Advanced Permissions is a feature that allows site administrators to request customized levels of access for specific User Groups within their VolunteerHub sites. Permissions can be used in a variety of ways to customize the experience for both users and administrators, most commonly for onboarding processes and administrative levels.

This article will cover how to build the following using the Advanced Permissions feature (click to jump to the full instructions for each):

  • Volunteer Onboarding/Approval Processes: Permissions can be used to build customized onboarding processes that limit or grant access to specific sets of activities upon status change. For example, you may create a process so that new volunteers may have access to orientation events only after creating an account, then grant them access to some events once they have completed orientation. You may also provide role-based access so that volunteers gain access to specific activities automatically after receiving the required training or completing the required steps for that role simply by adding them to a user group.
  • Administrative Access Levels: Permissions can also be used to grant limited administrative access to staff members (e.g., read-only or reporting-only access, access to edit certain types of events only, the ability to register users for specific sets of events without editing the events themselves, access to work with or view only a specific set of events or users, etc.). This is also useful for larger organizations working across several locations, as it makes it possible to hide unnecessary sets of events and users for specific program or location administrators.

The Advanced Permissions feature is included with all current Pro or Enterprise plans and can be added to Plus plans for an additional fee. If you’re interested in purchasing the Advanced Permissions feature for your organization, please contact clientsuccess@volunteerhub.com. Once you have access to this feature in your site, we build all the necessary permissions for you upon request.

Building an Onboarding/Approval Process

Click here to watch the in-depth Building an Onboarding Process Webinar Video

Want to limit what your volunteers can do after they create an account in your site? Below we'll give you a step-by-step tutorial on how to build your approval process for volunteers.

If you have a question or need advice for restructuring your User Groups, or if you would like to purchase a personalized one-on-one session to help you build the user experience into your site, please send us a message.

Step 1. Design the Process

You'll first need to determine what you want your onboarding or approval process to look like. Here are some questions to ask yourself as you design your onboarding process:

  1. Should new volunteers have access to some of your events immediately after creating an account? If so, which events?
  2. What are the requirements for volunteers to sign up for activities? For instance, do you require an orientation, interview, background check, TB test, etc. for them to volunteer? Are these requirements required for all volunteer activities, or just certain ones?
  3. Do groups (i.e., corporate groups, local community groups, etc.) need to complete the same onboarding experience as individual volunteers? If not, what's different?

Step 2. Build Your User Groups - Click here for the video about building Permission Groups

Permissions are applied to User Groups within your site, so next you'll need to structure your User Groups in a way that is meaningful to your desired onboarding/approval process for volunteers. Use the questions above in Step 1 as a guide as you build these.

For example, if you want to require all new users to complete a background check, you'll need a user group called "Onboarding Process." Then, create a subgroup under that one called "1. New Applicants" so we can lock new applicants out of events while they complete their background check. If approved volunteers then can sign up for certain activities based on their User Form responses and various other requirements you have for your different volunteer opportunities, you'll need a group called "2. Approved Users" and, under that, subgroups for each of the volunteer roles you may approve users for (e.g., "Approved Mentors").

As you build your user groups, you'll want to include the desired access in the Group Description field for each user group. Access to events is based on your Event Groups, so a description may look something like: "Users in this group cannot sign up for events," or "Users in this group can sign up for events in the Special Events and Office event groups." Our team will look at these descriptions while building the permissions to ensure they match with the user experience you described, so be sure you list each Event Group that users in the User Group should be able to access.

Here's an example of what a more complex set of onboarding groups may look like, along with their descriptions:

Step 3. Request Permissions

Once you have all your User Groups built and descriptions in place, send us a message and let us know! Our support team will then build the permissions for you. Turnaround time for this is typically around one business day, but may take more or less time depending on the number of groups you're requesting permissions for.


Building Limited Administrative Access

Don't want all your administrators to have full editing access to everything in your site? Administrative access can be limited in a variety of ways. Review the steps below to get started with adding additional levels of administrative access to your site.

Step 1. Build Your User Groups

Remember, permissions are applied to User Groups in VolunteerHub. So, your first step is to create a user group for each level of administrative access you'd like. For instance, you might start by creating a user group called "Limited Administrators" or "Staff," and then create a subgroup below it for each type of administrator you'd like to add to your site.

As with volunteer permissions, it's important that you include what you'd like each type of admin to be able to do in the Group Description field for each user group you create. Access for administrators can be limited by Event Groups, User Groups as well as a variety of administrative functions. Review the list of available administrative permission options below to help you determine what to include in your descriptions.

  • View or Edit Users: Describe whether your admin can simply view user accounts, or if you want them to be able to edit (create, edit, delete) user accounts. You can also limit which user accounts they have access to view or edit by specific User Groups. For instance, you may allow an intake admin to edit user accounts in your "New Users" user group, but only view users' accounts in other User Groups.
  • View or Edit Events: Describe whether your admin can simply view events, or if you want them to be able to edit (create, edit, delete) events. You can also limit which events they have access to view or edit by specific Event Groups. For instance, you may allow a local chapter admin to edit events in their chapter's event group, but only view events in other Event Groups or not view other events at all.
  • View or Edit Registrations: Describe whether your admin can simply view who's registered for events along with the hours they received, or if you want them to be able to add/remove users on events as well as edit those users' hours. We can also limit this by Event Group to limit the admin to viewing or editing registrations just for certain events in your site. The ability to edit registrations is necessary if the admin will need to check users in using OnSite. 
  • Run Reports: Describe which (if any) reports your admin should be able to run, as well as which User Groups and Event Groups they should be able to use as filters.
  • Edit Event Groups/User Groups: Describe if your admin can edit a certain set of Event Groups or User Groups in your site. This is recommended only if the admin will be managing an entire set of activities or an entire program within your site.
  • Activate Kiosk: Describe if the admin should be able to activate Kiosk mode on a new device. 
  • Email Users: Describe if the admin should be able to send emails through VolunteerHub.
  • Text Users: Should the admin be able to send text messages.
  • Edit or Create/Edit Landing Pages: Describe whether the admin should have access to edit the existing landing pages in your site or if they should be able to both edit and add new pages. Note that this function gives access to all landing pages and cannot be limited to certain pages.

Here's an example of what a set of limited administrative groups may look like:

Step 2. Request Permissions

Once you have all your User Groups built and descriptions in place, send us a message and let us know! Our support team will then build the permissions for you. Turnaround time for this is typically around one business day, but may take more or less time depending on the number of groups you're requesting permissions for.


Administrative User Password Requirements: minimum of 6 characters long with one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, one number; not to exceed 128 characters.