Note: This article is geared toward site managers. If you are an agency manager, check out the article Posting and Managing Your Agency's Needs, which explains the posting and management of needs from the agency management area.

Once you've created and submitted a need, you can assign it to a user group. This feature is particularly important if you wish to assign needs privately to a select group of volunteers. Once you've assigned a need to a user group, the group's members can go to a special area of their profile to view and respond to the need. If a need has been marked private, it will appear with a "lock" icon next to the title.

Note: If your site uses the Service Learning Module, a course instructor cannot manage the need unless it is assigned to their SLM user group.

You can assign needs to user groups individually or in bulk. If you wish to make a need private and assign it to a user group in a single step, you can do that, too.

Assigning an Individual Need to a User Group

To assign a need to a user group:

  1. From your site manager panel, go to Volunteerism > Needs.
  2. Click on a need to open the need-editing page.
  3. Scroll to the bottom of the page until you see the User Groups table.
  4. Select a user group from the dropdown. (Click image for a larger view.)
  5. Click Add User Group. The user group will then appear in the User Groups table, shown below.

You can also use the User Groups area to remove a need from a user group. To do so, click the X in the Options column, and click Yes to confirm the removal of the user group from the need.

Assigning Multiple Needs to a User Group

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If you wish to assign multiple needs to a user group, it can be time-consuming to open each need and select a user group. You'll find an easier way in the Volunteerism > Needs area of your site manager panel, a feature that you can use to add needs in bulk to user groups.

To assign multiple needs to a user group:

  1. Go to Volunteerism > Needs.
  2. Mark the boxes to the left of the needs you want to assign to a user group. (Click image for a larger view.)
  3. From the Actions for Selected Needs dropdown, select Assign or Remove User Group.
  4. From the dropdown that appears, select a user group. (Click image for a larger view.)
  5. Click Update User Groups.

Once a user group has been added to a need, it will appear in the User Groups column of the need table in Volunteerism > Needs. (Click image for a larger view.)

Note: If the User Groups column is not visible, use the Table Filter to add or hide columns.

If you click on the need, you'll see that the user group will also appear in the User Groups table for the individual need.

Removing Needs from a User Group in Bulk

To remove needs from a user group, follow the instructions above, but after you have selected Assign or Remove User Group, click on Remove from the following user group, and then select the user group. Click Update User Groups to save your changes.

Assigning Multiple Needs Privately to a User Group

If you wish to make needs private and assign them to a user group, you can make the need private and then assign the user group, or you can do both in a single step using the Make Private and Assign to User Group option. To use this option:

  1. Go to Volunteerism > Needs.
  2. Mark the boxes to the left of the needs you want to assign to a user group, as described above.
  3. From the Actions for Selected Needs dropdown, select Make Private and Assign to User Group.
  4. Select a user group from the dropdown that appears.
  5. Click Make Private and Assign to User Group.

The needs you marked will now appear with a "lock" icon to the right of the title, and the user group will be displayed in the User Group column of the table of needs.

Note: If needs are being shared to your site via the Galaxy Link, you will be able to assign the shared needs to user groups, but you will not be able to change a shared need's privacy status.