We've listened to feedback from volunteer managers and updated our opportunity builder, making it easier to write compelling opportunity descriptions for your volunteers!

If you're a volunteer manager, you now have helpful hints and examples to support you in writing your opportunity description. We've also made things easier by providing a list builder for specific tasks and responsibilities, which are shown on the social CVs of all approved volunteers.

Any  opportunities you've posted before this update will contain the overview you've already provided, and you can edit the opportunity to add tasks and responsibilities.

For more guidance on how to post an opportunity on Be Collective, please take a look at our Help Centre article here.

Good news for volunteer resource centres, and other organisations – our Opportunities CSV export has been improved to include more data on opportunities you've endorsed.

We've also improved reporting on tagged opportunities. This make it easier to report on opportunities tagged under our recent Covid–19 campaign.

The following new fields have added to this export:

• External organiser – the group providing the opportunity
• External organiser location – the location of the group providing the opportunity
• External organiser postcode – the location of the group providing the opportunity (if provided)
• Campaigns – any campaigns attached as tags to the opportunity
• Opportunity postcode – the postcode of the location where the opportunity is based (if provided)

We're pleased to announce the launch of our new Resource Centre! 

This can be found at becollective.com/resources, and houses useful 'how-to' guides on getting started with Be Collective, whether you're a volunteer or volunteer manager. Soon, you'll be able to find video guides here too!

The Resource Centre sits alongside our Help Centre, which can be found at help.becollective.com and is the place to go for more detailed answers to any questions you have about Be Collective's suite of volunteer management tools.

As always, we're keen to hear from you on any additional resources you'd like to see. We're committed to providing you with the tools you need to make the most of Be Collective.

Our application forms for groups and opportunities have undergone a makeover! The new forms make applications quicker for volunteers, and setting up application forms easier for volunteer managers.

As part of this update, basic details provided by a volunteer as part of their Be Collective profile – such as name, age and contact details – will be included automatically on all application forms. This saves the volunteer time they'd have previously spent entering these details again, and ensures volunteer managers receive the information they need.

If you have any existing opportunities listed, we advise you to review your existing application forms to ensure fields haven't been duplicated.

For more information on how to customise your application forms, please see our Help Centre article here.

Great news! If you're a volunteer manager you can now search all member data fields within your group, including notes. This can be very useful in helping you identify suitable volunteers within your existing member list.

For instance, if your group provides lunch for your volunteers and you've entered dietary requirements in volunteers' notes, you can select open the Manage Volunteers tab of your group profile in Management mode, then open the Advanced Filter.

From here, you can select 'Notes' from the drop-down menu and enter, for instance, 'vegan' to return a list of all group members with 'vegan' in their notes.

If you'd like to look for any potential volunteers with an active Working with Children check, all you need to do is open the View drop-down menu (which reads 'View: Default') and select 'Working With Children/Vulnerable People Check'.

Following some feedback from our volunteer managers, we've made some improvements to the partnerships panel in group management mode.

Now, volunteer managers can see not only the groups they're partnered with; they can also see contact details for each partner group, the number of opportunities the group has and the number of opportunities they've endorsed for you.

You can also toggle on or off automatic opportunity endorsement for each partner from the partnerships panel, without visiting the profile for each partner group.

Please note, the public view of your partnerships in your group profile remains unchanged - the view above is shown only to group managers, in group management mode.

Great news for volunteers - testimonials from volunteer managers are now included on your social record. Now, anyone you share your social CV with can now see the glowing reviews you earn for your volunteering!

All you need to do is select the opportunities you'd like to include on your social record when you export it from the social record tab of your profile, and any testimonials attached to these opportunities will automatically be included.

'Work from anywhere' opportunities, including virtual & online opportunities which you can do from your computer at home, are now much easier to find on Be Collective!

All you need to do is click on 'Find an opportunity' in the menu, then check the 'Work from anywhere' box under the Location field before you search.

Say hello to heat maps (Be Collective Plus+ only)

If you're a Be Collective Plus+ user and you'd like a better idea of your volunteer activity, we have you covered with our new interactive maps! These can be found on the Reports tab of your Group management dashboard, and will give you a quick visual representation of the areas your opportunities and volunteers are situated.

If you have any feedback, we'd love to hear from you - please feel free to contact us at help@becollective.com.

Due to the current situation globally, here at Be Collective we are encouraging our volunteers, volunteer-involving organisations, volunteer resource centres, community groups, corporate and government partners to continue to support each other in these challenging times. 

As a business, we are taking steps to ensure we are implementing social distancing where possible and would recommend all organisations and volunteers follow suit.

You may wish to take this opportunity to tweak your volunteering opportunity listings so that anything that can be done remotely, is done remotely. That means calls, video conferences, collaborating on shared documents or starting group chats in WhatsApp. 

Remember, technology is your friend, use Be Collective to promote your cause, recruit volunteers, connect, and mobilise goodwill in your neighbourhood.

If you need support to adjust your volunteering opportunities or need some guidance on how you can start recruiting "virtual" or remote-based volunteers, reach out to us at hello@becollective.com or message us on Facebook.

Keep connecting with your community and keep up communication with your elderly or vulnerable neighbours.

Look after yourself and keep doing what you can, when you can. 

From Team Be Collective