Once your site is built, your events posted and your landing pages ready, it will be time to go live with your VolunteerHub site. 

Go-Live Checklist

Before you go live with your site, be sure you've completed each of the items below! (Some items may not be applicable to your organization or plan.)

• All VolunteerHub implementation/training sessions complete (new sites only)
• Schedule Message Message complete with instructions, contact info and navigation
• New User Message complete with welcome message and volunteer requirements
• User Form application questions complete 
• Event Groups created for every opportunity type and/or location
• Upcoming events listed and ready for sign-up
• User Groups created for all current volunteering groups, interests, onboarding steps, etc. 
• Reservations added to restricted/private events
• Advanced Permissions applied to applicable user groups by our support team (current Pro and Enterprise plans only)
• Landing pages built for the desired groups/volunteer experience

Going Live with Your Site

Once you've completed each of the checklist items above, you can go live by making the site accessible to volunteers in a variety of ways. Below are some of the ways you can get the word out. 

1. Post instructions in your organization's website.

INDIVIDUALS: Once your site's ready to be used by volunteers, simply replace your old instructions for new individual volunteers in your organization's website (e.g., the Volunteer page) with a link to your VolunteerHub site. You can simply add a text link or create a button to your VolunteerHub site, or embed a listing of your events right into the volunteer page of your website. To do the latter, navigate to Landing Pages, click on the ellipsis (...) button next to your default landing page and click Embed Schedule in Website. Adjust the size of the box if desired and copy the code into your organization's website.  

MULTIPLE LOCATIONS: If you've segmented your site into different landing pages for different sets of volunteers (e.g., if your organization has opportunities in multiple states, you might have a page for each state), you can add links and/or embed schedules to each of those pages on your website to direct each new volunteer into a specific landing page of your site, allowing you to further customize their volunteering experience. Many organizations find success with a clickable image map when trying to direct volunteers to a specific geographic region, such as states, provinces or districts.

GROUPS: If you work with groups, we also recommend including instructions for them in your organization's website. Here's an example of the instructions you might provide:

"If you'd like to schedule your group to volunteer with us, please contact vc@organization.org. If you are a member of a group and would like to attend your group's activity, please use the private link we provided to your group contact."

2. Import users into VolunteerHub.

If your organization has access to the Import/Export, you can signal the launch of your new volunteer site by importing users into VolunteerHub. When their profile information is imported, volunteers can receive an invitation to the site to complete their profiles. 

The brief video below shows you step-by-step how to use the Import Users to import your existing volunteers into your new VolunteerHub site.

For more details on how to import users into VolunteerHub, please review the Knowledgebase article for the Data Import/Export.

3. Send your volunteers a link to the site.

If  you would simply like to start fresh with your new site, you can always draft an email to your existing volunteer base to introduce them to your VolunteerHub site. Draft your own email or use our invitation template to get the word out to your volunteers. 

4. Provide Volunteers a Guide

It may also be helpful to provide your volunteers with their own Getting Started Guide.  This guide covers the following:

• Account Creation
• Basic Site Navigation
• Retrieving/Resetting their password

Conclusion

That concludes this tutorial. If you have questions about your VolunteerHub site, please check out our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) in the Knowledgebase. If you are interested in learning more about our special features, integrations or additional modules, please refer to the Additional Apps & Features section of the Knowledgebase. 

If you have trouble with your site or cannot find the answer to your question in our Knowledgebase, please feel free to Send a Message to our Support Team!

Interested in collaborating with other organizations using VolunteerHub?  Join our Facebook Group.