1. PURPOSE

This document provides guidance to organisations wishing to use the system in order to advertise their volunteering or training opportunities.

It explains how the site works, how to register and add opportunities and how to manage the information once it is loaded. An explanation of what happens at each stage of the process is also given.

2. Main navigation

The menu options on the Home page (horizontally across the page below the images) which are relevant to organisations are as follows:

Organisations – in this section you will find an FAQ page plus options on the right of the screen to go to the Why Register pages.                                                                                            

News – here you may read the latest articles concerning activity on the system. You may submit articles for inclusion in this section by emailing the admin team (see Contact Us below).

About – self explanatory.

Contact Us – this section provides contact details for any queries/issues/requests for articles to be added to the site.

Please note that these navigation items are subject to change and can be amended and changed at any point by the admin users. Therefore, it is likely that some of the items listed here may not be visible at all times.

3. REGISTRATION

Please note registration on Volunteering Fox is FREE.

On the Home page, click on Register Here link to go to the register pages. From here you will need to select the Register as an organisation link to get to the form which needs to be completed to get yourself onto the system. Please note that links to the register pages will be available from other links in the website pages and also by going to /OrgRegister.aspx.

The register link takes you to the register page which will look something like the following (the example below is taken from the Bournemouth University website). Complete as much information about your organisation as possible on this page. Points to note:

• If your organisation does not have a website, providing some details in the ‘Information about your organisation’ box enables us and potential volunteers to understand what you do.
• If you put a website link into the ‘Information about your organisation’ box, it will automatically create a clickable link on the front of the website.
• Please ensure the email address you provide is accurate as confirmation of your registration will be sent by this method.
• If you tick the box at the foot of the page (saying that you DO NOT wish to be contacted occasionally about events, news and information regarding our services) then we will not send you our newsletters.

 

Click on the ‘Save’ button at the bottom of the page when the form is complete. A screen confirming your registration will appear.

 

 

NOTE: The text shown on your website may be different to the text shown here.

3.1 Confirmation

When you have completed the registration form, the admin team will receive your details via email so that they are aware of your application. Within 24 hours of registering on the site, you should receive a confirmation email entitled ‘registration successfully finished’.

The email sent to you will confirm your use of the system and will contain the following information;

• Your login details (email and password)
• Information on how to use the system
• Information about policies which need to be accepted
• Relevant contact details

To ensure that the volunteers who apply to use the system are placed on relevant and appropriate opportunities, we will ask you to either accept our volunteering policies or use the ones we provide you with (these are available on our website by clicking the link provided in the email).

In the confirmation email, there will be two links which you can click on to let us know your preference. If you choose to use your own policies you will need to click ‘No’. You will then receive a second email which will send you a form which you will need to complete and send back to us. The admin team will need to review the form and accept them before you can start to receive volunteers.

NOTE: When you receive this email you will be able to use the system so that you can add relevant opportunities. These opportunities will not be shown to potential volunteers until your policies have been checked by our admin team, or you have selected to use ours.

Please note – if you forget your password at any time, click on the ‘Forgotten Password?’ link on the Home page and it will be emailed to you.

3.2 Policies

As the email explains, evidence of policies regarding volunteers is required to be in place before any individuals can be approved to participate in opportunities advertised by your organisation. Follow the instructions on the email and click on the ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ button as applicable.

 

No further action from you is required at this point.

If ‘No’ is selected: you have confirmed that your organisation has its own policies in place regarding volunteers which you prefer to use. The following screen will appear (Bournemouth University example shown):

 

 

On this screen click on ‘download the policies form’. A pop up box will appear called ‘File Download’. Click on the ‘Open’ button and the Organisation policies & procedures form will appear. Complete and return the form, with evidence of your organisation’s policies, either to the admin team by email (see the Contact Us page) or by post to the address provided.

NB: IF YOU DECIDE TO USE YOUR ORGANISATION’S OWN POLICIES REGARDING VOLUNTEERS, PLEASE RETURN THE FORM AND EVIDENCE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE AS NO VOLUNTEERS WILL BE ABLE TO PARTICIPATE ON YOUR OPPORTUNITIES UNTIL YOU DO SO.

Here is an example of the policies form:

Organisation policies & procedures

Organisation Name ____________________________

* Please indicate Y = Yes or N = No

** We require all environments that volunteers are working in to comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act of 1974.

3.3 Approval

If you have chosen to accept the provided volunteering policies (i.e. clicked on the ‘Yes’ link in the confirmation email) then within a few days of registering your organisation, your application will be approved by the site’s administrators. You shouldreceive a confirmation email entitled ‘Welcome to system – Organisation Approval’.

