Volunteers
Answers on volunteering in Muin: publishing opportunities and shifts, signing volunteers up, collecting waivers, logging hours, and reimbursing expenses.
15 questions
Can a volunteer ask to be paid back without a staff account?
Yes. Volunteers and parents file their own expenses in the member portal, and they never need a staff login. 1. Sign in at your organization's portal, `/go/{your-org}/me` 2. Open **Money back** and tap **New request** 3. Take a photo of the receipt. Muin reads the merchant, total and date off the photo 4. Check what it read, correct anything wrong, and send it Starting from the event you signed up for links the request to that event automatically. Mileage needs no receipt, only the miles. **Money back** sits under **More** until your organization turns reimbursements on. Once it does, it becomes a top-level door.
Who approves a volunteer reimbursement, and can I approve my own?
Who approves what is set per organization under **Settings** > **Approvals**, and the same setting governs every kind of request, not just reimbursements. Three questions decide it: - Who approves - Whether an owner or admin may approve something they sent themselves - The amount above which a second signature is required A small organization can choose to run with one person: nothing is queued for a second approver, and the owner approves their own request by writing down why. The note stays on the audit record permanently. Larger organizations can set an amount below which claims with a receipt are approved automatically and recorded, one approver above it, and two above a second amount. Until the questions are answered, nothing is approved automatically and nobody approves their own request. When a rule stops you, Muin opens a dialog that names the rule and links to the exact setting rather than flashing a message you might miss.
How does the treasurer know where to send my reimbursement?
You tell them, on your **Payout preferences** page. Reach it from the related links on any of your expenses. 1. Click **Add preference** 2. Pick a **Payment method**: **Zelle**, **Venmo** or **Mailed check** 3. Fill in what that method needs: an email or phone number for Zelle, a handle for Venmo, or who the check is payable to plus the address 4. Tick **Use this as my default payout method** if it is the one you usually want You can hold several and mark one as the default. The line under the header tells you how many requests are awaiting payment against your preferences, so you can see before you change anything whether the change matters right now. Muin does not move the money itself. Your treasurer pays by the method you chose and records it, and your request then shows **Paid** with that method.
A volunteer logged hours but they are still pending. What now?
Logged hours count for nothing until somebody approves them. Badges, board numbers, grant reports and the impact charts all read approved hours only. 1. Go to **Nonprofit** > **Volunteering** > **Hours** 2. Work the **Pending hours awaiting review** queue at the top. Use the **Event** filter to narrow it to one event 3. On a row, **Approve**, **Edit** to correct the number first, or **Reject** with a reason For a whole event's worth, tick the rows and use **Approve selected**. A rejection reason is required and the volunteer reads it, so write it for them: say what was wrong and whether they should log it again. The buttons only appear if you hold the Volunteers manage permission. With view-only access you can read the queue and run the reports.
How do I get a letter stating my volunteer hours?
For a student, a court service requirement, or an employer matching program, two routes: **The volunteer pulls their own.** In the member portal at `/go/{your-org}/me`, open **Year summary** under Volunteering. **Staff produce it.** On **Nonprofit** > **Volunteering** > **Hours**, use **Download year-end PDF** for one calendar year, or **Download annual report PDF** for the organization-wide document a funder or school district asks for. The coordinator briefing offers the same annual report. Only approved hours appear. If a figure looks low, check the pending queue first.
Why was a volunteer never asked to sign a waiver?
An event asks for the waiver it names, and falls back to your tenant default when it names none. If there is no default either, it asks for nothing. 1. Go to **Nonprofit** > **Volunteering** > **Waivers** 2. Check the **Tenant default** selector at the top. If it reads **Broken pointer**, the template it names has been archived. Pick a live one 3. For one event with different wording, attach its waiver on the **Event Templates** tab Bump the **Version** whenever you change the wording. Signatures stay attributable to the text people actually read, which is what makes them defensible.
Which volunteers need a background check?
**Nonprofit** > **Volunteering** > **Waiver Compliance** answers it. The **Background-check clearance** card lists every volunteer whose approved hours crossed a clearance threshold, and the **Triggered by** column says which one. There are two thresholds, monthly and annual, and they are independent. A volunteer serving three hours a month crosses the annual threshold without ever crossing the monthly one. Clearance status reads **On file**, **Expiring**, **Expired**, **Awaiting result** or **None on file**. Leave **Show only volunteers still missing a clearance** ticked to see just the list you act on, and use **Download CSV** for your insurer or auditor. The note under the card names the jurisdiction rule pack the thresholds come from. Confirm it is the right one for your state in volunteer settings.
