Contributions are the total number of times a volunteer donated their time to an organization. For example, Avery volunteered for 6 five-hour shifts, for a total of 30 hours. Avery's contribution is 6 because Avery volunteered 6 times.
Use contribution data to understand giving frequency, engagement, and who is most likely to volunteer when. In the Volunteers list, add Contributions columns and filters to see:
When volunteers first and last gave time
How many times volunteers gave time to an organization or opportunity
How many hours and minutes volunteers give on average
Which volunteers are currently active and inactive, and since when
When volunteers were historically active or inactive
You can add these columns and filters at the Organization or Opportunity level. View contributions data on dashboard analytics. Contributions data also appears on volunteer application profiles.
Examples
Use contribution data to determine engagement. For example, Sam and Alex both gave 5 hours to the organization. Sam volunteered once and gave 5 hours, which means Sam’s Total Contributions number is 1. Alex volunteered 5 times and gave 1 hour each time, which means Alex’s Total Contributions number is 5. Total Contributions data reveals that Alex is more engaged with the organization than Sam.
Use contribution data to help with scheduling decisions. For example, sort your Volunteer List to see who has the highest Average Contribution Time. You could also add an Average Contribution Time filter to see only volunteers who contribute more than a certain number of hours per shift. Schedule those volunteers into your longer shifts.
Define When Volunteers Become Inactive
Volunteers become inactive based on the last time they were assigned Hours Worked. By default, this setting is 6 months. You can change this setting to a different number of months, weeks, or days. For instructions, view Change the Active Contribution Status Time Period.
Tip: You can temporarily change the Active Contribution Status setting to view data for a certain timeline in reports and data columns.
Show Contributions Columns in the Volunteers List
In the organization’s or opportunity’s volunteer list, show one or more Contributions columns.
To show Contributions columns:
If you are in more than one organization, make sure you are in the right one.
Do one of the following:
For organization-level contributions, click People from the side menu, and then click Volunteers.
For opportunity-specific contributions:
Click Opportunities.
Select an opportunity, or use the search box to find and select an opportunity.
In the opportunity menu, click People, and then click Volunteers.
On the Volunteers page, click Columns.
On the opportunity level, the Column button is an icon:
On the organization-level, the button says Columns:
Click Contributions to expand that column section.
Select one or more columns to add:
Average Contribution Time — Average amount of time that a volunteer has given to the organization or opportunity
Total Contributions — Total number of times a volunteer donated their time to an organization or opportunity
Latest Contribution (Date) — When a volunteer last gave time
First Contribution (Date) — When a volunteer first gave time
Active Contribution Status — Whether a volunteer is active or inactive.
Active Contribution Status Since (Date) — The date on which the volunteer became active or inactive. To understand engagement, sort by this column to see volunteers who have been active or inactive the longest.
Click Apply.
To sort the volunteer list by contribution data, click a Contributions column. For example, to see who has given the most in your organization, click Total Contributions to sort the list.
Filter the Volunteers List by Contributions
In the Volunteers list, add one or more Contributions filters. Each filter has several options you can configure to refine the Volunteers list.
For example, after you add one or more Contributions columns, add Contributions filters to see only volunteers who are active and have at least one contribution.
To add contribution filters:
If you are in more than one organization, make sure you are in the right one.
Do one of the following:
For organization-level contributions, click People from the side menu, and then click Volunteers.
For opportunity-specific contributions:
Click Opportunities.
Select an opportunity, or use the search box to find and select an opportunity.
In the opportunity menu, click People, and then click Volunteers.
On the Volunteers page, click Filters.
On the opportunity level, the Filters button is an icon:
On the organization-level, the button says Filters:
Click Contributions to expand that filter section.
Select one or more filters to add:
Lifetime Contributions — Total number of times that a volunteer gave time to your organization.
Contributions by Opportunity — Total number of times a volunteer gave time to a specific opportunity
First Contribution — When a volunteer first gave time. Filter for volunteers who gave time on, before, or after a certain date; less or more than a certain number of days ago; or between a certain number of days ago.
Latest Contribution — When a volunteer last gave time. This filter has the same options as the First Contribution filter.
Active Contribution Status (Current) — Whether a volunteer is active or inactive. Filter for volunteers who are active or inactive currently. Filter for volunteers who have been active or inactive more or less than, or exactly, a certain amount of days, weeks, months, or years in total.
Active Contribution Status (Historical) — When a volunteer was active or inactive on, before, or after a certain date; between certain dates; or not between certain dates.
Average Contribution Time (Organization) — The average amount of time that a volunteer has given to the organization. Filter for volunteers who gave less than, more than, equal to, or between a certain number of hours and minutes.
Average Contribution Time (Opportunity) — The average amount of time that a volunteer has given to the selected opportunity. This filter has the same options as the Average Contribution Time (Organization) filter.
Enter or select the required information for the filter or filters you choose.
Click Filter (opportunity level) or Add Filter (organization level).
To return to the Volunteers list, close the filter panel.
Export Contributions Data
To export Contributions data, first select the Contributions columns you want, then export the Volunteers list. When you export, the columns currently shown are the columns included in the file.
To export Contributions data:
Show the Contributions columns you want, using the steps in the earlier section of this article. For more information on choosing columns and filters, read Manage Columns on the Volunteers List or Use Filters.
(Optional) Save your columns, filters, and sort orders as a view so you can return to it later without rebuilding the view.
Export the Volunteers list. For the steps, read Export Volunteers.
Note: The export is sent as a download link to the email address for the account that ran it. The link expires seven days after it is sent, and larger exports can take a few minutes to arrive.
Download Contributions Reports
You can download these reports at the Organization or Opportunity level:
Total Contributions
First-Time Contributions
Average Contribution Time
In reports, entries refers to hours worked entries, which are the same thing as contributions. For example, the Total Entries column shows the total number of contributions.
For information about how to download these reports, view Download Contributions Reports (for an Organization) and Download Contributions Reports (for an Opportunity).
View Contributions Analytics
On the Dashboard page for your organization, view impact and engagement analytics, which include data visualizations. For more information about analytics, view Engagement, Impact, and Recruitment Analytics for an Organization.