Manage volunteer engagement opportunities
Volunteer Engagement is part of Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit. It's built on Microsoft Power Apps, with the Nonprofit Common Data Model as its foundation. Volunteer Engagement complements Volunteer Management. With Volunteer Engagement, volunteers can:
- Find and sign up for engagement opportunities
- Track their engagement
- Create and update their profile information
Key capabilities of Volunteer Engagement include:
Search for and view engagement opportunities: Volunteers can search for open engagement opportunities and view details.
Sign up for engagement opportunities: Volunteers can sign up for engagement opportunities directly from the portal, which sends the request to Volunteer Management.
Track volunteer hours and engagements: Volunteers can see how many hours they volunteered and their previous and upcoming engagement opportunities.
Manage profile information: Volunteers can update their profile information, which includes contact information, availability, preferences, and qualifications.
Easily track volunteer requests and profile changes: Volunteer managers can easily post engagement opportunities and track volunteer applications with seamless integration between Volunteer Management and Volunteer Engagement.
This article walks you through the main flows of Volunteer Engagement.
Note
A threat actor can manipulate data without detection because no security monitoring is in place. Furthermore, the absence of logging makes it impossible to effectively handle a security incident. Be sure to perform the following actions:
- Turn on logging in your Dynamics 365 instance.
- If you can't turn on logging by default, communicate the importance of turning it on to your customers when configuring their instances.
For further details, visit the following pages: - Use auditing logs in Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (on-premises)
- Microsoft Dataverse and model-driven apps activity logging - Power Platform
Set up portal
To deploy Volunteer Engagement, go to Deploy Volunteer Engagement.
Use custom date format
To customize the date format on the Volunteer Engagement portal, go to Portal Management. Find site setting DateTime/DateFormat and change the site setting as needed.
Create an account
A volunteer can create an account by selecting Login in the upper-right corner, or they're prompted to create an account when they sign up for an engagement opportunity. The organization sets up the account sign-in options during the portal setup. More information: Get started with configuring your portal authentication
View engagement opportunities
When volunteers come to your organization’s portal, they can view all engagement opportunities without logging in. They can see the short description, search by keywords, and sort by key information.
When volunteers select View Details, they can view a page with all the details of the engagement opportunity. The organization in Volunteer Management creates these details.
Volunteers can also see the schedule options but can't sign up until their application for the engagement opportunity has been approved.
Sign up for an engagement opportunity
Volunteers can sign up for an engagement opportunity by selecting the Apply Now button on the Details page. If the volunteer isn't signed in, the page prompts them to sign in or create an account. For details on setting up the sign-in options, go to Deploy Volunteer Engagement.
If the volunteer is logged in, the application is submitted, and the status shows as Applied.
The volunteer’s request is sent to Volunteer Management, where the volunteer manager can review and approve it. Once approved, the volunteer can sign up for a shift if there are different shifts. If you don't need to approve your volunteers, select Auto approve volunteers in the engagement opportunity post settings. In this case, when a volunteer signs up, they can select a shift right away. For more information about approving volunteers, go to Approve volunteers.
View engagements
When volunteers sign into the portal, they see My engagements in the primary menu (the navigation bar). The My engagements page provides volunteers with a view of their upcoming and past engagements, plus the total hours they volunteered with the organization and the total number of engagements they attended.
From this page, volunteers can see their application status. After application approval, volunteers can select the engagement opportunity to see the details and sign up for a shift.
This information originates from the contact record in Volunteer Management. For more information, go to Add a volunteer to an engagement opportunity.
Update volunteer profile
In the navigation bar, volunteers see their names. They can select the drop-down arrow to update any part of their profile. Volunteers can update their name, address, contact information, availability, preferences, and qualifications. When volunteers update this information, the contact’s record in Volunteer Management is also updated.
Customize portal for organization branding requirements
Each organization has its own branding guidelines that include color and font guidance. You can customize Volunteer Engagement to your organization’s branding needs by following the steps in Use a theme to create a custom look for your app.
See also
Deploy Volunteer Engagement
Configure Volunteer Engagement
Use Volunteer Management
Get started with Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit solutions powered by Dynamics 365