2. From your agency management area, click View, and open the need. Note that it has a unique URL.
3. Copy the need's URLs to your clipboard.
4. Go back to your agency management area and create the event. In the description, include a sentence such as "Click here to volunteer for this event." You'll link this text to the need you posted previously.
5. Select the text to be linked.
6. Click the chain-link icon in your toolbar.
   
7. In the Insert/Edit Link box, copy the need URL into the Link URL field.
8. Click Insert. The selected test will now be underlined to indicate that it's been linked.
9. Click Submit to save your changes.

When a site visitor clicks this link, they'll be taken directly to the related need, where they'll have the opportunity to respond to it.

Note: You can, of course, also provide a link to the event in the description of the need.