When posting a volunteer opportunity, you're prompted to select a duration type (Ongoing, Runs Until, Happens On, Custom Shifts, or Recurring Shifts). This article focuses on:

✏️ Quick tip: 

  • You can find more information on duration types here. 
  • Click here to learn more about posting a need. 
  • Shifts show the day of the week in the volunteer view.
  • Click here for a video on opportunity scheduling.

Custom shifts

Do you have needs that require shifts on different days at different times? The Custom Shifts duration type is the one to use for those. Here are some examples of when to use the Custom Shifts duration type: 

  • You need volunteers to serve soup at your soup kitchen on Mondays from 10 am to 1 pm and again from 5 pm to 7 pm. 
    • This example is when you have multiple shift needs at different times on the same day. 
  • You need volunteers to run a food stand on Saturdays from 7 am to 10 am and 2 pm to 5 pm, on Sundays from 12 pm to 3 pm, and Wednesdays from 5 pm to 7 pm. 
    • These are shifts that occur at different times on different days
  • You need 5 volunteers to help set up the day before an event, 10 to help during the event, and 5 to help clean up after. 
    • These are shifts that may occur at the same time but require a different number of volunteers each time. 

How to assign custom shifts to a need

When creating a need, you assign the duration type in the Duration field on the Manage Needs page from your agency manager dashboard. 

To assign custom shifts to a need:

1. Go to Needs and select Add New Need. 2. Select Custom Shifts from the Duration dropdown.3. Complete the three Shift fields that appear:

  • Shift Date/Time: When you click on this field, a calendar appears. Select the day the shift occurs from the calendar. Slide the hour or minute bar to select the time or select Now to match the current date and time. When you're done, click Done to finish. 
  • Shift Hours: How long is each shift? Indicate the number of hours here. Only use numbers and don't include words or other text—e.g., 2 or 2.5 are acceptable formats. 
  • Shift Capacity: How many volunteers are needed for each shift? If you have four shifts and only need two volunteers for each, type 2—not 8. 
    • Type 0 for an unlimited number of volunteers. 
    • The total number of volunteer slots appears in the volunteer view for a need—e.g., if you create four shifts and set the capacity to 2 volunteers per shift, then the volunteers see 8 open slots for that opportunity or however many are left open. 

4. Click Add Shift.

ⓘ So you know: Once you have added a shift, two things happen: 

  • The shift displays below the Add Shift button 
  • The Shift Date/Time, Shift Hours, and Shift Capacity fields reset
    • Repeat the steps to add a shift for as many shifts as you need! 

5. Complete all other required and applicable fields for the need and click Create Need to finish.

ⓘ So you know: After you click Create Need, you can't change the duration type for needs that have Custom or Recurring Shifts assigned to them. 

Note: If you need to remove a shift, you can click (X) beside the shift you want to delete. Keep in mind that if you delete a shift it can't be restored. You have to create that shift manually again. 

How to view and edit shifts

You can view and edit shifts right from your dashboard: 

1. Go to Needs and click Edit under the need you want to edit shifts for. 2. Select the Edit Shifts tab. 

3. Click the pencil icon to edit a shift or (X) to remove it. 

  • Remember, if you delete a shift, you must manually create it again. 
  • From here, you can delete shifts in bulk, edit shifts, schedule volunteers for shifts, and see expired shifts. 

4. If you click the pencil icon to edit a shift, an Edit Shift window appears. 

  • If you want to open the shift to an unlimited number of volunteers, type 0 in the Capacity field. 

✏️ Quick tip: We recommend checking the box beside Notify respondents of this update? when making edits to shifts—especially if volunteers have already responded to them. 

5. Click Submit Shift to save your changes. 

  • Be sure to refresh the page after you click Submit Shift so you can see your changes.

Automated notifications for shifts

If you remove a shift that already has responses, an email notification is sent to those volunteers to let them know that they've been unregistered from the shift.

  • If a volunteer responded to multiple shifts, then they receive a single email listing all of the shifts they've been unregistered for. 
  • You receive a separate email for each shift response by a volunteer. 

Recurring shifts

Do you have needs with repeating shifts? The Recurring Shifts duration type is the one to use for those. This duration type is for shifts that happen at the same time on the specific days you select. These can be repeated daily, weekly, or monthly. For example: 

  • An agency needs volunteers to serve food every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 5 pm to 7 pm.
  • A thrift store needs volunteers to sort donated clothes on the first Saturday of every month.
  • A nonprofit needs volunteers to tutor students after school every Wednesday.

How to assign recurring shifts to a need

When creating a need, you assign the duration type in the Duration field on the Manage Needs page from your agency manager dashboard. 

To assign recurring  shifts to a need:

1. Go to Needs and select Add New Need. 

2. Select Recurring Shifts from the Duration dropdown. 3. From the Occurs dropdown, select the repeating time interval: Daily, Weekly, or Monthly. 

