Glossary
The words Causefolk uses, from opportunity and shift to roster, party, waitlist offer, program, segment and network, each in a sentence or two.
Causefolk uses a few words in a particular way. Here they are in alphabetical order, each with where to read more.
Where to find it
Each word is used the same way across the staff app, the volunteer portal and this help center. Words in bold inside an entry have their own entry.
A to F
Application. A form some opportunities ask volunteers to fill in before they can sign up. Staff approve or decline it, and an approval can be set to expire. See Reviewing applications.
Approval. A volunteer's accepted application. Opportunities that require approval take signups only from approved volunteers.
Archived. A volunteer status: hidden from the default list and from messages to everyone or to a segment, but kept with all their history. A volunteer who signs up again becomes Active.
Attendance. Whether someone came to a shift: attended or no-show. Attendance credits a volunteer's hours.
Automation. An email that goes out on its own: the first-shift thank-you, hours milestones, anniversaries and "We miss you".
Badge. A milestone a volunteer has reached, such as their first shift or 50 hours, shown on their pages and record.
Capacity. How many people a shift takes. It counts people, so a party of 3 takes 3 spots.
Cause. The word the messaging page uses for an opportunity: a message to a cause reaches everyone on its shifts and in its series.
Check-in. Recording that someone has arrived: by staff on the roster, by the volunteer with the poster, their daily code or "I'm here", or at a kiosk.
Coordinator. A staff role that runs only the opportunities in their programs.
G to P
Kiosk. A tablet at your venue where volunteers find their name and check themselves in or out, without a phone.
Manage link. The private link in every signup email that opens a volunteer's shifts without logging in.
My volunteering. The page at causefolk.com/me where a volunteer sees every organization they volunteer with, and their calendar link.
Network. A group of organizations, such as a United Way and its partner agencies, that reports on its members together and lists their opportunities in one public directory.
Opportunity. A kind of volunteer work, such as "Community garden mornings", with its description, location, requirements and shifts.
Owner. The staff role that can do everything, including billing, staff and every setting.
Party. The people a volunteer brings with them: the volunteer plus their guests, signed up, waitlisted and canceled together.
Portal. Your organization's volunteer site, where people find opportunities, sign up and see My shifts.
Program. A group of related opportunities, such as "Food distribution". Programs filter your lists and decide what a coordinator runs.
R to Z
Requirement. Something a volunteer completes before signing up: a waiver to sign, a training to confirm or a certification to upload. Requirements can expire.
Role. A job within a shift, such as Greeter or Planter, with its own spots. Also a member's role on your team: owner, staff, coordinator or viewer.
Roster. The list of people on a shift, confirmed and waitlisted, where staff mark attendance and add or remove people.
Segment. A saved search of your volunteers, such as "Saturday drivers", that you can filter by or send a message to. It updates itself as volunteers change.
Self-reported hours. Hours a volunteer logs themselves, for staff to review or approve automatically.
Sending domain. Your own email domain, verified so volunteer email comes from your address.
Series. A shift that repeats, such as every Saturday from 9 to 12. Volunteers can join the whole series and are signed up for every date, including dates added later.
Shift. One time slot of an opportunity, with a start, an end and a capacity.
Viewer. A staff role that can see everything and change nothing.
Waitlist. The queue of people for a full shift, in the order they joined.
Waitlist offer. When a spot opens on a full shift, it can be held for the first person on the waitlist for your hold time (24 hours by default). They claim or decline it; if they do neither, it goes to the next person.