Shared Assignments is a functionality that allows for multiple volunteers to be assigned to a single constituent.
Shared Assignments is a school-level setting with role-level adjustments that can be made.
How Shared Assignments is controlled and what changes (and doesn't) happen when it's toggled
Shared Assignments is a school-level setting that GiveCampus can enable or disable. It isn’t a toggle available in the VMS settings for school administrators.
Disabling Shared Assignments does not alter any existing assignments. Assignments that already have multiple volunteers remain unchanged.
When Shared Assignments is disabled, the system restricts any new or updated assignment to a single volunteer per constituent. This means:
- Staff cannot add a second volunteer for the same constituent using the Upload New Assignments workflow or from the Constituent page.
- Bulk uploads will replace the existing volunteer assignment (overwrite) instead of adding a second volunteer.
The Constituent CSV’s Selectable/Unselectable flag does not override the Shared Assignments setting. This flag only controls whether a constituent is available for volunteer self-selection and does not permit multiple volunteer assignments when sharing is disabled.
Practical checklist and examples
If Shared Assignments is enabled:
- Multiple volunteers can be assigned to the same constituent, within the limits set per role.
- The Selectable flag governs volunteer self-selection, not the ability to share assignments.
If Shared Assignments is disabled:
- Expect one volunteer per constituent for new assignments created via the UI or uploads.
- Bulk uploads will overwrite the existing assignment rather than appending an additional volunteer.
Example scenarios
Uploading two rows for the same constituent that specify different volunteers while Shared Assignments is disabled will not result in two assignments; the bulk upload follows an overwrite rule.
Marking a constituent as Unselectable in your CSV prevents it from being available for volunteer self-selection but does not allow multiple volunteers to be assigned when Shared Assignments is disabled.
What to review before making a change
Since disabling Shared Assignments does not unpair existing shared assignments, review any constituents with multiple volunteers to understand the state that will remain after the change.
Consider how your assignment uploads are structured. With Shared Assignments disabled, bulk uploads will overwrite existing assignments instead of appending an additional volunteer.
With Shared Assignments enabled, the minimum number of volunteers who may be assigned to a Constituent will be the sum of the number of roles. Currently there is not a limit as to how many total Volunteers can be assigned to a Constituent. All limits are based on the role setting of the maximum number of Volunteers with that role who can be assigned to an individual.
For example, if a Constituent can be seen by both the Class Agent and the New York Regional Board member, a minimum of one Volunteer from each role would be able to pair with the constituent.
When offering Volunteers the ability to share a Constituent, the school will be able to determine, at a role level, how much information about the various actions performed by other volunteers sharing the assignment should be visible to fellow volunteers assigned to the individual. The school will also be able to determine role-by-role whether Volunteers who share an assignment should be able to message each other (regardless of role).
For example, if a school has three roles - Class Agent, Engagement Volunteer, and Class Secretary. Each of those roles would have its own “Shared Assignment Limit.” In this example, you could structure the roles in the following ways:
- Class Agent - Shared Assignment Limit of 1
- Engagement Volunteer - Shared Assignment Limit of 2
- Class Secretary - Shared Assignment Limit of 2
With this structure, a total of 5 volunteers could be assigned to a constituent. One Class Agent, two Engagement Volunteers, and two Class Secretaries.
All roles default to a Shared Assignment limit of one (1) until changed otherwise.
How is this different from the existing structure?
The standard setting for VM is a 1:1 relationship between a volunteer and an assignment. If a new volunteer was to be assigned to a constituent, they must be unassigned from an existing assignment or if using the Assignment Upload they must have the “Overwrite” column marked as TRUE, in which case the new volunteer would become the only volunteer assigned to the constituent.
All of this sounds great! What are next steps?
