Volunteer Website Manual

This website will play a central role in your volunteer experience, so we’ve created this manual to help you navigate it. Volunteer.bridgerefugees.org is a one-stop-shop that includes helpful resources, pertinent volunteer information, all upcoming volunteering opportunities, and an efficient way to keep track of your hours.

If you would like to download and save this manual, click here.

How to navigate the site:

From the main page, you will see a menu bar on the left side. You can access our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page, office contact information, ESL resource list, Youth Mentoring Program information, and our upcoming volunteer opportunities. You can also view your personal volunteer dashboard which gives you a summary of your volunteer hours and offers suggestions for upcoming opportunities. Feel free to watch our tutorial video for an in depth view of how to navigate the site.

How to sign up for volunteering opportunities:

When you’re ready to start volunteering, follow these simple steps to view and sign up for upcoming volunteer opportunities:

Click on the “Opportunities” page of the main menu. You’ll see all available volunteering opportunities. The grid view will automatically appear, but if you are looking for opportunities on specific days, we recommend you use the calendar view. This will allow you to see what needs we have on any given day.

The titles of the opportunities will have the date, type of appointment or transportation, and the case code of the client. You can hover over the opportunities to see a preview of the description.

Select an opportunity. When you click on a specific opportunity, you will be taken to the description page with all the details you will need to know about this opportunity. Please do not share this information with anyone, as it contains confidential information about our clients.

Sign up for the opportunity by clicking “Respond”. Select the shift you’re wanting to take and make sure to click “Submit Opportunity Response” for your response to go through.

Some of the opportunities have multiple shifts (pick-up and drop-off), when we’re not asking you to stay with the client for the entire appointment. The times of these shifts are clearly labeled in the description. If you’re able to help with both shifts, please select both. If you’re only able to help with one shift, then only select the one you’re able to do.

Some other opportunities have only one shift (i.e. a DMV appointment) where we’re asking you to stay with the client for the entirety of the appointment. There will only be one shift option when responding to this type of opportunity.

Note: Once the opportunity has reached volunteer capacity, it will disappear from the opportunities page, to prevent multiple people from signing up for the same opportunity.

Look for a confirmation and reminder email. You can expect to receive a confirmation email immediately after responding to the opportunity. Additionally, a reminder email will be automatically sent the day before the opportunity will take place. Both emails will contain a link to the details, which you can view at any time.

If you’d like to go back and view the opportunity details, you may do so at any time by going to the “Dashboard” page and clicking on “Opportunity Responses”. You can view every opportunity you’ve responded to here. You can also view them on the “Calendar” page of your profile.

If a scheduling conflict arises and you are no longer able to help with an opportunity, please let us know by doing two things:

Unregister for the opportunity on the website. Simply go to the opportunity and click “Manage My Response,” then unselect the shift and click “Submit Opportunity Response.” This puts the shift back in the list for someone else to grab.

Let us know! Please reach out to your volunteer manager or coordinator to let us know that you are no longer able to volunteer for that particular opportunity. Especially if it’s a last minute change, we will need to be notified so that we can make other arrangements.

Take a look at this tutorial video if you’d like a visual guide for viewing, signing up, or unregistering for an opportunity.

How to log volunteer hours:

Recording volunteer hours and miles are helpful for our records and will contribute to future funding for clients, so please don’t forget to report your hours. Follow these steps to do so:

Navigate to the hour tracking page by clicking the “Add Hours” button at the top of the page.

Answer the required questions:

The first question is “Are these hours in reference to an opportunity you responded to on this site?” Select “Yes”. This ensures that these hours are connected to the opportunity you signed up for.

From the dropdown menu, select the opportunity that these hours are in reference to. All opportunities you’ve responded to on our website will automatically appear in this list. Once selected, some fields will automatically populate. Make sure the correct date, hours and miles are entered into the corresponding fields.

Enter in the client case code. This can be found in the title of the opportunity: 1/1 - Transportation for Medical Appointment - C27001. This ensures that we know which client you served. If you are reporting hours where you did not interact with any clients, like assisting at an event or helping with administrative work, please write in “Admin” or “Event”, so we know that these hours are not client-specific.

Under the “Description” box, feel free to add any notes or information you’d like us to know about these hours.

Click “Submit Hour Entry” to save the information. Your hours are now logged and will appear on your dashboard.

Some volunteer opportunities like ESL, tutoring, and donation pickups will not always be listed on the website calendar as they happen sporadically or are scheduled by you. For these opportunities, we have special instructions:

ESL Tutoring: If you are providing ESL tutoring for our clients, we will assign an ESL Tutoring opportunity to you. This will be a flexible opportunity that you can respond to and report hours for as many times as you need to. You will select the “ESL Tutoring” option from the dropdown menu and fill in the information (as detailed in the above instructions).

School Tutoring: If you are providing school tutoring for our clients’ children, we will assign a School Tutoring opportunity to you. This will be a flexible opportunity that you can respond to and report hours for as many times as you need to. You will select the “School Tutoring” option from the dropdown menu and fill in the information (as detailed in the above instructions).

All other volunteer hours: If you volunteer with us in any other capacity or have spent time with our clients outside of any Bridge-provided opportunities, we ask that you please report these hours as well. This could be assisting with donation pick-ups, taking a client to the store (not scheduled by Bridge), or simply hanging out with a client. You will select the “Self-Reporting Hours (Chattanooga)” or “Self-Reporting Hours (Knoxville)” option, depending on your location, from the dropdown menu and fill in the information (as detailed in the above instructions).

If you’d like a visual aid, feel free to watch this detailed tutorial video on how to log hours through the site.

How to download the App:

If you prefer to use your phone for signing up for opportunities and logging hours, there is an app you can download on your phone! You can search for “Causer-Get Connected” in your phone app store. It is available for both Apple and Android phones/tablets.

The process for viewing opportunities, signing up for shifts, and logging hours on the app is largely the same as on the website. Please take a look at this tutorial video for an overview of how to use the app.

All Volunteer Website Tutorial Video Links (save these for future reference):

Thank you for being a part of the Bridge volunteer team! You play a crucial role in our mission and have an invaluable impact on our clients and community. Please reach out to your Volunteer Manager or Coordinator if you have any questions.