If you are planning to use your organisation’s own volunteering policies (i.e. clicked on the ‘No’ link in the confirmation email) your application will not be approved until you have returned the completed policies form and evidence of the policies themselves. If after a month you have not yet returned your documents you will be contacted by the system administrators to remind you to do so. (NB this also applies if you have not yet clicked on either the ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ link in the confirmation email.)

4. ORGANISATION HOMEPAGE

As soon as the username and password for your organisation has been activated (i.e. when you receive the email confirming your registration), you can log onto the system to access the Organisation Homepage:

 

 

The main part of the Organisation Homepage provides a summary of the status of your organisation’s opportunities and training sessions, including how many are currently open, how many have expired, and how many volunteers are awaiting contact from you.

A table listing the volunteers awaiting contact is also shown so that you may tick against their name once you have contacted them (more about this later).

On the right of this page is the organisation menu, consisting of the following options:

Edit Login:you may change your email address and/or password at any time.

Edit Profile: this page allows you to update your organisation’s details. Make sure you save any changes by clicking the ‘Save’ button at the foot of the page.

Add Opportunity: This is where you should add any volunteering opportunities that you are looking to run

Current Opportunities: you may view and edit any opportunities you currently have open. You may also add new opportunities here. Your management console (see later explanation of how this works) is also accessed via this section.

Past Opportunities: you may view any opportunities which have expired (the end date has passed) and/or are closed. These may be edited and re-opened with new dates.

Add Training: you can add any training opportunities to the website using this form

Current Training: you may view and edit any training you currently have open. You may also add new training here. Your management console (see later explanation of how this works) is also accessed via this section.

Past Training: you may view any training sessions which have expired (the end date has passed) and/or are closed. These may be edited and re-opened with new dates.

 

5. ADDING OPPORTUNITIES

Creating new opportunities on the system for volunteers to view and apply for is done via the Add Opportunities section on the Organisation Homepage.

Click on each heading on the Add Opportunity page and complete as much information as possible. NB please note that any fields marked with a ‘*’ are mandatory.

Notes on fields:

• ‘Name/Title’ & ‘Purpose’ – the content of these fields is the first information a volunteer sees about the opportunity when he or she does a search so it  should be concise but informative and above all interesting!
• ‘Benefits to Volunteer’ – list any benefits to the volunteer from participating in the opportunity (e.g. travel expenses, experience for CV etc.).
• ‘Frequency/Duration’– use this field to specify exactly how much commitment a volunteer needs to make. E.g. if you have selected Mon – Fri mornings on the Availability grid but a volunteer could do ANY of these times but does not need to do them all you can use the ‘Frequency/Duration’ to make this clear.
• ‘Start Date’ – if the opportunity has a specific start date (e.g. a one day event) then click on the calendar icon to the right of the Start Date field to select a start date for your opportunity. If a volunteer can start on any date then tick the box to the left of the statement ‘This opportunity has NO start date’.
• ‘End Date’ – if the opportunity has a specific end date then click on the calendar icon to the right of the End Date field to select an end date for your opportunity. If the opportunity is ongoing and you don’t wish to specify an end date then tick the box to the left of the statement ‘This opportunity is ONGOING’. 
• ‘Apply By Date’ – use this field if you have specified a Start Date for the opportunity. It is used as a guideline for volunteers and may be before or after the Start Date (but must be before the End Date if you have specified one).
• ‘Edit Skills’ – please note that Skills Required and Skills To Develop must be different.
• ‘CRB Disclosure Level Required’ – if the opportunity requires the volunteer to be CRB checked, select the level of check required from the drop down list. You will be contacted regarding your organisation’s policy on CRB (i.e. whether you do the checks yourselves or are happy for volunteering fox administrators to do so).

When you have completed the information, click on the ‘Save’ button at the foot of the page. A confirmation page will appear with a link to your Current Opportunities page where the opportunity you have just added will be shown.

Clicking on ‘Current Opportunities’ takes you to the following page

 

5.1 Approval of new opportunities

The system administrators may check daily for new opportunities awaiting approval. Each opportunity can be checked for content, clarity, grammar, spelling and punctuation and to ensure it is appropriate. If there are any queries, you will be contacted and any relevant changes made. We will let you know during the initial discussions if we vet the opportunities added.

Please note that if your organisation has not yet been approved (either because you have not specified your policy situation or have not submitted your policies) then your opportunity will not be approved until you do so. Once the opportunity is approved it will become visible on the site to volunteers (until then it is only visible to you on the Current Opportunities page).

