Create segments and distribute volunteer tasks

Segments is Beta in the newer Volunteer Management (VM2) administrator portal. As of November 3, 2026 it is available to every VM2 school without a separate activation. These are administrator-created segments; volunteers cannot build their own segments.

Prepare the constituent audience

In the newer Volunteer Management administrator portal, open Outreach → Segments. This is the Segments area within Volunteer Management, not the separate GC Outreach product. Choose how the audience should be maintained before creating it.

Create a segment using filters

1. Select Create Segment → Visual Filters in Segment Builder.
2. Choose the available criteria and use Include or Exclude where offered. Included filters narrow the audience together; excluded filters remove matching constituents. Only fields and options available for your school's imported data and configuration appear. Do not assume every custom field is automatically available.
3. Review the matching count and sample constituents. A preview helps check the selection; it is not the same as saving a segment.
4. Select Next — name segment, enter the name and optional description, then Create Segment.

This creates a dynamic segment. Its members are recalculated from current data when created and refreshed automatically each day. Open the segment and use Refresh when offered to request a current calculation. A data import or a paused refresh can temporarily prevent updating; follow the displayed message and review the result when processing completes. Do not assume an old count is current while the segment is processing.

Create a fixed selection

Use Create Segment → Manual to search/filter the constituent list and select the intended records. Review whether you selected individual rows or all matching results, then continue to name and create the segment. This saves the selected audience; using filters to choose the rows does not turn a manual selection into a dynamic segment.

Import a constituent-ID list

1. Open Outreach → Segments → Import Segment.
2. Enter the segment name and select a CSV with a header row. The file must be no larger than 20 MB and contain no more than 250,000 data rows; split larger files.
3. Choose the Constituent ID column and inspect the preview and matches before selecting Import. These are identifiers for existing school constituents, not a way to create new constituent records.
4. Wait for processing and review the segment's members and skipped-row results. Open the imported segment and download the skipped rows when offered; the download includes the reason for each skipped row. A file with no matching constituent IDs cannot be imported as a usable audience.

Importing a segment does not add the people as volunteers, enroll them in a role, or automatically configure which constituents a volunteer role can see. Those are separate workflows. An uploaded list is not a promise of live membership updates when your original external list changes.

Access and use

Superadmin, Volunteer Management Superadmin and Volunteer Management Admin can create and manage these segments. Volunteer Management Reporting Admin can read the administrator segment list but does not have its management actions. Staff access is changed by assigning an appropriate built-in role, not by editing individual staff permissions.

Review segment membership before creating a task. The segment identifies the constituent audience; the volunteer selection identifies who will do the work. A segment's existence does not itself grant a volunteer access to every member or promise delivery to everyone in it.

Available filter examples and limits

Use standard or school custom fields, stack filters, and select Include or Exclude to refine the audience. Examples include Giving consistency, Last gift amount/date/designation, Groups / Activities, and GC Event responses such as Registered, RSVP No and Checked in.

Giving consistency supports questions such as “gave in at least 4 of the last 5 fiscal years.” It requires a configured fiscal-year start, includes the current fiscal year in its lookback, and uses imported giving data and any applicable configured donor-status gift types. Event-response filters require the school's GC Events data. A missing or empty field is not filled by the segment builder; review the source data and Settings → Fields & filters (called Field visibility in the release) for which criteria are enabled.

Prebuilt LYBUNT, SYBUNT and Never Given segments are not yet available. Do not tell volunteers to create their own segments or imply that this Beta release also delivers all planned role/affiliation-based access controls. Creating a segment does not itself grant access.

Create a task in the four-step wizard

1. Open Tasks and choose the new-task action.
2. In Task details, enter a Task name and the instructions in Description, then select Next.
3. In Volunteers, choose By role and the intended roles, or Specific volunteers and the intended people. A specific-volunteer task does not require selecting a role instead.
4. In Audience & message, select the constituent segment and message template required by the wizard.
5. In Timing & delivery, review the displayed timing and delivery choices and choose Publish task now. Confirm the task is present and inspect the result before assuming volunteers received it.

Do not look for a separate save-then-distribute step when this wizard is shown. Older task screens may use draft/distribution controls; follow the controls on that screen rather than applying its draft rules to this wizard.

Edit or remove work

Open the task and use its supported editing controls. The wizard uses Save changes for an edit. Existing specific-volunteer tasks retain their segment; changing the assignment mode requires a new task. Removing a volunteer from that task removes their open work rather than transferring it to another volunteer, while completed work remains.

Review the task state and affected volunteers before archiving or deleting. If a task has no eligible audience or volunteers, correct the selection and displayed validation errors; a successful page load is not proof that work was distributed.