Set up Activity Time Slots

Activity time slots are the specific times that volunteers commit to for an activity. Time slots come in two forms: Blocks and Occurrences

Blocks

• Activities with blocks of times can be completed by volunteers at any time. For example, if you have an activity such as "Update our website" you can allot 40 blocks of time (at 60 minutes per block) for that activity. Volunteers can then sign up for 1 or more blocks of time that they can complete at any time. For each block of time they commit to, they must devote 60 minutes to the activity. Here is an illustration from the Volunteer Portal user interface of how activities with block time slots appear to volunteers:
  
  
  

Occurrences

• Activities with occurrences must be completed by volunteers on a specific date and at a specific time. For example, if you have an activity such as "Greeter for Open House" you can specify that the activity must be performed by the volunteer on a specific day (e.g., March 4) and between a specific set of time (e.g., 7PM and 9PM). Here is an illustration from the Volunteer Portal user interface of how activities with occurrence time slots appear to volunteers:
  

1. (If you're already editing an activity, skip to step 4 below) Go to Volunteers > Activities.
2. Locate the activity you want to add a time slot to, select that activity and click the “Edit” button.
3. Go down to the Activity Time Slots tab and click the “New” button.
4. Give the time slot a title. By default, this will be set to match the title of the activity itself (e.g., the time slot for the activity "Greeter for Open House" could simply be "Greeter for Open House"). However, you can change this if you need to add an additional bit of information that can help volunteers identify what they must accomplish during the time slot they volunteer for (e.g., the activity "Update our website" could have a time slot titled "Enter calendar information" and another time slot titled "Updating photos on home page").
5. Select the type of time slot you need: Blocks or Occurrences. See description above for further information about this distinction. Once you select the type of time slot you need, follow the corresponding instructions for that type below.
6. If you use Blocks
   
   
   • Enter a time description (optional). The description is currently for internal purposes only, it does not appear in the portal but it may in the future if needed.
   • Enter the day block-signups open and close.
   • Enter a total number of blocks that you will need for this volunteer activity. For example, if you need 20 hours of volunteer time for the activity and each block is 30 minutes long, then you should enter 40 in this field because you will need 40 blocks of 30 min to fulfill the 20 hours of volunteer time requested. Enter a time, in minutes, that each block should last. The default number in this field comes from the number you entered when you set up the volunteer activity in step 2 "Set up Volunteer Activities" above. You can edit this to change the size of the block if you'd like. Traditionally, blocks of volunteer time are 30 minutes or 60 minutes long and if a volunteer wants to sign up for more time, they can volunteer for multiple blocks. However, feel free to make the block size as short or as long as you need.
   • Provide a minimum number of blocks that a volunteer who signs up for this activity must commit to. For most activities, you should enter "1" in this field, that means that if they sign up for this activity, they must commit to at least one block of time.
   • Provide a maximum number of blocks that a volunteer who signs up for this activity can commit to. This is helpful when you want to limit the amount of time a volunteer can commit to an activity, especially if you prefer that multiple volunteers have the opportunity to sign up for this activity. If you have an activity with 40 blocks and you set the maximum that a volunteer can commit to as 10 blocks, then you will need at least 4 (or more) volunteers to fulfill the 40 blocks of volunteer time you requested.
7. If you use Occurrences
   
   
   • Enter the total number of volunteer signups needed for this occurrence. This is the number of volunteers you need each time this activity occurs. For example if you have an activity such as “Weekend Daycare Supervisor” that happens every Saturday between 9AM and 12PM, then the number you enter in this field is the number of volunteers (i.e. supervisors) you need each Saturday. If you need 2 volunteers for this activity each Saturday, then enter 2 here.
   • Provide the minimum number of occurrences a volunteer may commit to for this activity. This is the minimum number of occurrences that a volunteer who sign up for this activity must commit to. For example, if you have an activity such as “Weekend Daycare Supervisor” that happens every Saturday between 9AM and 12PM, then the number you enter in this field is the minimum number of Saturdays that an individual volunteer may commit to. If you enter “2” here, that means an individual volunteer who decides to sign up for this activity must commit to come to as least 2 Saturdays to supervise.
   • Provide the maximum number of occurrences a volunteer may commit to. This is the maximum number of occurrences that a volunteer who sign up for this activity may commit to. For example, if you have an activity such as “Weekend Daycare Supervisor” that happens every Saturday between 9AM and 12PM, then the number you enter in this field is the maximum number of Saturdays that an individual volunteer may commit to. If you enter “4” here, that means an individual who decides to sign up for this activity may commit to a maximum of 4 Saturdays to supervise, but no more.
   • Select the type of occurrences to create.
     
     • Single Occurrence - use this type if you intend for this activity to be a one time only occurrence.
     • Recurrence Rule - use this type if you intend for this activity to have recurring dates and times.
8. Click “Save and Back” to save this activity time slot and return to the edit activity screen. Click “Save and Add Another” if you would like to save this activity time slot and add a new activity time slot to this activity.