Prior to GiveCampus enabling Shared Assignments, we recommend consider the following permissions, all of which will be located on each Role’s settings page once Shared Assignments is enabled:
1. Shared Assignment Limit
When a Shared Assignment Limit is set it indicates the maximum number of Assignments for that Role a constituent can have. For example, if the Shared Assignment Limit is 2 for Reunion Volunteer then there can be two volunteers assigned to a constituent as Reunion Volunteers.
2. Show the names of volunteers from shared assignments
When this permission is enabled the name of volunteers who are assigned to a constituent will be displayed in various places including the Partial Record, Full Record, and Assignment Snapshot.
3. A second assignment with this role does not count for the assignment limit
When this permission is enabled a second assignment will not count towards total.
For example, if you have a volunteer with the roles [Reunion Chair and Parent Volunteer] and they are assigned to a Constituent A with the role Reunion Chair and they have their maximum allowed number of assignments. Then they can still request an assignment for Constituent A with the role Parent Volunteer.
4. Allow Volunteer to see the emails from shared assignments
*Note: In order to use this permissions “View Volunteer Notes” must be enabled.*
If this permission is enabled then emails from other volunteers will show up under the Email & Notes Log section on a Snapshot and Full Records. Otherwise a volunteer will not be able to see emails sent by other volunteers to their shared assignment.
5. Allow Volunteer to see the volunteer notes and/or emails from shared assignments
*Note: In order to use these permissions, “View an assignment’s volunteer notes and past communication” must be enabled from “What can this role see”*
If this permission is enabled then Volunteer Notes created by other volunteers will show up under the Email & Notes Log section on the Snapshot and Full Record. Otherwise a volunteer will not be able to see notes created by other volunteers to their shared assignment.
6. Allow volunteer to message other volunteers assigned to their constituents
* Note: In order to use this permission “Message Other Volunteers” must be enabled.*
If this permission is enabled then a volunteer will be able to message their fellow volunteers who share an assignment regardless of any other messaging permissions the volunteer’s role may have.
7. Show giving status of shared assignments
*In order to use this permission “View Detailed Giving History” must be enabled.*
When this permission is enabled it the volunteer will be able to see the current stage of the Outreach Tracker for other volunteers.
The possible stages are:
- Thanked - a constituent has given this fiscal year, and the volunteer has had a conversation designation as “thanked for gift”
- Had Gift Conversation - the volunteer has had a gift conversation
- Contacted - constituent has been contacted, but not had a gift conversation
- No Contact - none of the previous conditions are met
Note: Only one of these stages will appear at a time (i.e. once a constituent has been “Thanked” the “Had a Gift Conversation” status would no longer appear
Information that appears to Volunteers on Assignment Snapshot
How does this impact my experience as an Administrator?
In addition to the changes to the Roles Settings, the experience for an Administrator will see changes in a few other places when Shared Assignments is enabled.
The “Assignments” page
When approving assignment pairing and unpairing requests, an additional column will appear, which is “Other Assignments” listing other Volunteers already assigned to this constituent. If as an Admin you click on the Constituent’s name, you will be able to see the Full Record where the name and roles of the other volunteers assigned to this constituent will be shown.
Additionally, if Shared Assignments are enabled, unlike the standard assignment structure, other Assignment requests for a constituent will not be rejected.
Your Assignment Upload File will no longer contain the “overwrite” column.
“volunteer_id, volunteer_email, volunteer_name, constituent_id, roles, unassign, overwrite”
The Full Record
As an Administrator you will see the most permissive version of Shared Assignment information on the Full record. This means that you will be able to see the Volunteer Name and Role. There is also the option to message either of the Volunteers assigned to the Constituent from the Full Record.
How does this impact the experience of my Volunteers?
The “Search Constituents” page
On the “Search Constituents” page, Volunteers will now see if other Volunteers are assigned to a Constituent. The permissions of the role will determine if the Volunteer can see the name of the other Volunteers.
The “My Assignments” Page
When viewing the “My Assignments” page, if an Assignment is shared by multiple Volunteers, a box will appear below the Detailed Giving History Table, which outlines the other Volunteers assigned to this constituent. Depending on the Volunteer’s role permissions they may see the status of outreach and have the ability to message other Volunteers assigned to this constituent.
