Instructions for Key Features

Volunteer Management System (VMS)

**Instructions for Key Features**

These instructions describe basic use of key features of the GiveCampus Volunteer Management System (VMS).  The instructions are not specific to any particular configurations, settings, or Roles and may not apply for certain configurations, settings, or Roles.  For example, if one of your Roles does not have Permission to select Assignments, those instructions will not apply to volunteers with that Role.  If you have questions related to your specific configurations, settings, or Roles, please email vms@givecampus.com.

Signing up for an account (all users)

1. Go to https://www.givecampus.com/schools/SCHOOLNAME/signup
2. Sign up for an account using the email address that has been loaded into the VMS for you.
3. You will receive an email from GiveCampus at the email address specified.  Click the link in this email to verify your account. (Note: The link will expire in 24 hours.)
4. Once you are logged into your account, you may wish to take advantage of the “Connect Facebook” option, which you will see in the navigation menu on the left side of the screen.  If you connect your Facebook account to GiveCampus, you will be able to log-in with your Facebook account in the future.

*Note: Staff members who serve as volunteers and administrators must create separate accounts (using different email addresses) for accessing the VMS as a volunteer vs. as an administrator.  Accessing the VMS with an account that is set up as both an administrator and a volunteer can causes errors and will result in an unusual “blended” experience.  Additionally, actions taken by the user may be logged as either administrator actions or volunteer actions.

Logging in (all users)

1. Go to https://www.givecampus.com/schools/SCHOOLNAME/login
2. Log in with your email address and password (or Facebook account)
3. Once you are logged into your account, you may wish to take advantage of the “Connect Facebook” option, which you will see in the navigation menu on the left side of the screen.  If you connect your Facebook account to GiveCampus, you will be able to log-in with your Facebook account in the future.

Searching for and selecting Assignments (volunteers)

1. To search for Assignments, click “Search” in the navigation menu on the left side of the page
2. You can search for Assignments by name, or you can use Advanced Search to search by other criteria.  
   1. Note: The Search feature returns results for each distinct term you include in your search.  For example, if you search for “Chris Stevens” your results will include everyone named Chris and everyone named Stevens, as well as names that include those terms (e.g., Christopher and Stevenson).  As such, it is often best to avoid using very common names/terms in your searches.
3. If you find someone you wish to select as an Assignment, click “Assign to Me”.

*Note: A volunteer’s Role will determine what happens when they click “Assign to Me”

Viewing data about your Assignments (volunteers)

1. Click “My Assignments” in the navigation menu on the left side of the page
2. From your Assignments Snapshot, you can see key data about each of your Assignments and your engagement with them.  [Note: You can call, email, and/or send text messages to your Assignments directly from this page.]
3. Click “Go to full record” to access the Full Record for one of your Assignments.  From the Full Record, you can view additional data about the Assignment, send the Assignment an email, call or text the Assignment, and Add a Note about the Assignment (e.g., a note about a communication with the person).

Sending an email to one Assignment (volunteers)

1. Click “My Assignments” in the navigation menu on the left side of the page
2. Click on the name of the Assignment you wish to email
3. Click “Send Email”
4. You can manually type your email or select an Email Template (if available)
5. If you select an Email Template (if available), the full email will auto-populate for you.  You may still edit the email, if you would like to add a personal touch.
6. If the email you are sending is a solicitation, check the box for “Is this a gift conversation?” (Note: This box may be auto-checked for an Email Template.)  
7. When you are ready to send your email, click “Send Email.”  

*Note When you send email directly from within the VMS, you do not need to take any additional action to “log” your work.  The VMS does that for you automatically!

Sending an email to multiple Assignments (volunteers)

1. If you wish to email multiple Assignments at once, click “Email” on the navigation menu on the left side of the page
2. Select the Assignments you wish to email from the list of “Recipients”
3. If you wish to use an Email Template, select that Email Template.  (Note: If you wish to manually type your own email, just remember that everyone will receive the exact same email!)
4. If the email you are sending is a solicitation, check the box for “Is this a gift conversation?” (Note: This box may be auto-checked if you are using an Email Template.)  
5. Click “Send Email”

*Note When you send email directly from within the VMS, you do not need to take any additional action to “log” your work.  The VMS does that for you automatically!