5.2 Recruiting volunteers

Any volunteer registered on the system may apply for opportunities which may be accessed in one of two ways:

• via the Matched Opportunities page. If any of the skills, interests or availability the volunteer has specified in his/her profile match any on your opportunity then the volunteer will see the opportunity on this page
• via the Search page. This provides access to ALL the opportunities open on the system.

Once a volunteer applies for an opportunity, the administrators may check that he or she has references (if required for that opportunity) and liaise with your organisation if a CRB check is required (again this is up to you if CRB checks are needed for the opportunity your organisation has added).

Any queries on the application will also be discussed either with you or the volunteer (e.g. if two references are specified and one is still outstanding, you may be asked to accept the volunteer pending the second reference).

If checks are carried out and they are all complete, the volunteer is approved on the system to participate in your organisation’s opportunity. An email is generated to you (and copied to the volunteer) entitled ‘New volunteer!’ The email provides the contact details for the volunteer and his or her availability, interests and skills. An example is shown below:

Dear member,

We're delighted to inform you that we have now approved the following volunteer to participate in your opportunity (Opportunity Z):

Name: Joe Bloggs
Email: jbloggs@yahoo.co.uk
Phone: 01234 567890
Mobile:

Preferred contact method: Email

Availability: Monday - All Day, Tuesday - All Day, Wednesday - All Day, Thursday - All Day, Friday - All Day, Saturday - All Day, Sunday - All Day
Interests: Animals, Arts & Media, Children / Youth, Community, Environment, Health, MAD Days
Skills: Evaluation, Negotiation, Organisation, Planning, Questioning, Research, Support/Listening, Problem Solving, Critical Analysis, Self-Management, Self-Motivation, Self-Promotion, Flexibility/Adaptability, Self-Awareness, Confidence, Interpersonal Skills, Assertiveness, Leadership

You can access your volunteer management console by clicking here.

If you have any problems contacting Joe Bloggs or any questions regarding your involvement please contact us by e-mail or telephone our office between the hours of 9 - 5 Monday to Friday.

Kind Regards

Once the email is received it is your organisation’s responsibility to contact the volunteer and make arrangements to participate in the opportunity. The process is then repeated for each additional volunteer.

5.3 Weekly reminder

One week after your organisation receives the email confirming a volunteer has been approved for your opportunity you will receive a second email entitled ‘Weekly Reminder’ enquiring if you have made contact with him or her. An example is shown below:

Dear member,

Joe Bloggs has volunteered to participate in your opportunity Opportunity Z'. According to our records, his/her current status on thehub is still 'Awaiting contact'.

Please can you confirm that you have contacted Joe Bloggs?

Yes

No

Don't Intend To

You can view all volunteers assigned to this opportunity by clicking here.

If you need any help using the system please contact the admin team.

On receipt of this email, if you have already contacted the specified volunteer then click on ‘Yes’. You will be redirected to the website where a message will appear confirming that the status of the volunteer has been automatically changed from ‘Awaiting Contact’ to ‘Contacted’ – here is an example:

“You have changed the status of Joe Bloggs to 'Contacted'. Click here to view all volunteers assigned to this opportunity.”

From this page you can access any other current opportunities you may have and update the status of volunteers/edit the opportunities etc. You will no longer receive any reminders for volunteers once they have a status of ‘Contacted’.

If you have not yet contacted the specified volunteer then click on ‘No’ in the email. You will be redirected to the website where a message will appear asking you to contact him or her – here is an example:

“Please contact volunteer Joe Bloggs  and change his/her status. Click here to view all volunteers assigned to this opportunity.”

You will continue to receive a ‘Weekly Reminder’ email regarding the volunteer until you click on either ‘Yes’ or ‘Don’t Intend To’ so make sure you contact them and update the system!

If you have decided that the specified volunteer isn’t suitable for any reason and you don’t wish to contact him/her then click on ‘Don’t Intend To’ in the email. You will be redirected to the website where you will be asked to type in and save a ‘Volunteer Rejection Reason’. Once you have clicked on the ‘Save’ button your Organisation Homepage will appear, the status of the volunteer(s) will change from ‘Awaiting Contact’ to ‘Rejected’ and you will no longer receive any reminders for them.

 

 

6. ADDING TRAINING

Creating new training opportunities on the system for individuals to view and apply for is done via the Add Training section on the Organisation Homepage. The form and process is almost identical to that for creating volunteering opportunities, with two differences: the cost of the training if there is one can be stated, and CRB and reference information are not required. Attendees for training opportunities on the system are recruited in the same way as volunteers and weekly reminders in a similar format to those for volunteering are also sent to organisations regarding contacting participants.

