The Outer Banks Visitors Bureau is excited to announce a partnership with Asheville, NC-based Galaxy Digital to create the Volunteer OBX portal, an online hub that will help Dare County nonprofit organizations and government entities recruit, engage and retain volunteers. As a key new component of the Bureau's Voluntourism initiative, this portal has the potential to serve as a centralized community resource, providing participating organizations with FREE tools to better schedule, manage and communicate with volunteers.
Functionality includes:
- Volunteer sign-ups and scheduling
- Hours tracking and other reporting features
- Volunteer check-in, email and text messaging capabilities to enhance communication with volunteers
The portal will also make it simpler for residents, visitors and second homeowners to quickly search, find and select the opportunities that fit their schedule and that they’re passionate about.
How to Register Your Organization (Agency):
If your Dare County nonprofit or government entity offers volunteer opportunities, we'd like you to take the next step to have a presence on the Volunteer OBX portal so you can soon share these needs with the community. The more organizations we have engaging with and populating this hub, the more impact it will have as a volunteer resource.
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Register your organization! It shouldn't take more than 10 minutes to set up your login credentials and create your profile listing. In addition to including basic information about your organization, the system allows you to add a logo, images, video, website and social media links and more, so please customize your profile to your liking!
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Only one unique listing per organization, please. If you're not the person in your organization who manages your volunteer recruitment and management, we'd greatly appreciate you passing this along to that person.
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The portal refers to all participating organizations as 'agencies' by default ... just an FYI for clarity. To see how an agency listing looks, click here to view a few that have already been set up.
How to Add Volunteer Opportunities (Needs):
Once your profile has been submitted and is approved in the system (this may take up to 24-36 hours; you will be notified via email when it is approved), you will then have access to log in and begin adding upcoming volunteer opportunities (or 'Needs' as the system refers to them).
When you're ready to begin adding Needs to the portal, please follow these steps:
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Visit the LOGIN page on VolunteerOBX.com
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Once logged in, click on the 'MY AGENCY' button at the top of the page
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Scroll down and click the 'NEEDS' tab to create a new Need (or manage/update an existing Need)
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Click the 'ADD NEW NEED' button
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Complete the 'CREATE NEED' form and click the 'CREATE NEED' button to push it live!
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The CREATE NEED form allows you to be very specific with some of your information, so be sure to provide as much information as possible about the opportunity (what they'll be doing, anything they'll need to bring or wear, etc.) so a prospective volunteer can review this Need and understand the commitment you're asking them to make
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If you publish a Need and realize you need to update or revise it, simply go to your Agency home screen (the Agency-specific entry page when you log in to the portal), click the NEEDS tab and then click that specific Need to gain access to the form to edit/resubmit.
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If you have any initial questions with this form, please review this Creating Needs Help Article. Any additional questions can be directed to community@outerbanks.org.
How to View and Download Volunteer Signup Information for a Need That You've Posted:
When you're ready to view and/or download information on who has signed up for your Volunteer Need, please follow these steps:
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Visit the LOGIN page on VolunteerOBX.com
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Once logged in, click on the 'MY AGENCY' button at the top of the page
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Scroll down and click the 'NEEDS' tab
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Find your specific Volunteer Need (in the light green section) and click the 'Responses' link under that listing
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An overlay will open with a list of volunteers who have signed up for your Need; From here, you can simply view the list for a quick glance at who has signed up, download this volunteer signup list (keep reading on how to do that) or even communicate with these volunteers via the Volunteer OBX portal (see the next FAQ section below)
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To download the volunteer signup list, click the 'Export Responses' button at the top, which will trigger a download of that list as a .csv file; If the file doesn't automatically open up, go to your computer's 'File Explorer' folder and click the 'Downloads' folder to open it and you should see the .csv file
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The .csv file will contain a time-stamped list of who has signed up for that specific Volunteer Need, including first name, last name, email address and phone number
How to Use the Volunteer OBX Portal to Email the Volunteers Who Have Signed Up for a Specific Need:
If you'd like to send an email to your volunteers (using the Volunteer OBX portal) with any additional information or instructions, and/or afterwards to thank them for their support, please follow these steps:
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Visit the LOGIN page on VolunteerOBX.com
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Once logged in, click on the 'MY AGENCY' button at the top of the page
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Scroll down and click the 'NEEDS' tab
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Find your specific Volunteer Need (in the light green section) and click the 'Responses' link under that listing
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An overlay will open with a list of volunteers who have signed up for your Need
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Check the box (left of the volunteer names) who you wish to send an email to
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Click the 'Message Responders' button to open up an email form and enter your email content; When your message is complete and you're ready to send, click 'Send Email'
* If you prefer to send this from an email account affiliated with your organization rather than via the Volunteer OBX portal, you can simply grab the email addresses from the signup list and do so!
Examples of Volunteer Portals in Other Communities:
Below are a few examples of existing volunteer hubs from other communities across the county, so you can see the future potential of the Volunteer OBX portal:
We appreciate you considering this opportunity to help streamline volunteer recruitment and management efforts in our community. If you have any questions or feedback about the Volunteer OBX portal, please don't hesitate to reach out.
Best Regards,
Jeff Schwartzenberg
Community Engagement Manager
Outer Banks Visitors Bureau
schwartzenberg@outerbanks.org
252-473-7155