Getting the Most out of Volinspire
An Organization Admin’s Next Steps Guide
Getting the most out of Volinspire
Now that you’ve set up your account, it’s time to learn more about what Volinspire offers.
Management
Overview
Events &
Positions
Post Stories
Volunteer
Recognition
Volunteer
Spotlight
Volunteer
Recruitment
Relationships
with Businesses
Messaging &
211
Communication
Tip: Click on the section you want to learn more about
WWW.VOLINSPIRE.COM
2
Management Overview
You can access your Management Area by selecting your
organization’s name in the navigation and choosing
“Management”. You will also see a red circle with a number in it to
indicate if there are any actionable items for you to address.
Here is a brief overview of a few of the tabs in your Management area:
• Volunteers: recognize and communicate with volunteers, recruit interested volunteers
• Business Recognition: Strengthen relationships with businesses, write testimonials
• Admins & Staff: access permissions and messaging for your admins and staff
• Endorsement Requests: endorse skills developed by volunteers
• Volunteer Applications: view and contact potential volunteers for your posted positions
• Hours Logged: approve and verify the hours logged from your volunteers
• News Moderation: allow stories that mention your organization to be added to your profile
• Supported Events: approve events and positions hosted by businesses
Edit your Organization’s Profile
WWW.VOLINSPIRE.COM
3
Post Stories
Post a story to:
•
•
•
•
Share the impact that you and your volunteers are making
Recognize volunteers and your team
Raise awareness of causes that your organization supports
Inspire others to get involved
TIPS:
1) Add images to make posts more visual
2) Use @ to mention volunteers, business users or fellow
organizations
3) Use our social integration to share your story to your
organization’s Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin accounts
Learn more about Posting Stories
WWW.VOLINSPIRE.COM
4
Recognize Volunteers
There are many ways to recognize volunteers for their involvement and
achievements.
Here are a few ideas of how you could recognize your volunteers:
• share stories and use @ to mention those involved
• endorse skills of volunteers looking to build their personal profile
• write testimonials for volunteers doing great work in the community
TIP: Be sure to invite your volunteers. Once they’re connected, you
can easily mention them in stories and write testimonials for them.
Endorse Volunteer Skills
Write Testimonials for Volunteers
WWW.VOLINSPIRE.COM
5
Spotlight the Community
Do you know someone who does good in the community? This might be
a friend, family member, or even a neighbour! Give them a chance to be
recognized for their efforts while also raising awareness of your cause
by nominating them for a Volunteer Spotlight. These spotlights have
potential to provide your organization with great exposure as they are
often shared by local media partners
All you have to do is:
• Go to your 'News' page
• Under the Volunteer Spotlight heading, select 'Nominate'
• Type in their name, email and why they deserve a spotlight
• The spotlight will appear on the news feed for the community to see once
it is approved
TIP: You can also nominate
volunteers from your volunteers
list in the ‘Volunteers’ tab in your
Management Area
Learn more about nominations
WWW.VOLINSPIRE.COM
6
Create Events & Positions
Volinspire offers some powerful choices when creating volunteer positions
and events. Here are some tips as you get started:
1) Open vs. Closed: if you want your position to appear on your profile, the
‘Get Involved’ page or have anyone from the community to be able to apply
for it, choose ‘Open’. If you want to keep the position hidden from the public,
choose ‘Closed’ and you can simply send a link to specific volunteers.
2) Choose from the following ‘Position Types’:
• Flexible - if the opportunity does not expire or if you are willing to fit the role to a volunteer’s schedule
• Virtual - if volunteers can help from home or remotely (access volunteers from across Canada!)
• Event - if you have multiple positions grouped at one time under the umbrella of an event
• Ongoing - if a role is reoccurring (short or long-term), but still has a start and end date (e.g. board, coaching)
TIPS: When creating an event, you can easily add multiple
positions right away or return and add more later. If you are
creating a non-event position, you can quickly duplicate a
previously-created one to save time!
Create an Event
Create a Virtual Position
Create an Ongoing or Flexible Position
Be sure to share your position on social media to get more
community awareness!
WWW.VOLINSPIRE.COM
7
Recruit Volunteers
Aside from posting events and positions, you can also access skilled business experts who are
interested in volunteering through the Volunteers section in your Management area.
You can conduct outreach campaigns by accessing the Recruit Interested Volunteers tab.
Volunteers have indicated the skills they are able to offer so you can contact people that are the
perfect fit for the job. You can also message any existing volunteers from the ‘Volunteers’ tab.
Learn more about Recruitment
WWW.VOLINSPIRE.COM
8
Strengthen Relationships with Businesses
Create lasting relationships with businesses that are users of Volinspire by
writing testimonials to acknowledge businesses who have helped support
your cause. Go to your ‘Business Recognition’ section, add a relationship,
and select ‘Add Testimonial’.
You can add testimonials for employees from
your ‘Volunteers’ section. You will be able to see
the place of employment for each volunteer and
then can select ‘Add Testimonial’.
You can also strengthen relationships with businesses by mentioning the
business or the employee volunteers in your story using the @ symbol.
Adding Testimonials for Businesses
Adding Testimonials for Employee Volunteers
Posting to the Newsfeed using @
WWW.VOLINSPIRE.COM
9
Messaging & Communication
Volinspire helps you streamline your communications. Use the mail icon in the top navigation to
access your message center.
You can send real-time messages to individuals, groups (by position or event) or to all volunteers.
This is very useful for updates, follow-ups, future recruitment, and to recognize & reward volunteers.
SENDING MESSAGES TO INDIVIDUAL VOLUNTEERS
• Press the mail icon, select ‘create new’ and type the
first 3 letters of a volunteer’s name in the ‘To’ address
• You can also go to your Management area, choose
“Volunteers” and select ‘Message’ beside a
volunteer
GROUP MESSAGING OPTIONS
• On the right side of the ‘To’ box, click the drop-down
arrow to access a variety of group messaging
options (e.g. by position, event, staff, all volunteers)
Messaging for Organization Admin
WWW.VOLINSPIRE.COM
10