Note: Only Volunteers with registered accounts will be able to be messaged. If one of the other Volunteers paired with an Assignment has not yet registered, an N/A will display in the “Messages” column.
The Full Record
From the Full Record, Volunteers will now be able to see the role, and if their permissions allow the name, of other Volunteers who are paired with this Assignment. Additionally, if the permission is enabled they can message the other Volunteers who share the Assignment.
What else should I know?
- Shared Assignment is a school-wide setting, so if you enable this, every role will have the ability to utilize this functionality.
- With Shared Assignments enabled, the minimum number of volunteers who may be assigned to a Constituent will be the sum of the number of roles. Currently there is not a limit as to how many total Volunteers can be assigned to a Constituent. All limits are based on the role setting of the maximum number of Volunteers with that role who can be assigned to an individual.
- If a volunteer has two roles and goes to request an assignment pairing, and one of those roles requires comment or rating scale, then the assignment/rating will show regardless of which role they are selecting the assignment as.
- If a volunteer selects an assignment as two roles, that will count towards the role assignment limit in both roles. This assignment will only count as one assignment towards their assignment limit.
Why Can't Volunteers Select Previously Assigned Constituents?
If your volunteers are unable to select constituents who have been assigned to other volunteers in previous initiatives, this is likely because Shared Assignments is not enabled for your VMS instance.
When Shared Assignments is Disabled:
- Each constituent can only be assigned to one volunteer at a time
- If a constituent was assigned during a previous initiative, they cannot be selected by other volunteers
- Administrators must bulk unpair or remove existing assignments before constituents become available for new volunteer
When Shared Assignments is Enabled:
- Multiple volunteers can be assigned to the same constituent
- Constituents remain selectable for new initiatives even if previously assigned
- No need to bulk unpair assignments between initiatives
Common Variations of This Question
- "How to make previously assigned constituents selectable again?"
- "Volunteers can't select constituents already assigned to others"
Troubleshooting Assignment Selection Issues
1. Check if Shared Assignments is enabled - Contact support@givecampus.com to verify your configuration
Quick Fix for Immediate Need:
If you need constituents available immediately and Shared Assignments is not enabled, you can bulk unpair previous assignments as a temporary workaround. However, enabling Shared Assignments is the long-term solution.
Role-Specific Visibility of Shared Assignments
Why Some Volunteers Can't See Other Volunteers on Assignments
When volunteers report they cannot see which other volunteers are assigned to the same constituents, this is typically related to role-specific permissions rather than the Shared Assignments setting itself.
Common scenario:A volunteer assigned as "Class Correspondent" to a constituent cannot see that another volunteer assigned as "Reunion Volunteer" to the same constituent, even though Shared Assignments is enabled.
How role permissions affect assignment visibility:1. Role-based viewing restrictions: Each volunteer role can be configured with different permissions for seeing other volunteers
2. Cross-role visibility: A volunteer may only be able to see other volunteers with the same role, not volunteers from different roles
3. Assignment type matters: The type of assignment (Class Correspondent vs. Reunion Volunteer) determines visibility permissions
To check role visibility settings:1. Navigate to your volunteer role configuration
2. Review the "What this role can see" permissions for each role
3. Look for settings related to "See other volunteers" or "View assignment details"
4. Ensure roles that should see each other have appropriate cross-visibility permissions
Troubleshooting visibility issues:- Verify that both volunteers have the correct role assignments
- Check if the volunteer complaining has permission to see volunteers from other roles
- Consider whether the volunteer needs to be assigned with a different role to see other assignments
Common variations of this question
- Why can't volunteer see other volunteers assigned to same person
- Role permissions for viewing shared assignments
- Volunteer can't see reunion volunteers on assignments
- Assignment visibility between different volunteer roles
- Cross-role volunteer visibility issues
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