View and Add Volunteers

View and Add Volunteers

From the Volunteers page, click the Volunteers tab (link with white background) to show the list of volunteers.
The list shows every volunteer in your organization with columns for Name, Status, Phone, Email, and Notifications (which surfaces whether the volunteer is opted in to Email and/or SMS, or flags a bounced email). Click a volunteer's name to view/edit their profile (see  View and Edit Volunteer Profiles⁠ ) .

Filtering the volunteers list

By default the roster shows only Active volunteers. To show other statuses or narrow the list:
    Click the Filters button at the top right of the roster.
    Tick one or more checkboxes under Status (Active, Inactive, Prospective, Archived).
    Optionally select Skills , Groups , or Tags to limit the results to volunteers who hold them.
    Click Apply Filters .
The summary text at the top of the page (Showing: …) always describes the filters in effect. Use Clear Filters to reset.

Add a volunteer

If not already on the Volunteers tab, on the Volunteers page, click the Volunteers tab (link with white background) and click the + Add volunteer button near the top right of the page.
The Add a volunteer wizard appears; it walks you through entering a new volunteer's information step by step — a progress bar at the top of the page shows where you are. Required fields are identified by an asterisk "*".
You can save at any time. Save and continue moves on to the next step; Save exits the wizard to the volunteer's record. Return later by opening the volunteer and using the Edit menu to finish the steps you skipped.
Depending on your organization's settings, you may see some or all of the steps described below.

Step 1 — General

Enter the volunteer's basic personal and contact information. The form is divided into three sections:
  • Personal info — First name, Last name, Date of birth, Gender, and Notes.
  • Address — Address Line 1, Address Line 2, City, State, and ZIP Code.
  • Contact info — Primary phone and Secondary phone (each with a type), Email, and Preferred contact method.
Click Save and continue to proceed.

Step 2 — Emergency Contacts

Record one or more emergency contacts for the volunteer. For each contact you can capture:
  • Name and Relationship
  • Primary phone and Secondary phone (each with a type)
  • Email
  • Note
All emergency-contact fields are optional — leave them blank if the volunteer hasn't provided this information. You can add more than one contact on this step.
Click Save and continue to proceed.

Step 3 — Notification Settings

Configure how the volunteer will be notified about shifts and other events. The page is divided into:
  • Email Preferences — Toggle the volunteer's email opt-in, record how their consent was captured, and choose which event types they should receive email for (for example, shift assigned, day-before reminder, weekly digest).
  • SMS Preferences (only if your organization has SMS enabled) — Record the volunteer's mobile phone number, toggle SMS opt-in, record how their consent was captured, and choose which events should trigger an SMS. Turning on SMS opt-in starts a double opt-in flow — see  Messaging & notifications⁠  for the details.
You can update any of these preferences later from the volunteer's Edit → Notification Settings menu.
Click Save and continue to proceed.

Step 4 — Portal

If your organization uses the Volunteer Portal, this final step lets you send the new volunteer an invitation email so they can set up a portal account.
  • If the volunteer has an email address on file, tick the Send portal invitation to (email) checkbox to send the invitation now.
  • If they don't have an email address yet, you'll see a note that you can send the invitation later. Skip the step, add an email on Edit → General , then come back and send the invitation from Edit → Portal Access .
You can always send, resend, or revoke a portal invitation later — see  Volunteer portal & volunteer accounts⁠ .
Click Save to finish the wizard and land on the new volunteer's record.
This step only appears for organizations using the Volunteer Portal. The Portal itself, and other per-organization settings, are configured by Orchard Stack — reach out if you'd like to enable or disable any of the wizard steps.

After the wizard

New volunteers are created in Active status, so you can put them on a schedule and assign shifts right away. From the volunteer's record, the next steps are usually:
    Assign skills, groups, and tags if you use them.
    Record any requirements (background check, food-handler card, driver's license, etc.) and capture their completions.
    Add a schedule so the volunteer is automatically put on recurring shifts.
If a volunteer isn't ready to start yet — for example, while you're still gathering their paperwork — change their status to Prospective from the Status change tab on their record. Prospective volunteers stay in your roster but aren't put on schedules or assigned shifts.