❖ Heads up! Only site managers can create and manage initiatives. This article is intended for Site Managers. If you're an Advanced Program Manager looking for information about managing your Programs, click here. If you're a Program Facilitator looking for information about reviewing your Programs, click here.
➤ Video training: This article includes steps for creating and managing Initiatives on your site; however, you can also watch the following video walkthrough for a more in-depth look at this great feature!
Initiatives are a great tool for grouping Opportunities that fall under specific categories. Do you have Opportunities associated with a special event? Do you have Opportunities that occur during particular times of the year? Would you like to have a way to associate an Opportunity with a specific group of volunteers—like youth volunteers or employees within a company? If you answered yes, we recommend creating an Initiative to meet those needs! Here we cover:
- How to add Initiatives
- How to assign an Initiative to an opportunity
- How to export Initiative data
- The volunteer perspective
How to add Initiatives
To get started:
1. Go to Volunteerism > Opportunities. 
2. Select the Initiatives tab. 
3. Click Add New Initiative. 
4. Fill out the required fields and personalize the Initiative! 
- You can add color with the color selector and change the text color to match.
- Pick an icon that is aligned with that Initiative.
- Write up a description that outlines the goals and purpose of that Initiative.
- This can be another way for you to further personalize the Initiative!
- You can add links, images, graphs, etc.
- Feel free to edit the text with the editor by changing the font color, etc.
ⓘ So you know:
- The maximum width for an image in the Initiative banner is 993px.
- There is a 20px padding around the edge of the description and an additional 70px padding added to the left-hand side of the banner.
- This means your image won't touch the sides of the banner.
- The description appears at the top of the Opportunity page that the Initiatives is assigned to. It shows up in a banner with the information and personalization you include.
5. Personalize the Confirmation, Reminder, and Follow-Up Messages sent to volunteers automatically. 
- The message you type in these fields will populate in the specific automated notifications that are listed under each message type.
✏️ Quick tip: You must insert the {{initiative_message}} template key in the specific automated notification for it to pull your message into the notification.
- For more information about automated notifications, click here.
6. Click Create Initiative.
How to add questions to an Initiative
You can add custom Initiative Response Questions for volunteers to answer when they respond to an Initiative! These questions are a great way to:
- Collect important information—like shirt sizes or how they heard about the Opportunity
- Determine if they have the desired skills or experience for the Opportunity, etc.
You can also add custom Initiative Opportunity Questions that your advanced program managers must answer when associating an Opportunity with an Initiative. This is a great way to have your advanced program manager answer important questions that provide additional details and justification to volunteers responding to the Opportunity!
- Want to make sure the advanced program manager has associated an appropriate Initiative to an Opportunity? You could ask them:
- Does this Opportunity align with the goals and objectives listed in the Initiative description?
- What are the goals and objectives of this Opportunity?
- Do you want to provide additional details for volunteers about that Opportunity and Initiative?
- For example, let's say you have a youth-focused Initiative, you could ask:
- What supervision will be provided during this Opportunity?
- Maybe you want to ask clarifying questions about the Opportunity, like:
- Will photos be taken during the Opportunity?
- Do volunteers need to bring personal protective equipment?
- Can volunteers bring their pets?
- For example, let's say you have a youth-focused Initiative, you could ask:
ⓘ So you know: Initiative Opportunity Questions and the answers provided by the advanced program managers appear to volunteers on the Opportunity's profile page under Additional Details.
How to exclude a Program from an Initiative
Do you have a Program with a mission that doesn't quite align with the purpose of an Initiative? Maybe they aren't such a great fit? You can opt to exclude those Programs from associating their Opportunities with the Initiative!
1. Go to Volunteerism > Opportunities.
2. Select the Initiatives tab.
3. Select the Initiative you want to update.
4. Click the Excluded Programs tab. 
5. Use the Add A Program dropdown to select the Program you want to be excluded from associating their Opportunities with that Initiative.
6. Click Add.
ⓘ So you know:
- You can add all Programs by clicking Add All Programs.
- You can quickly remove a Program from the exclusion list by clicking the X icon under the Options column.
- Want to remove several Programs from the exclusion list at once? Check the boxes by each Program and click X Remove beside Actions.
How to assign an Initiative to an opportunity
When you're ready to assign an Initiative to an Opportunity, you can do so when creating a new Opportunity or by updating an existing one! This selection is made after you assign the Opportunity to a specific Program.
1. Go to Volunteerism > Opportunities.
2. For an existing Opportunity, click the Opportunity Title from the table you want to assign the Initiative to. 
- Click here for more information about creating Opportunities!
3. Use the dropdown beside Initiative to assign the Initiative to that Opportunity. 
✏️ Quick tip: If you require an Initiative Opportunity Question for your advanced program managers, we recommend assigning the Initiative to an Opportunity with the bulk-add option. This overrides the requirement so that your advanced program managers are answering the question when updating the Opportunity.
4. Be sure to click Update Opportunity to save your changes! 
How to assign an Initiative in bulk
To get started:
1. Go to Volunteerism > Opportunities.
2. On the Manage Opportunities page, check the boxes beside the Opportunities you want to assign the Initiative to. 
3. With the Actions for Selected Opportunities dropdown, select Assign or Remove Initiative.
4. Use the dropdown to select the Initiative you want to assign and click Update Initiative. 
✏️ Quick tip: Follow the same steps but change your selection to Remove from the assigned initiative before updating. This removes any assigned Initiatives from the selected Opportunities.
How to export Initiative data
Ready to export and review your Initiative data?
1. Go to Volunteerism > Opportunities.
2. Select the Initiatives tab.
3. Click Export Initiatives. 
- This exports that data to a CSV.
The volunteer perspective
Once you have assigned an Initiative to an Opportunity, your volunteers can then see information about that Initiative when they click on the Opportunity from their dashboard. This includes the personalized description you wrote for the Initiative and custom Initiative Opportunity Questions and their answers.