Adding a Note about an Assignment (volunteers)

1. Click “My Assignments” in the navigation menu on the left side of the page
2. Click on the name of the Assignment for which you wish to add a note
3. Click “Add Note”
4. Select the type of Note you are entering (e.g., updated contact information or notes from a gift conversation)
   1. If you are entering notes from a Gift Conversation, you will be prompted to enter the date or your contact with the Assignment, the method of communication, the Outcome of the conversation, and other details.
   2. If you are entering updated contact information, you will be prompted to select which type of new contact information you are submitting.  If the existing information stored in the system is inactive or incorrect but you do not have new contact information, click the red button for “Inactive” or “Incorrect”.  **Note: When you submit updated contact information, this data is transferred to your school for review before the information is updated in the VMS.
5. Click “Save Note”

Sending a message (administrators and volunteers)

1. Click “Messages” in the navigation menu on the left side of the page
2. Click “Send a Message”
3. Select the person you would like to message
4. Type your message
5. Click “Send message”

Creating an Email Template (administrators)

1. Click “Email Templates” in the navigation menu on the left side of the page
2. Click “Create a new Template”
3. Give the Template a Name and a Description
4. Select the Role(s) of the volunteers for whom the Template should display OR the class year(s) of the volunteers for whom the Template should display.  (Note: If you select both a Role(s) and a class year(s), the Template will display for all volunteers with that Role(s) and all volunteers from that class year(s).)
5. Enter the Subject and Body content for the email, including any Email Tokens (i.e. merge fields) you wish to use
   1. As a best practice, do not copy/paste Email Tokens from other templates or attempt to manually enter them (e.g., by typing the name of the Token).  The system will only recognize Email Tokens that are inserted into the Template by clicking the Email Token buttons.
6. If the Template includes a solicitation, check the box to “Default as Gift Conversation” (this ensures that the VMS logs all emails sent using the Template as Gift Conversations)
7. Click “Create Email Template”

Creating a Resource (administrators)

1. Click “Resources” in the navigation menu on the left side of the page
2. Click “New Resource” in the upper right corner of the screen.  (Note: The inputs for your Resource will appear below the list of your existing Resources.)
3. Select the Category for the Resource or click “Add a new Category” (Categories allow you to organize different types of Resources)
4. Select the Role(s) of the volunteers for whom the Resource should display
5. Give the Resource a Name and a Description (Note: These will be visible to your volunteers)
6. Click “File” to upload a document, PDF, spreadsheet, image/graphic, or video as your Resource
7. If you wish for the Resource to be visible to volunteers immediately, check the box that says “Active?” (if you do not check this box, the Resource will be created but will not be visible to volunteers)
8. Click “Add New Resource”

Activating or Deactivating a Resource (administrators)

1. Click “Resources” in the navigation menu on the left side of the page
2. In the “Active” column of the table listing your existing Resources, click “Yes” or “No” to toggle between those values

Ghosting as a Volunteer (administrators)

1. Click “Volunteers” in the navigation menu on the left side of the page
2. Scroll down to “Manage existing Volunteers”
3. Search for the Volunteer and click on their name
4. Click the button that says “Ghost User” (Note: This button will not appear for Volunteers who have not registered for an account.)
5. To stop Ghosting as the Volunteer, click “Stop Ghosting” in the yellow banner at the bottom of the page

Adding one (1) new Volunteer to the VMS (administrators)

1. Click “Volunteers” in the navigation menu on the left side of the page
2. If you are entering a single volunteer, enter the following information about the volunteer at the top of the page: (a) email address (this is the email address they will need to use to create their GiveCampus account), (2) database ID # or, if there is no database ID #, their full name, and (3) class year (if applicable).
3. Check the box to select the role(s) for the volunteer
4. Click “Create new volunteer”

Adding multiple new Volunteers to the VMS (administrators)

