The ReDI System functions much the same way as a regular Connect platform, but it focuses specifically on disaster-related needs and volunteer skills. Within the ReDI System, initiatives offer some specific advantages and have slight differences from initiatives in other Connect platforms.

This article goes over:

About Disaster-Response Initiatives

The ReDI System offers you a streamlined way to post disaster-response needs. You can use a special "Disaster Response" initiative type to classify needs as being for disaster-response. (You also have a "standard" initiative type for classifying needs that are not linked to a specific disaster, such as preparedness initiatives.) 

If a disaster response initiative contains active needs, volunteers will see a red banner at the top of the screen that says "Click here to respond to disaster response needs," which will take them to those needs. You can create multiple disaster response initiatives if needed. In that case, clicking the red banner will take the volunteer to a page listing the initiatives. From there, they can choose an initiative to view its needs.

To learn more about how the ReDI System works, see the article About ReDI.

Using the Disaster Response Type

An initiative on a ReDI site can be designated as "standard" or "disaster response." To assign a Disaster Response type to an initiative:

  1. From your site manager panel, go to Volunteerism > Needs and select Initiatives.
  2. Open an existing initiative, or click Add New Initiative to create a new one.
  3. Complete the form as you would for any initiative, but selecting Disaster Response from the Type dropdown near the top of the form.Once the form has been completed, click Update Initiative. That initiative will now appear in your initiatives list with the label Disaster Response.

Once you or an agency manager has added active needs to a the disaster response initiative, the red banner will appear on the front end of the site for volunteers.

Managing Disaster Needs

Disaster-response needs are managed just like any other initiative need. The needs are managed from Volunteerism > Needs area of your site manager panel. On the Manage Needs page, click the label Initiatives. In the initiatives table that appears, you will see a Type column, indicating which initiatives are Standard and which are Disaster Response. (If you do not see this column, open the Table Filter to the right of the table and select the Type box.)

To edit an existing initiative, click the name of that initiative. You will be taken to the Update Initiative page where you can edit any of the information you entered when you created the initiative. From there you can add initiative response questions, initiative need questions, or customized disaster response notifications.

For more information on managing initiatives click here. See our article on qualifications to learn how to prevent unqualified volunteers from responding to certain disaster-response needs.

Limiting a Disaster Response Initiative to Certain Agencies

You can control which agencies are able to add needs to your initiative by excluding any agencies which are not relevant to your disaster response.

  1. From your site manager panel, go to Volunteerism > Needs and click Initiatives to open the initiatives management area. You will see a table of all existing initiatives.
  2. Click on the title of the initiative to go to the Update Initiative page.
  3. Click the Excluded Agencies tab.
  4. From the drop down, select the agency you want to exclude from the initiative and click the Add button.
  5. You will see the name of that agency in the list of excluded agencies.

Note: If you only want to include one or two agencies, you can choose Add All Agencies and then deselect the agencies you want to include in the initiative.

Selecting the Disaster Response Initiative for a Need: Agency Manager View

If your agency managers have the option to select an initiative for a need they post, they will see all available disaster response initiatives listed in the dropdown.

If an agency manager does not have this option, the Initiative field shown above will not be displayed on the form. This permission is given in Site Settings.

Viewing and Responding to Disaster Response Needs

If a disaster response initiative has active needs, volunteers will see a red banner at the top of your Connect site: 

Clicking the banner will take them to one of two places:

  • If only one disaster response initiative is active, they'll be taken to the page listing all of that initiatives needs.
  • If more than one disaster response initiative is active, they'll be taken to a page listing the initiatives. They can then select the one they want.

Volunteer can respond to disaster response initiative need as they would for any other regular need.

For information on how you can contact volunteers with specific skills or equipment, see the article The ReDI System: Filtering and Emailing Volunteers for Disaster Response.