 

7. MANAGEMENT CONSOLE

All the information regarding your organisation’s current and past opportunities and training sessions and all the volunteers/participants who have been approved by the site administrators for them is held in the system. You may access and manage this data at any time. In particular you may manage all the details regarding your volunteers, including: updating whether they have started on an opportunity and if so, on what date; whether they have finished and when; and emailing individuals or groups regarding the opportunity they are registered for. 

7.1 Volunteer statuses

On the main part of the Organisation Homepage any volunteers or training session participants who have a status of ‘Awaiting Contact’ are listed by name against the name of the opportunity or training session they have been approved to participate in. Once you have contacted each person then click on the tick enclosed in a circle to the right of his or her name. The status will automatically be changed to ‘Contacted’ and the line will disappear from the list.

NB – THE WEEKLY REMINDER EMAIL YOU RECEIVE WILL NOTIFY YOU OF ANY VOLUNTEERS/PARTICIPANTS WHOSE STATUS YOU HAVE NOT UPDATED MANUALLY IN THIS WAY.

 

 

You may give a volunteer any of the following statuses:

Contacted

Ready

Active

Quit

Completed

Rejected

Once a volunteer has a status of ‘Contacted’ then any further changes to status are made via your organisation’s management console which is located in the Current Opportunities section.

Click on Current Opportunities in the Organisation Menu on the right of the Organisation Homepage. Each opportunity is listed with some brief details:

 

For any opportunity click on the link next to the word ‘Applicants’ (the link will be a number) to go to your management console page. On this page is a summary of how many volunteers currently have ‘Active’ status and how many are ‘Awaiting Contact’. Below this is a table of all the volunteers who have been approved by the system administrators, if approval takes place, or just those who have applied for the opportunity and their current status.

To change a volunteer’s status tick the box to the left of the name in the volunteer table and then click the Edit pencil to the right. The status field will change to a dropdown list – select the appropriate status:

Contacted

Ready

Active – for this status please also select a Start Date

Quit

Completed – for this status please also select an End Date

Rejected

Once you have made the appropriate changes click on the tick enclosed in a circle to the right of the name to update the system or on the red cross to cancel the change.

NB – NOT ALL STATUSES WILL APPEAR AT ONCE IN THE DROPDOWN LIST IT WILL DEPEND ON THE STARTING STATUS (EG FROM CONTACTED YOU CANNOT CHOOSE QUIT)

7.2 Contacting volunteers

To access the contact details of a volunteer in the management console click on the individual’s name in the table. The details will be shown on the next page (with an indication of the preferred means of contact) together with the volunteer’s interests and skills.

To email selected volunteers, either tick the box to the left of the names you want to email in the volunteer table or choose a group of volunteers with the same status by selecting a status from the Select drop down box just below the volunteer table. Click on the ‘Email Selected’ button.

On the Email Volunteers page put a title for your email in the Email Subject field and then type your email in the Email Body section (this is already populated with the words ‘Regards’ and your name and title). When you have completed the email click the ‘Send’ button and it will be automatically sent from Volunteering Fox to all the selected volunteers. If you decide not to send the email click the ‘Back’ button to return to the management console page.

7.3 Managing opportunities

Using your management console you may update the information for each current opportunity by using the section called Opportunity Functions below the volunteer table.

Click on any of the three links in this section as appropriate to manage the opportunity:

• ‘Close Opportunity’
• ‘Set an End Date’
• ‘Edit Opportunity’

Please note - you may only close an opportunity once the status of all volunteers on it has been changed to either ‘Completed’, ‘Quit’ or ‘Rejected’ (a pop up box will prevent you closing it if this is not the case).

 

8. MONTHLY REMINDER

On the 1^st of every month an email is sent to your organisation entitled ‘Monthly Reminder’. This email asks you to update the details (i.e. status and start/end dates) of the volunteers on your current opportunities and includes a link to each opportunity to enable you to do so. Click on the appropriate link to be taken to your management console. An example of the email is shown below:

Dear XXXXXX,

Please can you tell us how your volunteers are doing regarding their volunteering and whether they have started or not. This helps us to keep track of the effectiveness of the service provided and also how our students are progressing. Please click on the links to amend your volunteers' details:

OpportunityZ

Thanks for your help

Monthly reminders are also sent regarding any current training sessions you may have.

 

9. EVALUATION

To ensure the system provides both organisations and potential volunteers with a quality service a number of evaluation processes are in place.

