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Creating great Flexible Opportunities

Flexible Opportunities

Not every opportunity happens in person at a specific time and place. And not every opportunity that has a specific place has a specific time it needs to be done! Sometimes you need a little flexibility.

What Are Flexible Opportunities?

Flexible Opportunities can have:

  • A digital location (like a web conference URL or a phone number), a physical location, or no location at all
  • Start and end times, or no times at all ("do it on your own time")

For opportunities with no start/end times, you can set an automatic reminder for volunteers to log their hours for you!

Use Cases

Online Trainings and Orientation Sessions

There's no reason to lose time getting to know and training your new and potential volunteers. Point them towards a video chat, YouTube video, or conference call.

Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams have some great free options.

How to set it up:

  • When setting a "Digital Location," enter the URL or conference line that you want volunteers to use
  • Volunteers will receive this destination as soon as they sign up on the Confirmation Screen and in a Confirmation Email
  • They'll also see it in a Reminder Email the day before and in their Profiles
  • You can add specific instructions in the "Post Registration Instructions" section towards the end of the opportunity creation form

Online Wish Lists

Use the "digital location" to link to an Amazon or other registry

"On the Spot" or Donation Drives

Ask volunteers to fulfill a need that can be completed from anywhere, like:

  • Making get-well cards for the sick
  • Thank-you notes to frontline workers
  • Assembling donation kits
  • Hosting a donation drive

"Do it on your own time"

Best for tasks or activities that volunteers can do whenever they want (like mentors who schedule directly with their mentees).

Key features:

  • Get sign-ups and then automatically remind them to report back their actions
  • Use the "On Your Own" option to have Golden automatically prompt volunteers to log their hours/activity

Creative tasks or discrete projects

Need a new logo? Website design? Privacy policy? Tell people what you need. You'd be shocked how great a response you'll get!

Use the "Digital Location" field to give volunteers an email address or a Dropbox link to deposit their work.

How do I get started?!

  1. In your Dashboard, start creating a new opportunity
  2. Under "Type" - select "Flexible Timing & Location"

Note: The "Short Description," "Purpose", "Role" and "Vibe" sections are intentionally short (this is key to our industry-leading sign-up rates!). You'll have the chance towards the end to add an unlimited amount of additional information.

Location Options

You can enter a Physical location, a Digital location (like a website, an email address, or a phone number), or nothing at all.

Time Options

Holding an Online Orientation Session via videoconference?

You'll want to set Start and End times.

Asking a mentor to work with a young person on a weekly basis but it's up to them when they do it?

That's where the fun starts. A lot of actions can happen when convenient for the volunteer, but you want to make sure that they report back what they're doing and when they do it. Here are a couple of options:

  • Set Time Window: This will place a specific start & end time for participants to complete the opportunity
  • Set Deadline: This option will allow participants to start as soon as the opportunity is approved and the opportunity will end on the selected date
  • On Your Own: This option will allow for volunteers to log their own hours on the portal website, or on the Golden mobile application

Post Registration Instructions

Towards the end of the opportunity creation form, you'll get to enter all the nitty-gritty details needed for the volunteer to complete the task at hand.

When does a volunteer see this info?

After they sign up - on the Confirmation Screen, in the Confirmation and Reminder Emails, and in their Profiles.

Why after?

When a volunteer is deciding whether or not they want to sign up for an opportunity, they really only need the basics. Our research shows that when there are too many words on a page, volunteers are 55% less likely to sign up for an opportunity. So we try to give them the basics up front, and follow up with everything else later (like "Bring sunscreen and wear close-toed shoes!").

A Word of Wisdom

We urge you not to list opportunities that don't have specific next steps.

For instance, if you're interested in recruiting an intern or a long-term volunteer, give people the option to sign up for an interview at a set time or point them to a training video on YouTube. Our data shows that without specific next steps (aka - "sign up and we'll contact you!"), volunteers are 7.6x more likely NOT to follow through.