  • For Daily, you must select how many days this shift repeats, the date range for the shifts, their start time, and how many hours each shift lasts. 
    • Select 1 in the Repeat Every field if the shift repeats every day. 
    • Select 2 if the shift repeats every other day, etc. 
    • Remember, only type numbers in the Hours field—e.g., 4, 4.5, etc. 
  • For Weekly, you must select how many weeks this shift repeats, what days it repeats on each week, the date range for the shifts, their start time, and how many hours each shift lasts. 
    • Select 1 in the Repeat Every field if the shift repeats every week. 
    • Select 2 if the shift repeats every other week, etc. 
  • For Monthly, you must select how many months the shift repeats, if you want it to repeat by the date or the day of the week, the date range for the shifts, their start time, and how many hours each shift lasts. 
    • Select 1 in the Repeat Every field if the shift repeats once a month. 
    • Select 2 if the shift repeats every other month. 
    • You can choose Date for Repeats By or Day of the Week. 
      • Does your shift repeat on the 15th of every month? Select Date. 
      • Does your shift repeat the first Monday of every month? Select Day of the Week.

4. For Shift Capacity, consider how many volunteers are needed for each shift. If you have four shifts and only need two volunteers for each, type 2—not 8. 

  • Type 0 for an unlimited number of volunteers. 
  • The total number of volunteer slots appears in the volunteer view for a need—e.g., if you create four shifts and set the capacity to 2 volunteers per shift, then the volunteers see 8 open slots for that opportunity or however many are left open.

5. Complete all other required and applicable fields for the need and click Create Need when finished. 

ⓘ So you know: After you click Create Need, you can't change the duration type for needs that have Custom or Recurring Shifts assigned to them. 

  • You can still view and edit recurring shifts by following the same steps for custom shifts. 

Note: If you create a need with a monthly recurring shift and select Day of the Week for the Repeat By field, the system uses your Start Date for scheduling. For example, if you select a date in the Date Range field that starts on the first Saturday of the month, then that shift repeats every first Saturday of the month thereafter. 

Shifts and volunteer check-in

If your agency uses the Volunteer Check-in feature, or if your volunteers use Self Check-in, your volunteers' hours are automatically calculated based on the following:

  • If a volunteer checks in but doesn't check out, the system automatically attributes the number of hours indicated in the Hours field when the need was created. 
  • When a volunteer checks out, the system attributes the number of hours between check-in and check-out.

ⓘ So you know: 

  • If volunteers check in using your agency check-in tool, their hours are automatically approved.
  • If they use Self Check-in, the hours follow the approval rules of your site.

Shifts and volunteer waitlists

If your site has enabled the waitlist feature, you can see which volunteers have been waitlisted for which shifts.

Viewing the volunteer waitlist

To view the volunteer waitlist for a shift need:

1. Go to the Needs.

2. Click Edit under the need you want to view. 

3. Scroll until you see Waitlist at the bottom of the page. 

  • This table shows you who is on the waitlist, their email address, when they were added, the shift they're waitlisted for, and how many open slots are available. 
  • You can click the (X) under Options to remove them from the waitlist. 
    • If you add more slots by increasing the capacity for a shift, delete a volunteer response, or if a  volunteer has unregistered for it, the option to register waitlisted volunteers becomes available under the Options column. 
  • You can also export this list to a CSV if needed. 

How to register a waitlisted volunteer

You can register waitlisted volunteers if spots open up for a shift. 

  • When a spot opens up, waitlisted volunteers receive a notification within five minutes. 
  • Spots are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. 
  • Once a spot opens up, the option to register a waitlisted volunteer becomes available in the Waitlist table. 
    • This is indicated by a plus sign icon under Options. 

1. Click the plus sign. 

2. A warning pops up to let you know that converting the waitlisted volunteer to registered sends the volunteer a notification that they're now registered for that shift. 3. Click Yes to continue or No to cancel. 

  • Here's a video that covers managing your waitlists!

How shift needs look to volunteers

Shift needs appear in the needs grid for volunteers. 

For shift needs, a volunteer sees Multiple Shifts Available above the need title.

Once they click to view details, they see a list of all available shifts. If team sign-ups are allowed, the option to respond as a team is also available.

  • If they click Respond Individually to respond individually, they'll be taken to the Need Response page, where they can provide any additional information and complete their response.
  • If they click Respond as Team, they'll be taken to an area where they can name their team and add members.
  • If they click Respond to Multiple, they'll be taken to another list of shifts, where they can mark the boxes of the shifts they wish to fill.

Note: The Respond to Multiple option isn't available for team signups. All past shifts appear in the faded text. Volunteers can select the Show All dropdown to filter the available shifts. 

  • Click here to learn more about signing up for shift needs from the volunteer's perspective.