How can I invite volunteers to use POINT?

Why should I invite my current volunteers to use POINT?

1. To track your volunteer hours on the POINT dashboard, your volunteers must have a POINT account.

2. POINT sends push notification reminders to your volunteers 1 week, 48 hours, and 2 hours before the event. We bug them so you don’t have to!

3. We all know that email communications can be very ineffective – using POINT is a better way to engage with your volunteers. People are always on their phone anyway – meet them where they’re at!

How do my volunteers sign up? Find step-by-step instructions here.

Here’s how to invite volunteers:

In your admin dashboard on POINT: 

1. Navigate to the “Volunteers” section on the left hand dashboard menu, then select “Manage Volunteers”.
2. Click the “Invite” orange button on the right hand side of the screen to invite volunteers.
3. Invite volunteers one at a time by clicking “Add volunteer” or mass upload by clicking “Import CSV”. The CSV should be organized in columns as First Name, Last Name, Email, and Group Name (if you’d like to sort your volunteers into groups). Once step 3 is complete, invites will be automatically sent from POINT via email. Please note, if your volunteers did not receive an invite email the email could be blocked by firewalls from companies or schools. If that’s the case they don’t need an invite email to join your organization. Ask the volunteer to instead to go to their POINT Profile> Tap Settings> Tap Your Organizations> and then “Accept” your invite or search for your organization and request to join.
4. A volunteer’s name will show in your “Manage Volunteers” spread sheet if they were invited by you, requested to join your organization, or volunteered at one of your events.

In the Volunteer’s tab you’ll see different labels next to your volunteers names.

• Internal – A volunteer is a part of your organization. They became internal when you uploaded them and they accepted the invitation or they requested to join your organization and you accepted their request. Internal volunteers have access view your organization’s private events.
• External – A volunteer has signed up for and been checked in for one of your events.
• Invite Pending – You invited the volunteer to join your organization. They have a POINT account, but haven’t accepted the invitation yet. To remind them to accept the invite ask the volunteer to go to their Profile> Tap Settings> Tap Your Organizations> and then “Accept” your invite.
• Invite Sent – You invited the volunteer to join your organization. They have not yet created a POINT account or they have a POINT account under a different email than the one you invited them with.
• Pending – A volunteer has requested to join your organization. Tap “Confirm” to accept the volunteer as an Internal volunteer on POINT or “Decline” to not accept them.

POINTer: When a volunteer is categorized as “Internal,” you can create private events and invite them. When creating an event, just set the event to “Private” so that only your organization sees it on their feed. It will show up for all of your internal volunteers.

What your volunteers see when you send an invite:

1. Your volunteers will receive an email with instructions to download and sign up for POINT and accept the invitation from your organization. Here’s what the email looks like.
2. When they open their POINT app, there will be an invitation at the top that says “Your Organizations”.  They can “Accept” or “Decline” that invite to become an internal volunteer.
3. Volunteers can also request to join by searching your organization’s name under Profile> Settings> Your Organizations.

POINTer: A volunteer can belong to multiple organizations. High schools & companies can use the POINT dashboard to track their hours using this method too. So, a volunteer may join their work, and a couple of their favorite nonprofits. Want to co-host an event with another local organization? Learn how here.

What are other ways I can get my volunteers on POINT? 

1. Send specific event links in your emails, post them on your website, or share them on social media. Share your event by clicking on the event, then clicking the green “Share” button, and copying the link to post on social media or send in an email.
2. Link your charity profile in your emails, post it on your website, or share it on social media. Your charity profile will show the “Donate” link, the causes you support, and all of your upcoming events.