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Maintain Volunteer Profiles

Goal: Keep volunteer records accurate so communication reaches them, eligibility checks work, and reporting reflects reality.

Volunteer status​

Every volunteer record has one of three statuses:

  • Active — currently engaged; receives communications, can register for events
  • Inactive — retired from your program. Their hours and history are preserved, but they're filtered out of active operations

Status is the right tool for retiring volunteers — never delete a record. Deletion fragments your hours history and erases relationships you may need for past-year reporting.

Contact information​

Keep the email address and phone number current — they're the basis of every reminder, confirmation, and emergency contact. When a bounce happens, fix it the same day; volunteers with bouncing addresses miss everything.

Emergency contact​

Open the person's record, choose Edit Profile, and fill in the Emergency Contact section — the contact's name, their relationship to the volunteer, and a phone number. Save, and it appears on the profile for any staff member with access.

This is stored on the person's record, so it's available for every constituent — not just volunteers — and it's the number to reach for if something happens on a build site or at an event. Leave a field blank to remove it. Collect it during onboarding and confirm it once a year so it's there when it matters.

Skills, availability, and notes​

The profile carries:

  • Self-reported skills — what the volunteer says they can do
  • Verified skills — those a coordinator has confirmed (see Verify Skills)
  • Availability preferences — useful for matching
  • Coordinator notes — internal observations that help future coordinators staff well

Notes should be professional and useful. They're internal but become part of the record permanently.

Privacy​

Volunteer records contain personal data. Access is governed by role; only coordinators with the right permissions see full profiles. Be deliberate about who has admin-level access in your affiliate.