Manage your volunteers

1. Update your website or update your Google Site to include information on volunteering.
2. Here are some examples to consider for your volunteer page:
   • Why Volunteer? | Provide your potential volunteers with background on your nonprofit and previous volunteer stories to encourage them to sign up.
   • Upcoming Volunteer Opportunities | Embed a Google Calendar that shows all upcoming volunteer opportunities or events.
   • Sign Up Form | Embed a form so that volunteers can sign up and provide all of their information (see “Gather and organize volunteer information through google forms” below).
   • Contact Us | Leave an email or phone number so volunteers can reach out with questions.
3. Update or create an Ad Grants account to recruit more volunteers. You can create a new campaign around volunteering with various ad groups around the different types of volunteering. For example “volunteer in education” and “volunteer to teach kids to read” (Check out the tips for success with Google Ad Grants)

Click here to see the benefits of using Ad Grants.

1. Open Google Forms. Click the Template Gallery in the top right to find a range of ideas to get you started.
2. Click on the template you want to use to open a new copy. It will automatically be saved in My Drive, so rename the form to make it easier to find.
3. Edit and add questions following the guidance in the Google Workspace Learning Center for forms. You can choose from short answer questions, paragraph, multiple choice, checkboxes, dropdown, etc.

   

4. Make sure you gather all of the information you would like for your volunteers. Think volunteer name, email, phone, availability, types of volunteering that they are interested in, etc.
5. Click the “Settings” icon in the top right corner to collect email addresses, limit responses, change form access to your domain only, and/or let people change their responses.
6. Preview your form by clicking on the “Preview” icon.

Once your form is ready, you can share it with volunteers via email, link, embed (click here for instructions), or social media.

1. Click the “Send” button in the top right corner and choose how to send your form.
2. If you don’t want to send it to individual email addresses, you can add it to your social channels or directly on to your website.

Decide if you want to be emailed for all new responses and send responses to a spreadsheet.

1. In the editable version of your form, click on “Responses” to see the volunteer information.
2. Click on the green icon to send all responses to a spreadsheet.
3. Click “Create a new spreadsheet” and rename it (e.g. “Volunteer Information”) and click “Create.”
4. You can choose who you want to share the responses with by clicking the “Share” button in the top right hand corner of the spreadsheet. This sheet will automatically organize all volunteer information in one place.

1. First, you’ll want to pick a date and time that works well for all volunteers. One option to collect the best time and date is to survey your volunteers directly by creating and sending a Google Form. There’s even a “Find a Time” template you can customize!
2. Now let’s get to scheduling. On your computer, open Google Calendar. Click the “add” icon to create a new event. Add your event title (e.g. “Volunteer Training”).
3. If you have multiple calendars, choose the calendar where you want to add an event from the "Calendar" dropdown menu. For example, if you have a general admin alias like "admin@yournonprofit.org" you could send the calendar invite from there.
4. Select the date and time you settled on with your volunteers at the top.
5. Add a physical location (if you’re meeting in-person) and make sure to click "Add Google Meet Video Conferencing" so that the calendar invite is populated with a Google Meet link. That way, if volunteers can’t meet in person they can still participate via video call!
6. Add the volunteer email addresses you collected in the Google Form or create a group for all volunteers (see “Set up and manage a Google Group to stay in touch with volunteers” below!) to the invite list.
7. Finally, include a note to the volunteers about the training in the “Add description” section of the invite. You should also link relevant Google Docs to the calendar invite including the training agenda and meeting docs by clicking the “attach file” icon . That way anyone opening the calendar invite has all the relevant documents at their fingertips!
8. At the top of the page, click Save. If you want to “silently” add the invite to your volunteer’s calendars, click “Don’t Send” in the dialog box that pops up (see below).

   

9. As you get closer to the event, check attendance by reviewing guest RSVPs in the calendar invite.
10. When your training is set to begin, open Google Calendar and click the meeting invite. In the box that pops up, click “Join Meet” to join a video call or use the dial-in listed in the “Join by phone” section to call into the meeting.

    

Once in your training, the moderator can use the “Present” function to share their screen and present documents, slides, or sheets. The moderator can also mute participants (click here to discover how) if there is background noise from other people on the call.

Click here for more details on how to plan and hold a training using Calendar!

1. Log into your YouTube channel and enable livestreams following this resource.
2. Decide which type of livestream you want to create and prepare your training materials.
   1. Stream now is a simple way to stream.
3. To go live instantly:
   1. Download and setup your encoder using the Stream Name/Key and Server URL.
   2. Add a title and description in the BASIC INFO tab (ex. “Nonprofit Volunteer Onboarding”). You can also add a custom thumbnail that represents your event.
   3. Set privacy settings to Public, Unlisted, or Private.
   4. In the STREAM OPTIONS tab, select between Low Latency or Highest Quality. Low Latency is closer to real-time for users. Highest Quality provides the smoothest viewing experience for your audience.
   5. If you only have rights to the live show, check the Mark archive unlisted when complete box. You can use this to remove the archived live event from the search index. The link can still be shared and embedded. This will apply the setting as soon as the live event is complete.
4. When the stream is live:
   1. Interact with the audience using live chat.
   2. Share the link across social media platforms using the SHARE tool.
   3. Keep an eye on the real-time Analytics section.
   4. Monitor the stream in the player, top status bar, and in the Stream Health tab.
5. When the stream is over:
   1. Stop sending content from your encoder and we’ll end your stream.
   2. We’ll automatically archive the event up to 12 hours and make it available in the Video Manager. We recommend recording a local archive as a backup.

   Click here for more details on how to create a live stream on YouTube

1. Go to Groups and click My groups. Click “Switch organization view” to "yournonprofit.org". This means that the groups you create will be within your organization, and not public.
2. Click “Create Group” and select a name (e.g. Nonprofit Volunteers). The name you choose will auto-populate in the group email field below but you can change the email if you’d like. Something simple like "volunteers@yournonprofit.org” might work well!
3. Select “email list” for group type so that you can use this group to communicate with your volunteers. In the Basic Permissions section, you may want to change a few settings:
   • Change “Post” to only “All members of the group” to keep this forum private for the volunteers instead of any employee at your nonprofit.
   • Change “Join the Group” to “Only invited users” so that you can control the volunteer list.
4. Click “Create.” To ensure you can find your Group again easily, on the next page click the star icon below your group name to add it to your favorites list. Then, add volunteers by navigating to “Manage” on the top right.

1. On the next page, click through to "Members" > "Direct Add Members" in the left-hand navigation. This is the recommended option to ensure your volunteers are added to the Group. Add in volunteer emails and a short welcome message so that they know what the group is being used for and how to get in touch if they have questions.
2. Make sure to add other nonprofit employees to the Group that need permission to manage the group or post to it. You can change individual group members’ roles by clicking Members > All members in the left-hand navigation, then clicking the individual’s name and changing their role in the dropdown on the next page.
3. If you are feeling adventurous, you can review Group Settings and Permissions in the left-hand navigation to further customise your Group. Learn more about Groups and settings here.
4. Now you’re all set to send email or calendar invites to your new Group! Use the alias you defined in step 2 (e.g. “volunteers@yournonprofit.org”) just like you would any other email, but remember it will be sent to (and invite) all the individuals you added in step 1.
5. If you want to see the history of all emails sent to the volunteers Group after you’ve been using it, go to Groups > My groups and search for your Group name or click on your group name on the left under “Favorites” (see step 4 in the “Create your group” section). You will now be able to track the emails and communications between your nonprofit and your volunteers all in one place!

   Click here for more details on creating and using Groups!