Sharing Virtual Opportunity Special Directions with Volunteers

How do volunteers see the special directions associated with a Virtual Location?

Once a Virtual Location has been created and published, volunteers who sign up and have a confirmed connection for that opportunity will be able to see the special directions for the virtual opportunity by clicking on the "Location" link in their account overview:

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A link to this location page is also included in all emails sent when a connection has been confirmed by the Opportunity Coordinator.  

Options for sharing virtual locations for ISO-EIO opportunities

Individually Scheduled Opportunities - Express Interest Only (ISO-EIO) opportunities present a bit of a problem, because in most cases, connections to ISO-EIO do not get confirmed.  

You can only confirm a connection IF you schedule that volunteer for a specific start and end time for the connection.  And many virtual opportunities are open-ended (i.e. Sew Face Masks and donate them), and so the connection does not get confirmed.

Only connections with start date and end date appear in the Volunteer's account overview section.  So for EIO opportunities that do not get confirmed (because they do not have a specific date), how can you communicate the Special Directions for this type of Virtual Opportunity.

There are several ways to accomplish this -- and this is a choice each organization can make based on their business practices regarding ISO-EIO opportunities.

Option 1:  Add the special information to the Opportunity Description

This has been many organization's practice regarding Virtual ISO-EIO opportunities.  It puts the info right out front before the volunteer even expresses interest.   That however, is only the disadvantage, as a volunteer might participate without ever expressing interest and creating a connection.

Option 2:  Have the special directions appear on the Success Page for ISO-EIO opportunities

An option has now been added to the Success Page for ISO-EIO opportunities, to display the Special Directions after a connection has been made.   The location will automatically, on the page / express-interest-only-confirmation display the contents of that page as you've defined it in the CMS, AND show the location information.

 

 

Notes

Keep in mind that if you use this feature, then the location info will be displayed for ALL ISO-EIO opportunities.  If you only wish to share the Virtual Opportunity Special Directions with SELECTED Opportunities, and only to some volunteers (i.e. those you choose to notify to participate), then this is not your best option.  See Option 4 below.

This feature is not enabled by default.  If you wish Location info displayed on your ISO-EIO Success page -- please open a support ticket and in the subject say "Request Display Location in EIO Sign Up Confirmation Page

To add a link to the directions page to the email that is sent when volunteers express interest in an ISO-EIO your system administrator can do this:

1) Go to Setup / Classic Email Templates and select the email template "Opportunity Sign-up Acknowledgement for Express Interest Only"

2) Click on Edit HTML Version

3) Add text and this merge field to the email template:

If this opportunity is Virtual or has a specific location, additional information can be found on the page linked here:

{!HOC__Occurrence__c.HOC__HOC_Domain_Name__c}HOC__Special_Direction?id={!HOC__Occurrence__c.Id}
Click to copy
Notes

This can be used in conjunction with Option 2 above.  Note however that this will reveal the location details to everyone who expresses interest in this opportunity.  If you only want to share the special directions selectively with some voliunteers who have expressed interest, see Option 4 below.

If you only want some of the volunteers who express interest in your virtual opportunities to get the detailed virtual location information, then you can either:

1) Confirm their connection for a specific date and time (and then they can see the location link in their volunteer overview), or

2)  Manually send an email, using the connection grid, to share the special directions with Volunteers.  To make this option somewhat easier for Sharing Portal Users,  System Administrators can use the CMS to create a special email template to use in conjunction with Virtual Volunteer Opportunities.

To do this:  

A) Go to CMS / AddOns / Custom Contact Email Templates

B) Click on "Create New Custom Contact Email Template

C) Create a template with a name like "Virtual Opportunity".   You can add merge fields from the Available Merge Fields List.  Here's an example of a template that will make it easy to notify volunteers of the details for participating in a Virtual Opportunity.

Notes

D) Save your email template and alert your partners that this is available when sending emails.  They'll find the template as a drop down option when they choose volunteers they wish to send email to, and like all email templates, they can edit it further and add more info if they like.  But the email will contain a link to the Location Details page which they can click on and access.

The code I wrote for email template:  Opportunity Sign-Up Acknowledgement for express Interest Only — Important

Administrators can choose to employ Options 1, 2, 3, and/or 4 based on their organizational best-practices regarding their use of ISO/EIO opportunities.  

For additional help in administratively updating email templates, etc, please drop in to one of our daily lab sessions and we can walk you through the process!

If you wish Option 2 to be activated - please open a support ticket so we can update your public site with this feature.

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