Where do I start on a volunteering morning?
**Nonprofit** > **Volunteering** > **Overview**. It opens on the **Today** tab and tells you who is coming, who has not checked in, and what needs your review. Four tabs: - **Today**: the day in front of you - **Volunteers**: the roster, with **Add a volunteer**, import, and NFC card assignment - **Applications**: who applied, with a count badge when somebody is waiting on you - **Shifts**: your shifts and how full each one is For the longer view, **Coordinator briefing** in the header answers five questions: are we staffed, who's slipping, who deserves thanks, what do I tell the board, and what's coming. **Print briefing** takes it into a meeting.
How do I recognize my most dedicated volunteers?
**Nonprofit** > **Volunteering** > **Hour Heroes** has a year-to-date leaderboard and the annual award. To give the award: 1. Set **Year** (it defaults to last year, because you usually award in January for the year just finished) 2. Set **Top N**: how many volunteers get it. The default is 10 3. Click **Award Hour Hero** Re-running it for the same year is safe. Awards are idempotent, so a second run does not create duplicates. The leaderboard reads approved hours only, so an unapproved queue produces an empty board. Volunteers see their badges and streaks under **Recognition** in the member portal.
What happens when a spot opens on a full volunteer shift?
The spot is offered to the next person on that shift's waitlist. They are not signed up until they accept. - The volunteer gets an email and an in-app notice saying the spot is theirs if they accept by a date and time. They accept or decline from their volunteer portal. - The time to accept is the waitlist offer window in **Settings** > **Nonprofit** > **Volunteers** (24 hours by default). Every offer closes 2 hours before the shift starts. - If the offer runs out, the volunteer stays on the waitlist at the back of the queue, and the spot goes to the next person. - If they decline, they leave the waitlist. - If they hold two offers for shifts that overlap, accepting one declines the other. A spot that opens less than 2 hours before the shift is not offered. The coordinator gets an alert instead, so they can call someone.
Do volunteers have to pick a shift and a role when they sign up?
Only when the event has them. An event with no shifts or roles shows no pickers. When an event has shifts, a shift pick is required. There is no "Any shift" option, because spots and waitlists are counted per shift and role. When a shift has more than one role, the volunteer picks a role too. Roles come from one list for your organization, in **Settings** > **Nonprofit** > **Volunteer roles**. A role can have a minimum age, checked against the shift date, and can require certifications that must be valid on that date. A volunteer who does not qualify is told why and which roles they can pick instead. A volunteer can hold more than one shift on the same day as long as the times do not overlap.
How do I hold spots for a school or company group?
Hold the spots on the role, then send the group its own sign-up link. 1. Open the event and go to its **Staffing** tab 2. On the role, select **Hold spots for a group** 3. Enter the group's name, how many spots to hold, and when unused spots are released 4. Select **Copy group sign-up link** and send it to the group You can hold only as many spots as the role has open. Held spots are hidden from the public sign-up until the release time. At that time, unused spots are offered to the waitlist first, then opened to the public. You can also release a hold early from the same panel.
Where do volunteer roles come from?
From one list for your organization, in **Settings** > **Nonprofit** > **Volunteer roles**. A role is a job volunteers do, such as Driver or Packer. You set it up once, then add it to a shift on any event. - Each role can have a minimum age, checked against the volunteer's age on the shift date - A role can require certifications, set up in HR under **Certifications** - Changes apply to future shifts. People already signed up who no longer qualify are flagged, not removed To use a role, open an event's **Staffing** tab and select **Add role** on a shift. A role still used by an upcoming shift cannot be removed; take it out of those shifts first.
What happens when I lower a role's spots, or move someone to another role?
Nobody loses a spot without you choosing it. - **Lowering spots** below the number signed up asks you to choose who moves to the front of that role's waitlist. People already checked in stay. Each person you pick is told. - **Moving a person** to another shift or role is done from **People** on the role, on the event's **Staffing** tab. If the new role is full, you can add them to its waitlist and keep their current spot, or seat them over capacity with a reason. They get an email with the new shift and role.
Can I seat someone when a role is full?
Yes, but only staff can, and only with a reason. - On the event's **Staffing** tab, open **People** on the role and use **Seat over capacity** - At the door, on the day-of board, a walk-in or a waitlisted person can be seated over capacity. Tick **Seat over capacity** and type the reason The reason is saved with their sign-up, and the coordinator grid shows the role as "+N over". The self-serve kiosk never seats anyone over capacity; it puts them on the waitlist instead.
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