1. Click “Volunteers” in the navigation menu on the left side of the page
2. In the “Upload volunteer section”, click “Choose file” and upload a CSV file containing the following columns:
   1. volunteer_id (the volunteer’s ID # in your database)
   2. email (the email address the volunteers will use for their GiveCampus account)
   3. full_name (the volunteer’s full name in your database)
   4. year (the volunteer’s class year, if applicable)
   5. roles (the volunteer’s role(s))
3. Click “Upload volunteers”

Adding new Volunteer-Assignment pairings to the VMS (administrators)

1. Click “Assignments” in the navigation menu on the left side of the page
2. Click “Upload Assignments”
3. Click “Choose file” and select a CSV file formatted with the following columns:
   1. volunteer_id (the volunteer’s ID # in your database)
   2. volunteer_email (the email address associated with the volunteer’s VMS account)
   3. volunteer_name (the volunteer’s full name in your database)
   4. constituent_id (the ID # in your database of the constituent you wish to assign to the volunteer)
4. Click “Upload”

Uploading data updates to the VMS (administrators)

Your VMS dataset can be updated anytime by uploading new data files to GiveCampus via SFTP. GiveCampus automatically checks the SFTP for new data files as frequently as once per hour. When new data files are detected, these files are automatically ingested and the new data is populated within the VMS. This ingestion process can take up to several hours, depending on the size of the file(s).

For updated data to be ingested by GiveCampus, the files must exactly match the format and structure of your Foundational Data Set: they must contain the same columns, in the same order, and they must follow the agreed-upon naming convention. Files that do not exactly match the structure and format of your Foundational Data Set will not be ingested.

Updated data may be provided as a full refresh of all existing data (e.g., an updated version of your Foundational Data Set, containing all data for all constituents). GiveCampus will automatically detect the data that has been added, changed, or removed, and the data displayed in the VMS will update accordingly.

*Note: It is possible for GiveCampus to reconfigure the VMS to ingest a different file structure and format (e.g, if you wish to add a new field of data to the VMS that was not part of your Foundational Data Set). Reconfiguration typically takes several weeks to develop, test, and implement and requires your active involvement. If you wish to consider a reconfiguration, please contact us at vms@givecampus.com.

Understanding the “givecampus_volunteers” files (administrators)

These files are delivered from GiveCampus to your school on a daily basis (via SFTP).  Each file lists all volunteers that were added to the VMS or deactivated from the VMS since the previous file was generated and sent.  The file contains 4 columns: id (the volunteer’s ID), class_year (the volunteer’s class year), email (the volunteer’s email), and deactivated.  The “deactivated” column indicates whether the volunteer was added to the VMS or deactivated in the VMS.  If the value in the “deactivated” column is FALSE, this means that the volunteer was created/added to the VMS.  If the value in the “deactivated” column is TRUE, this means that the volunteer was deactivated by one of your administrators.

Understanding the “givecampus_volunteer_notes” files (administrators)

These files are delivered from GiveCampus to your school on a daily basis (via SFTP).  Each file lists all notes created and emails sent by volunteers since the previous file was generated and sent, including updated contact or biographic information submitted by volunteers.  Each row in the file will identify (1) the volunteer (the “volunteer_id” column), (2) the constituent for whom the volunteer added a note, to whom they sent an email, and/or for whom they submitted updated contact information (the “id” column), and details of the note, email, or updated contact or biographic information.

Understanding the “givecampus_assignments” files (administrators)

These files are delivered from GiveCampus to your school on a daily basis (via SFTP).  Each file lists all new volunteer-assignment pairings and unpairings within the VMS since the previous file was generated and sent.  The “volunteer_id” column identifies the volunteer, the “constituent_id” column identifies the constituent/assignment, and the “state” column identifies the status of the assignment pairing/unpairing.  The “state” may be: pending, assigned, unpaired, rejected, unassigned.

Opening CSV files from GiveCampus in Microsoft Excel (administrators)

If you are opening CSV files from GiveCampus in Microsoft Excel, you will want to ensure that Excel is set to use UTF-8 character encoding.  If you use different Excel settings, Excel may not properly read the contents of the CSV file and may display odd characters/symbols.