Show, Hide, or Enable a Waitlist for Full Opportunities as a Site Manager

Modified on Mon, 31 Jul 2023 at 04:52 PM

Heads up! This article is intended for site managers. If you're a program facilitator looking for more information about how to review your programs, click here! 


One benefit of your site is that opportunities and shifts can have capacities—that is, a set number of volunteer spots available. Once the max number of volunteers has responded and a opportunity's capacity is reached, one of several things can happen, depending on your site's settings:


These settings are available in the Opportunities section of the main settings (Settings > Main Settings) on your site manager panel. Each of these scenarios and their settings is described in greater detail in the following sections. Note that a setting applies to all opportunities on your site; for example, you can't select to hide some full opportunities and show others.

So you know: 

  • Opportunities with a duration of "ongoing" can't have capacities. 
  • The option to set a capacity for a opportunity is only for those with duration types like runs until, happens on, and shift opportunities. 
  • To learn more about posting opportunities—click here.


Hiding Full Opportunities

If your site has several currently full opportunities, you might want to hide those so volunteers can find your opportunities with open volunteer spots faster. 

To hide full opportunities:

1. From your site manager panel, go to Settings > Main Settings.

2. Scroll down to the Opportunities area and select No from the Show Full Opportunities dropdown.

3. Click Update Settings.

Now when an opportunity is full, it will no longer appear in the volunteer view. If a volunteer unregisters and the opportunity once again has available spots, then they can view and respond to it again. 


Showing Full Opportunities—No Waitlist

Some site managers prefer to show all opportunities, even if those opportunities are full. The default setting is to show full opportunities without a waitlist. 

To show full opportunities without the waitlist option:

1. From your site manager panel, go to Settings > Main Settings.

2. Scroll down to the Opportunities area and select Yes from the Show Full Opportunities dropdown.

3. Click Update Settings.

If a volunteer clicks on an opportunity with shifts, they can see how many spots are still open and how many are filled: 

If a volunteer clicks on an opportunity that doesn't have set shifts, they can still see how many spots remain for that opportunity:


Showing Full Opportunities—Waitlist Option

Within the "show full opportunities" setting you have the option of providing a waitlist feature for volunteers who are interested.  

To show full opportunities with the waitlist option:

1. From your site manager panel, go to Settings > Main Settings.

2. Scroll down to the Opportunities area and select Yes, and enable a waitlist when full from the Show Full Opportunities dropdown.

3. Click Update Settings.

Now, when a volunteer clicks on an opportunity, they'll see the waitlist button if the opportunity is full: 

When a volunteer clicks the Waitlist button, several things happen:

  • The button changes to Added to Waitlist, which the volunteer can click to be taken off the waitlist.
  • The volunteer gets a message (via email and in-app messaging) saying they've been added to the waitlist.
  • The volunteer appears in the Waitlist table available to site managers. To access it, go to Volunteerism > Opportunities, select the opportunity, and scroll down. The table is near the bottom of the Opportunitiepage. 
    • You can export this list as necessary. 

If a spot opens up (either by someone unregistering from the opportunity, or a manager adding spots), everyone on the waitlist is notified. Newly available spots are filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

Note: Waitlists are available for volunteer opportunities only—not events.