Learn About the Volunteer HQ App for Volunteer Management
What is Volunteer HQ?
Volunteer HQ is an advanced app that serves as the organizational hub for organizing your volunteers, tracking hours, and getting an overview of volunteer engagement with your organization.
As an advanced app, Volunteer HQ is included with Enterprise level subscriptions and available for a fee to Pro and Essentials subscribers. Learn more about MonkeyPod's advanced apps and integrations!
How do I install Volunteer HQ in my MonkeyPod?
To install Volunteer HQ, choose Apps & Integrations > Volunteer Management from the main menu. Then select the option the to learn about and install Volunteer HQ, and follow the onscreen instructions.
Click the Manage/Update Settings button that appears after installation to begin configuring your Volunteer HQ setup.
Once installed, Volunteer HQ appears in the Apps & Integrations menu under "My Apps & Integrations."
Configuring Volunteer HQ settings
Before you begin working with Volunteer HQ, you'll need to configure some basic settings in the app's Settings tab.
Volunteer Role
First, select the role in your MonkeyPod that can be used to identify your volunteers. If you need some guidance configuring roles, see the related article about How to Use Roles.
Volunteer Opportunities
"Volunteer Opportunities" are your organization's various activities or events where you put volunteer help to work! These could be things like the annual gala, fundraising events, or program support. Once you build your list of opportunities, you'll be able to log the volunteer hours for each of them.
To add an opportunity, select Add an opportunity.
Enter the name of an opportunity and then select the checkmark to save it. Volunteer opportunities may be deleted by selecting the trash can icon. They cannot be modified.
Note: If you delete a volunteer opportunity, the activities previously logged for that activity will not be affected—they'll stay in Volunteer HQ and still be labeled with the opportunity as it was entered for the activity. So if you want to remove old opportunities from the list in the Settings (so that they don't show for future events) that won't cause any problems with your history of volunteer records.
Volunteer Interests
Volunteer interests highlight the particular interests or skills of your volunteers. In Volunteer HQ, you set up a list of interest relevant to your organization, and then you can pick from that list to show what interests or skills each volunteer has. Examples include: technical help, organizing, phone banking, event planning, procurement, or any skill relevant to your fundraising needs or programs and services.
To build your list of volunteer interest, select Add an interest area, then enter the interest name and select the checkmark to save it.
Interests can be renamed by clicking the edit button.
How do I add volunteers?
Once you have your settings configured, you'll see all of your volunteers listed in the Volunteers tab. Every relationship with the designated volunteer role (see Volunteer HQ settings above), automatically appears here.
To add a volunteer, simply enter them as a relationship in your MonkeyPod (or find their existing relationship record), and select the volunteer role at the top of the relationship page. That's all it takes to have them appear in your list of volunteers.
How do I record volunteer interests for my volunteers?
In the Volunteers tab, click the edit icon for any volunteer to add or modify their interests. You'll be selecting from the list of interests entered in the Volunteer HQ settings.
How can I find the volunteers I need for a particular task or event?
When viewing your list of volunteers, you can filter the list by a particular interest using the filter in the column heading.
Select one or more interests and any volunteer that matches a selected interest will be displayed. Click the volunteer name or the "View relationship" icon to view details for that volunteer.
How do I log volunteer hours?
There are a few ways to enter volunteer hours:
Enter hours manually for an individual volunteer
Select the clock icon in the volunteer list to enter hours for an individual.
You'll be prompted to enter the date and time they volunteered, total hours, the volunteer "opportunity", and any additional notes. Click Save to record the hours.
Import a batch of volunteer hours
To import a batch of volunteer hours, select the Activity tab and click Import Activity. Follow the onscreen instructions for filling out the template and importing the information. You'll be able to import the volunteer name, opportunity, date and time, hours and notes.
Note: If the volunteer name doesn't match someone who's already in your MonkeyPod, a new relationship record will be created for that volunteer. If you have additional details about new volunteers that you want to import (like phone number, email address, etc.), you'll want to import those relationships first, and then import their volunteer activity. To import new relationships, select My MonkeyPod from the main menu, choose Relationship Data from the "Imports" column there, and then follow the onscreen instructions.
Reviewing volunteer activity for specific
Once you have entered some volunteers' hours, you will see them displayed in the Activity tab.
Use the date filters at the top of the page to narrow the list of activities to the date range you're interested in.
Use the column heading filters to filter by volunteer name or a specific volunteer opportunity.
Use the Export button to download a spreadsheet of the activity data shown.
What sort of insights and reports can I get from Volunteer HQ?
With Volunteer HQ's Insights tab, you can select a date range to instantly view a report on the total number of:
- active volunteers
- volunteer hours
- and volunteer opportunities
Your top volunteers will also be listed, based on the number of hours worked. This is a great way to see who might deserve some extra recognition for the year!
Your volunteering opportunities will also be listed with the total hours logged for each opportunity. It's helpful to take a look at what tasks are taking up the most of your volunteering effort!
For a visual report of the hours logged by opportunity across the chosen time span, check out the Volunteer Hours by Opportunity chart as well. This can be a helpful visualization to see how your volunteering opportunities are spread out throughout the year.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a view volunteer activity on someone's relationship page?
Yes! When Volunteer HQ is installed, you'll find a Volunteering tab at the bottom of any relationship that has your designated volunteer role. In that tab, you'll see all volunteering activity for the relationship, along with an option to add hours or view their activity in Volunteer HQ.
Can volunteers log their own hours?
Sorry, not yet. But it is on our radar!
Can I import a list of volunteers?
If the volunteers aren't already in your MonkeyPod, you'll want to import their relationship data first. To do so, choose My MonkeyPod from the main menu and then select Relationship Date from the "Imports" column. Follow the onscreen instructions to import the new volunteer relationship data—and be sure to include the appropriate "Role" for your volunteers. Once they're imported, you can then import their volunteer hours as described above!