Create a volunteer opportunity

A well-built opportunity fills itself: clear shifts, obvious expectations, and check-in that takes care of the hours. Here’s the setup, end to end.

Create the opportunity

1. Open Volunteer and switch to the Manage tab (organizers only), then choose New opportunity.
2. Describe it the way a busy parent skims: what, when, where, and anything they must know before claiming a spot (lifting? standing? bring gloves?). Flag it if a background-check clearance is required.
3. Pick the audience — the whole school, a grade, a committee, or the board. Narrow beats broad: the third-grade party doesn’t need the whole school’s attention.
4. Add the shifts — each its own card with a time, a length in hours, and a number of spots. Granular fills faster than vague: “Saturday 9–11, 4 spots” beats “Saturday, lots of help needed.” An optional shift name (“Setup crew”) helps at bigger events.
5. Publish. It’s now browsable, and you can link it from an announcement for reach.

Each shift’s hours are what a volunteer earns for working it. Commitment officers can also set a per-shift credit override when a shift should be worth more or less than its clocked hours — and the school-wide conversion between clocked hours and credit lives at the top of the Manage tab.

Choose how attendance turns into credit

Decide per event, before the day. Verified attendance posts credit automatically — no approval queue — so the choice is really about how attendance gets verified:

• QR check-in — from the shift’s day-of roster, choose Show QR, print it, and post it at the check-in table. Volunteers scan on arrival. Best for anything with more than a handful of people.
• Kiosk — for big events, Launch kiosk turns a tablet at the table into a shared check-in station: volunteers give their name instead of scanning.
• Self check-in — an option on the opportunity: volunteers tap “I’m here” on their own phone during the shift window. Zero table setup; relies on honesty.
• Manual credit — you record who showed and enter hours afterward. Fine for small, known crews; it relies on your notes being right.

Even with check-in, expect a stray manual credit — the parent whose phone died, the helper who stayed two extra hours. Enter those promptly; parents check their tallies more often than you’d think.

Watch it fill — and manage the day

The Manage tab keeps score for what’s ahead — spots to fill, waitlists ready to promote, and a “needs your attention” list (past events tuck themselves away behind a “Show past” toggle). Spots reopen automatically when someone cancels. If a shift is struggling, a targeted announcement to the relevant grade or committee channel works better than a school-wide plea — and the day-of roster can add a volunteer by hand if someone offers in the hallway.

Afterward

Reconcile within a few days: check the attendance against reality, enter any manual credits, and correct mistakes (corrections supersede the original entry — the history stays clean). Parents watch for their credit to land; a same-week turnaround saves everyone the “did my hours count?” emails.