Resources for the Non-Internet Savvy
Do you have some volunteers who like things “the old way” and just aren’t ready to use technology? Or volunteers with an email address but are still getting comfortable with navigating the web? MSP can still help you save time and frustration when it comes to volunteer scheduling.
Identify your offline volunteers
First, for any volunteers who don’t feel as comfortable with computers, un-check the “Has internet access” box in their profile. For anyone without an email address, this box will be unchecked by default. This way you can quickly identify the volunteers who are not as accessible online, and this may be a great way to transition the less tech savvy so that they are getting emails and hard copies.
Easily contact and collect preferences
When it is time collect preferences or away dates for offline volunteers, use MSP’s filtering tools to identify those that need to be contacted by phone or in person. By filtering right in the Volunteer pane, you will have an easy to manage list of those volunteers with their contact information handy and their profile easy to edit while you chat! You can also use MSP’s Rosterizer to apply the same filtering tools and run a report with names and contact information for these volunteers to have in one handy place.
Print copies of the full schedule
Once the schedule is finalized, export the schedule and print it. This can be used to post in the church or hand out/mail to volunteers who won’t be accessing it online.
Give offline volunteers a printed copy of their schedule
After sending out the “schedule finalized” email to all of your volunteers, we can use the drop-down to select “Print to PDF – Just for recipients without internet access.” This will allow all volunteers to have a copy of their own schedule, either as an email or as a physical letter.
For those volunteers who have an email address but are not very comfortable on the computer (and who we have un-checked the “Has internet access” box), they will receive the email and also have a copy printed for them. This may be a great way to transition the less tech savvy so that they are getting emails and hard copies.
For those volunteers who have an email address but are not very comfortable on the computer (and who we have un-checked the “Has internet access” box), they will receive the email and also have a copy printed for them. This may be a great way to transition the less tech savvy so that they are getting emails and hard copies.
Increase font sizes
Do you have more mature volunteers that would benefit from reading in a larger font? Use the size menu in the Announcements pane to increase the font size before you print copies for those without internet access.
Or, help your mature volunteers who do use the Web Terminal by teaching them to increase the font size in their web browser. This is found in the settings area of the browser. Look for “zoom” or “magnification”.
Or, help your mature volunteers who do use the Web Terminal by teaching them to increase the font size in their web browser. This is found in the settings area of the browser. Look for “zoom” or “magnification”.
Print Mailing Labels
And if you won’t see a volunteer at church to hand out the printed papers, use the Mailing Labels pane to print labels for those without internet access to send them in the mail.
Get help from Leaders
In the Plus edition of MSP, you can designate lead volunteers as Leaders who can identify volunteers without internet access that need a sub and can request a sub for them!
