• And I doubt they will ever be implemented. Some of them that were suggested over 4 years ago have not been added, despite the author acknowledging their usefulness and were “high on our radar”.
    I expect I’ll be referred to other plugins as other reviewers were, so this review is mostly to alert potential users to this plugin’s important shortcomings, rather than a [likely] fruitless appeal to disinterested devs.

    One of the missing features is a time slot selector for the volunteer to choose their desired time of service. Going hand in hand with this would be specificity in the volunteer limit – i.e., the front page should inform the potential volunteer of how many volunteer slots are available for all times as set by the admin.

    The absence of this basic functionality results in unnecessary delays and extra effort from everyone involved.
    The volunteer signs up, the admin/organizer is notified, the admin/organizer must then contact the volunteer to ascertain when they’re available, the volunteer must then contact the admin/organizer to inform them if available/interested.
    Actually, the admin/organizer would probably need to contact just about ALL the volunteers individually in some cases. What if a volunteer can only serve at say 3pm for an all-afternoon event. Another volunteer has claimed 3pm but is flexible and other time slots are empty. Volunteer #2 is willing to serve at a different time so volunteer #1 can take #2’s slot.
    So on and so forth until agreements can be reached, if at all.
    This can be a massive waste of time and effort, especially if it ultimately turns out the volunteer(s) can’t/won’t serve after all.

    All of that can be remedied with just 2 elements on the sign up page: a “remaining slots open” status notice (per time options set by admin) and a “I’m available at these times” multi-select dropdown on the sign up page.
    The plugin would automatically shift time assignments around to eliminate empty slots, all without further effort/input from any volunteers or the admin.

    No fuss. No muss. Boom. Scheduling resolved in seconds.

    There should also be an option for users to edit/delete their “pledge” (not that they would necessarily bother returning just to cancel; common courtesy is rare these days).
    Users are assigned the role “Volunteer” when they sign up, so integration with member plugins such as Ultimate Member would be perfect. Or, at least there should be hooks so we can do it with our own functions.
    Creating a separate UM form just for volunteers is easy, but we’d still need to hook into profile edits (we’d need the “I’m available at these times” dropdown there as well).

    +1 on the suggestion of a calendar format. Much enhanced aesthetics and functional layout.

    As to complexity, these things add very little to the admin panel and front end pages. The learning curve remains insignificant. The UX is greatly enhanced and page display remains minimal.

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  • Plugin Author Jonathan Goldford

    (@jg-visual)

    Thanks for the honest feedback @it-hertz. We always appreciate it, even when it’s not the most favorable.

    For some of the features you listed, you’re exactly right that they’ve been requested in the past and haven’t been implemented. The biggest reason for this is time. Since the plugin is free to use, the work we put into it often has to take a backseat to our nonprofit clients. I know that’s not always ideal, but as a small team, it’s a tradeoff we have to make.

    It’s somewhat hard to hear you say that many of these features would be easy to implement. For example, something like offering volunteer time slots could potentially be really helpful, but it would require a massive investment of time. Here’s an example of some areas we’d need to consider:

    • What changes would be required in the custom database tables to make this work?
    • What documentation updates would be needed so those new to the plugin could easily pick it up and use it?
    • How do we handle all the volunteers that signed up before upgrading to the version with this functionality, both in the database and in the admin?
    • How does adjusting what shows on the frontend of websites potentially break any custom styling organizations have implemented?

    That’s just a few of the questions, but hopefully it gives you an idea of the considerations we’d need to take into account.

    That said, the plugin is open source. We’d welcome your contributions or those from others if they’d like to get involved. You can find the plugin’s Github repo at https://github.com/wiredimpact/wired-impact-volunteer-management.

    I also wanted to dive into a few specifics you brought up in case they’re helpful for you or others.

    One of the missing features is a time slot selector for the volunteer to choose their desired time of service.

    At some point down the road it’s possible we’ll add this feature. Until that happens, we’ve heard a number of nonprofits have had success setting up a new volunteer opportunity for each time slot. It does require some duplicated work to create each unique opportunity, but it solves a lot of the problems you mentioned in your review.

    Users are assigned the role “Volunteer” when they sign up, so integration with member plugins such as Ultimate Member would be perfect. Or, at least there should be hooks so we can do it with our own functions. Creating a separate UM form just for volunteers is easy, but we’d still need to hook into profile edits (we’d need the ‘I’m available at these times’ dropdown there as well).

    We set up the plugin to create users with the “Volunteer” role for exactly the reason you brought up. By making each volunteer a user, you can utilize tons of actions and filters inside of WordPress to modify, adapt or engage with the volunteers. The plugin itself also includes a number of hooks to allow organizations to customize it in whatever ways they’d like. If you see a hook missing where you need it, please let us know. We’re happy to consider adding it.

    Finally, I want to mention your use of the phrase “disinterested devs” in this situation is simply not the case. The folks who have worked on this plugin are extremely passionate about the nonprofit community and helping these organizations move their missions forward. Hopefully this is clear from the support forums, where not a single question has gone unanswered over the years. You’re absolutely right that we can’t add every feature, but we’ll continue supporting volunteer-driven organizations, even if that means recommending they use another tool that better meets their needs.

    If there’s anything else we can help with, just let us know.

Viewing 1 replies (of 1 total)
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