Adding a new opportunity

Looking for amazing volunteers? Post a new opportunity to your organization’s account and get your volunteer needs met in record time! This is a guide to everything you need to know about creating a successful volunteer opportunity on VolunteerMatch.

This article covers the 5 opportunity sections:

• About
  • Title
  • Description
  • Location
  • Media
• Date/ Time
• Details 
  • Estimated # of volunteers 
  • Requirements
• Filters
• Comms
  • Question Manager
  • Greeting Manager

Let’s begin:

1. Log into VolunteerMatch.org and under Manage Opportunities select Opportunity Dashboard
2. In the Opportunity Dashboard select ‘Add New Opportunity’
   
   

About

• Title
  A catchy title goes a long way. The title of your opportunity is your chance to make a great first impression and stand out from the crowd. 

Be creative, inspirational, and clear. Here are some good examples: 

• "Bring a smile to a senior - deliver a meal!"
• "Are you a math wiz? Become a tutor"

It’s all in the details. Volunteers are narrowing down their searches using keywords, cause areas, and skills. So, use detailed and relevant keywords in your title.

• Description
  An opportunity description should clearly explain what the volunteer opportunity involves as well as the impact of the work.
  
  Note: Please do not include links, phone numbers, or email addresses in the description of your opportunity as it interferes with both your and our ability to measure the success of VolunteerMatch in connecting you with volunteers. It is best to include this kind of information in the Greeting Manager tool. Also, do not use emojis or special characters anywhere within your opportunity. They will prevent the opportunity from being able to be published.

• Location
  The location you assign to your opportunity will determine where and how it appears in volunteer search results. Learn more about specifying your opportunity location.
  
  
• Media
  Our research shows that volunteer opportunities with media tend to attract more volunteers. Directly upload photo or video content to your opportunity with these steps:
  
  

1. Select 'Add New Photo' to upload a new photo or ‘Add New Video’ for a video
2. If the content you want to use is already stored in your Media Manager, choose it from the 'Use existing photo' or ‘Use existing video’ menu. 

Videos must be a YouTube link.
Learn more about using photos and videos in your Media Manager.

Note: Standard accounts can store up to ten photos and one video, while Pro Member accounts can store up to 100 photos and 20 videos! 

Date/ Time

Do you have a specific date or time for your opportunity? Add them in the Date/ Time section by entering the information in the fields: Start Date and End Date. To add times, simply select from the drop-down menu. After the date passes, the opportunity will expire.  The time zone field will automatically display the time zone of your organization's address.  You can change it if a particular opportunity takes place in a different time zone.

If your opportunity doesn’t have specific dates, select No. These opportunities automatically expire after 90 days and you must extend the expiration to keep it active.  Check out this how to video as well

Are there specific shift times you need volunteers for? Learn more about adding shifts to your opportunity.

Timeslots: Volunteers may only be available during certain times of day or certain days of the week.  Use the timeslots section to indicate when volunteers can perform the duties of an opportunity.

Details

Estimated # of volunteers
This section helps VolunteerMatch understand your demand for volunteers and will not change the ranking of your opportunity in search results. 

If you would like to automatically deactivate the opportunity once your estimated number is met, select  ‘Yes.’

Requirements

Can this opportunity be 'Done in a Day?'  Can volunteers complete the duties without much prior training/orientation or an ongoing commitment?  Be sure to indicate yes or no.  Learn more about Done in a Day Opportunities

Filters

Adding filters to your volunteer opportunity helps volunteers narrow their search and you recruit the right people.

Learn more about adding cause areas, skills, and keywords.

Comms

The opportunity contact is the person who receives emails regarding interested volunteers. In the Edit Opportunity flow, you can select a point of contact from the dropdown menu. Learn more about managing your opportunity contacts.

• Question Manager
  Streamline recruitment by requesting more information from prospective volunteers right off the bat with Custom Questions. This is a very effective tool if you find yourself being contacted by volunteers who don’t meet the requirements you are looking for.
  
  If you have previously saved questions, select My Saved Questions, or else you can select Create a Custom Question to make a new one.

Learn more about creating custom questions.

• Greeting Manager
  Customize automatic follow-up messages for interested volunteers with the Greeting Manager. Greetings help keep the ball rolling in your recruitment process so you don’t have to personally send introductory emails to every volunteer who reaches out right when they express interest. This helps save you time and makes a potential volunteer feel appreciated.
  
  Use the same custom greeting for all opportunities or create up to 20 different messages to choose from. 

Learn more about using Greeting Manager. 

Once you have gone through the 5 steps of the Edit Opportunity flow, and answered all the required questions, publish your opportunity by clicking the Publish button. If you aren’t ready to publish, save your progress at any time by clicking Save Draft.

After publishing your opportunity, you'll be redirected back to the opportunity’s overview page.

More articles:

• Edit an opportunity
• Share an opportunity through email and social media