For Volunteers
Find opportunities, request a shift, follow approvals, and see your confirmed schedule.
Find and request a shift
- Open the public volunteer board link shared by your organization.
- Browse the list of shift cards or switch to Calendar for opportunities with times, locations, instructions, and signup actions. Expand More filters to search by name, choose a date range, filter by location or position, or include full shifts. Use Today, Tomorrow, This weekend, or Next week for a quick date choice. High priority opportunities are highlighted. Matching opportunities may show several open spots; each signup is for one person. Include full shifts if you want to see waitlists.
- Choose Sign up (or Join waitlist when full), then sign in or create an account. If prompted, confirm your email. Teamcrest keeps your selected shift after sign-in. Review the shift details and choose Confirm signup to submit; opening the page does not reserve a spot.
- Read the result. Coordinator approval and completed prerequisites may be required; your spot is confirmed only when the result says Confirmed. Creating an account alone does not join the team or reserve a place. Confirmation instructions appear once the shift is confirmed; check them for arrival details and what to bring.
- Check the result before making plans to attend.
If there are no upcoming opportunities, the board shows a message without search filters. Check back for new shifts. If your search returns no matches, use Clear filters, adjust your dates, or include full shifts to see waitlists.
Existing team members can also browse eligible Volunteer/Mixed opportunities in Find Shifts. Employees can volunteer using their existing account. Members with the Volunteer role cannot claim employee-only shifts.
Understand your request status
- Pending — your application or shift request needs approval. You are not yet assigned to the shift.
- Waitlisted — the slot is filled. A coordinator must approve your request after a slot becomes available; promotion is not automatic.
- Confirmed — you are assigned to the shift.
- Rejected or Canceled — the request is not an active assignment.
An Approved application means your organization application was accepted. Check the shift request or My Schedule to see whether the shift itself is confirmed.
In the simple volunteer experience, signed-in users can switch between Find Shifts, My Shifts, and My Requests on the public board. My Shifts shows your confirmed commitments without opening the team workspace. Use My Requests to revisit pending and confirmed requests. Boards without signup approvals may show shifts directly without request tabs. You can check pending applications even before you have team workspace access. You can also return to your personal requests page at /home/requests. Statuses update automatically every 30 seconds while the page is visible, and when you return to the tab or window. Hidden tabs do not poll.
See your schedule
After joining the team, open My Shifts in the simple volunteer workspace, or My Schedule in the full workspace, to see confirmed published shifts. Volunteer and employee assignments use the same calendar, with position, location, times, and notes.
Pending and waitlisted requests are not part of your assigned schedule. If prerequisites are missing or expired, contact the coordinator to complete and verify them, then follow their instructions to request the shift again.
Cancel or get help
Open your confirmed shift in My Schedule and use Cancel my commitment where offered. Confirmed Volunteer/Mixed shifts have a cancellation deadline set by the organization; the default is 24 hours before the start. After that deadline, use Find coverage or contact the coordinator. A coverage request does not release your commitment until an eligible replacement accepts and the coordinator approves.
Use your team's My Requests to record Unavailable dates, follow coverage invitations, or propose a two-way swap. Unavailable dates block new assignments but retain existing commitments. They do not require employee leave approval. A swap needs the other volunteer's consent and coordinator review. See My Requests.
Attendance and hours
Your coordinator records attendance and service hours. Follow their instructions for check-in and checkout. Scheduled hours shown on your calendar are planned time, not proof of hours served.
Related
Approval settings do not permit overlapping commitments. If you already have a shift during an opportunity, the board links to My Shifts instead of another signup. A saved request with an availability conflict is labeled Schedule conflict — not confirmed, rather than awaiting approval.
Record your service time
Open My hours → Service hours to see your assigned shifts and recorded service credit. If your organization uses actual clock-in/out tracking, choose Clock in when you arrive and Clock out when you leave. Active shifts stay visible even if you change the reporting dates. Allow location access if your organization requires clocking inside a work zone.
If coordinators record hours from scheduled duration or manual entry, attendance and service credit appear after they save the record. Contact your coordinator about corrections. A missed checkout longer than 24 hours is marked Needs correction without crediting the entire elapsed duration.