❖ Heads up! This article is intended for Site Admins.
You can connect your Shift site to your existing Agency account to increase your organization's reach in your community!
- An Agency is an organization that posts volunteer Opportunities on an established volunteer site, i.e., the Center site.
- A Center site is usually a United Way or Volunteer Center.
- The Center site is the hub or host site that hosts those Agencies and their Opportunities.
Here we cover:
Why connect your Shift site to your Agency account?
The main reason to make this connection is to not lose access to the visibility the Center site provides. You can keep sharing your Shift site's Opportunities and stay connected with the volunteers you've worked with by importing them from your Agency to your Shift site.
❖ Heads up! Many Center sites have language overrides in place for terms, like Needs in place of Opportunities. If you see volunteer Needs, these are the same as volunteer Opportunities.
How to connect with a Center site
1. Make sure you have an active Agency account on a Center site and have access to your Agency Manager email address for that Agency.
- If you're not sure you have an active, registered Agency on a Center site, contact the Center site's Site Manager to confirm your Agency's status.
2. Make sure you have an active Shift site.
3. Log into your Shift site and go to Settings.
4. Click Site connections.
5. Click Sign into your agency account.
6. Enter your Agency Manager email address and click Next.
7. Select your Agency, enter the password you use to sign into your Agency, and click Next.
8. Your Agency and Shift site are now connected!
How to share Opportunities
Sharing Opportunities with your Agency on the Center site is quick and easy! You can share all Opportunities automatically, or you can share them on a case-by-case basis. To share automatically:
To share directly from the Opportunity posting on your Shift site:
1. Click Share this opportunity with [Center site].
2. Toggle the button beside Share this opportunity with [Center site] to On.
3. Click Submit.
How to import volunteers
If you already have volunteers who have responded to your Agency's Opportunities on the Center site, you can import their names and emails so they show up in your Shift site's Members list. Once they're Members, you can communicate with them, schedule them, and track their volunteer activity. To import volunteers from your Agency to your Shift site:
1. Go to Settings > Site connections.
2. Click Import volunteers from [Agency].
3. Click Import members.
- Toggle the button On beside Send email invites to all imported members if you want to send invites in this step.
4. Your import has started!
Limitations
There are some limitations when setting up a connection between your Shift site and your Agency account, including:
- You can't import the Opportunities you created on the Center site. You will need to add new Opportunities to your Shift site so that you can get new responses and track hours.
- You can't import Opportunity responses you received on the Center site. You will need to re-register volunteers—which is why we recommend importing them as members—to ensure their schedule is up to date or email your volunteers to let them know to sign up for Opportunities on your new Shift site.
- You must have a registered Agency on a Volunteer Center or United Way site and be the assigned Agency Manager for that Agency.
- Contact the Volunteer Center or United Way site's Site Manager if you're unsure about your Agency's status on that site.
- You must be an Admin for the Shift site.