Progress evaluations - Every six months after the start date of an opportunity a progress evaluation request (with a link to an evaluation form) is sent by email from the system to your organisation regarding the opportunity and the active volunteers taking part in it. An extract from the form is shown below:

PLEASE COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING EVALUATION FORM

ABOUT YOUR CURRENT VOLUNTEERING PROJECT/OPPORTUNITY

 

ORGANISATION NAME:

 

VOLUNTEERING PROJECT/OPPORTUNITY:

 

1. Using the scale of 1-5 below, how would you rate the success of the volunteering project/opportunity so far?

Please circle the appropriate number

 

1	2	3	4	5
Very poor	Poor	Average	Good	Excellent

 

Do you have any additional comments? :

 

2. Using the scale of 1-5 below, please consider the aims of your volunteering project/opportunity and rate how much you feel the volunteers are actually achieving towards these:

 

Please outline the aim of volunteering on this project

 

Please circle the appropriate number

1	2	3	4	5
Are not achieving any of task	Achieving less thanhalf of task	Achieving about half of task	Achieving over half of task	Achieving all of task

 

If you feel you are not achieving all of your aims, please say why you think that is

below:

 

4. How many volunteers do you currently have from Bournemouth University?     

 

Please list the names of the volunteers:

 

5. Using the scale of 1-5 below, how would you rate the suitability of the volunteers to the volunteering project/opportunity?

 

Please circle the appropriate number

1	2	3	4	5
Very poor	Poor	Average	Good	Excellent

 

Do you have any additional comments? (Either regarding general suitability or specific volunteers):

 

Thank you for taking the time to complete this evaluation.

 

Please complete the form with as much information as possible. The data will be stored in the system and used by the site administrators to make any adjustments/enhancements to the service provided.

Progress evaluation requests will only be sent to you for current, open opportunities which have volunteers with an ‘Active’ status registered on them. The volunteers will also be sent a request.

Completed opportunity evaluations - As soon as your organisation closes an opportunity a completed opportunity evaluation request (with a link to an evaluation form) is sent to you by email from the system regarding the opportunity and the volunteers who took part in it. All volunteers with a status of ‘Completed’ will also be sent a request. The form is similar to the progress one so an example is not included here.

NB – You do not always have to remember to close opportunities or training sessions – you will be sent a reminder to do so the day after the end date has passed. An example of the email is shown below:

Dear XXXXX,

Your opportunity ‘opportunity name’ has reached its end date. Please update the status of the participants and either close or renew the opportunity. To do this, just click here

Thank you

PLEASE NOTE IF THE OPPORTUNITY IS ONGOING (I.E. NO END DATE WAS SPECIFIED) THEN IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO DECIDE WHEN TO CLOSE IT.

 

10. EMAILS FROM VOLUNTEERING FOX

While your organisation is registered on Volunteering Fox, you will receive a number of generic system-generated emails at different times, some of which have been described already in this guide. The complete list of emails you may receive is as follows:

‘ Volunteering Fox registration successfully finished’ – confirmation of your registration and request for policy evidence.

‘Welcome to Volunteering Fox Approval’ – confirmation that your organisation has been approved on the site.

‘ Volunteering Fox New volunteer!’ – request to contact a volunteer approved on Volunteering Fox participate in an opportunity.

‘ Volunteering Fox New training participant!’ – request to contact a participant for a training session.

‘Weekly reminder’ – all volunteers/training participants with ‘Awaiting Contact’ status.

‘Monthly reminder’ – request to update details of all current opportunities/training sessions with volunteers/participants registered on them.

‘Please fill opportunity evaluation’ – bi-annual request for progress report on current opportunities.

‘Please fill opportunity evaluation’ – request for feedback when an opportunity is closed.

‘Opportunity end date reached’ – reminder to close/renew/update status of volunteers.

‘Training end date reached’ – reminder to close/renew/update status of participants.

‘Password reminder’ – triggered in response to clicking on the ‘Forgotten Password?’ link.

In addition, you may occasionally receive emails from the system specifically for your organisation. You will also receive these newsletters unless you have opted out of this service by ticking the box at the foot of the registration page.

 

11. CANCELLING YOUR REGISTRATION

Should you no longer wish to be registered on the system please contact the site administrators and your details will be removed.

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUERIES ON THE CONTENTS OF THIS GUIDE OR ON THEHUB IN GENERAL PLEASE CONTACT THE ADMIN TEAM USING THE CONTACT US PAGE ON THE WEBSITE.