How To Register as a Team at Every Meal

Many people bring their family, friends, and co-workers to volunteer together at Every Meal. If you want to reserve spots for other volunteers to join you at a volunteer event, you can register as a team.

Please note:

All volunteers over age 18 are encouraged to create an account, which prompts them to e-sign the Volunteer Release Form before they come, and click "join team" to register. The benefits of registering ahead of time are threefold: Ease with volunteer check-in upon arrival, clarity for the team leader on who is coming, and confirmation and reminder emails sent to the volunteers containing info on what to expect.

Team leaders cannot register for their team members because of the required signature on the Volunteer Release Form. We know it's not always possible to have all adults register ahead of time. Volunteers who have not registered ahead of time will fill out Volunteer Release Forms when they arrive. Please direct them to come early if possible so the event can begin on time. At a minimum please share Packing Events: What To Expect with your teammates for planning purposes.

 

Youth Volunteers: If you want to bring people younger than 18 to volunteer at Every Meal, check out the youth volunteer requirements here. They can create their own volunteer accounts if they are over 13 years old, or you can simply reserve slots for them on a team. See below.

Team Leaders must agree to follow all steps below to:

    • CREATE A TEAM: name your team, choose a date to volunteer, and reserve additional slots
    • MANAGE YOUR TEAM: invite people to join the team, adjust number of reserved slots, and unregister volunteers if needed
    • FINALIZE YOUR TEAM: before you volunteer, release any unfilled spots and make sure everyone is registered and added to the team

 

     CREATE A TEAM

1. Log in or Create a volunteer account if you haven't already. 

2. Check out the available volunteer opportunities. If you find one that works for you, select Register As Team.

3. On the Build Your Team page, enter a Team Name.

4. Click the Add Me button.

5. If you are the organizer, check the box under Leader.

6. Do not try to add volunteers at this step. At this point, you will only be able to Add Volunteers who have created volunteer accounts and have completed the qualification of signing the Volunteer Release Form.

7. Reserve additional spots for the number of people you think will join.

  • Do not include yourself in the number of spots.
  • Please come back later to release unused spots, so that others can sign up!

8. Click Continue for now.

9. You can now select the shift that works for your team.

10. Click Finish to create the team.

 

    MANAGE YOUR TEAM

Please find your team management area. You can get there two ways: you can follow this link, or you can go to your initials in the top right corner and select My Teams from the dropdown.

Next scroll down to your team and click Manage Team in the lower Righthand corner.

This will bring you to your Team Management Area

Here you can change the amount of reserved spots. 

    • The example below shows the team leader, Holly, and 2 reserved spots for 2 children. This team of three is ready to go!

FOR TEAMS Of YOUTH, you are finished. Youth volunteers are not required to register. They need to come with a signed Volunteer Release Form. More info here. 

FOR ADULTS, your next step is to invite people to join the team.

11. Invite People to join the team

This step invites the people on your team to create accounts, e-sign the Release Form, and click "join team" to register.

Your team is private and people cannot find it unless you invite them. There are two ways to invite them:

1. Click Add Team Member. The easiest way to invite people is to input their email address and have the system send them email invitations.

        • Enter the person's email address.
        • If they don't already have a volunteer account, a box will pop up that says the person has to create an account and get qualified. Hit "Click here."
        • They will receive an email containing next steps with the subject Every Meal | You've Been Invited to Join a Volunteer Team

2. Click Copy Join Link. You can paste the Join Link into your own emails, to invite or remind people to join the team.

        • The Join Links are very long. We suggest using bitly.com to shorten the Join Link before sending.
        • In your emails, you may want to give advice to:
            1. click the link
            2. create an account
            3. sign the Volunteer Release Form
            4. on the team page, click Join Team.

Again, please note: 

All volunteers over age 18 are encouraged to create an account, e-sign the release form before they come, and click "join team" to register. The benefits of registering ahead of time are threefold: Ease with volunteer check-in on arrival, clarity for the team leader on who intends to come, and confirmation and reminder emails sent to the volunteers, along with info on what to expect, such as where to go and what to where.

Team leaders cannot register for their team members, because of the required signature on the Release Form. We know it's not always possible to have all adults register ahead of time. Volunteers who have not registered ahead of time will fill out Volunteer Release Forms when they arrive. Please direct them to come early if possible, so the event can begin on time. At the very least please share this page so everyone coming knows what to expect: https://volunteer.everymeal.org/what-to-expect/ 

 

    FINALIZE YOUR TEAM

Finalize your team from the Team Management Area. To get there: click on your initials in the upper righthand corner, select My Teams, and then Manage Team.

12. Finalize your team. One week before your event, make sure your team is ready to volunteer by asking these 3 questions: 

 

1. Do I have the correct amount of spots reserved? 

As soon as possible, please release any reserved spots your team is not going to fill.

Go to the Reserved Slots dropdown, change the number and click update.

If a shift is full, there may be people on the waitlist. Once you release your spots, they can get registered!

FOR TEAMS Of YOUTH, reserving spots is the final step. Before your event, the number of reserved spots should be for Youth Volunteers.

FOR ADULTS, as adults are registering, your number of reserved spots will decrease. Before your event, you should have zero reserved spots, unless there are adults who are coming who have not completed the steps beforehand.

 

2. Did all adults create volunteer accounts?

Make sure that everyone over 18 has created a volunteer account. Is there anyone you haven't invited yet? You can use the Add Member function, or click Copy Join Link and email them the link. 

If you are struggling with the teams function, just have people create accounts here: https://volunteer.everymeal.org/user/register/

If people are struggling, please have them come 15 minutes early so they can sign the Volunteer Release Form on-site.

 

3. Did all adults get added to the team?

After folks create accounts, their final step is to join your team. You can check your team management area to see who has joined the team. Their names will show in your list of Team Members.

People can add themselves to the team if you send them an email through the Add Member function, or if you send the Join Link.

If someone says they already created a volunteer account but you don't see their name in your team:

    • Go to Add Team Member and enter their email address.
    • If they have successfully created an account, the system will show their name and say "Is this the user you want to add?"
    • Say yes!

If someone already registered for the volunteer event apart from your team, adding them to your team will not duplicate the registration. It will pull their registration onto your team.

When you finalize your team, it will look like the example below: 

  • There are still 5 Reserved Slots. Is this number appropriate?
  • The seven adults on the top list have been successfully added to the team.
  • At the bottom, under Team Invitations there are still three outstanding invitations (sent with the Add Team Member function).
    • I will resend the invitations and figure out if those folks are planning to join.
    • In the meantime, I will update the number of reserved slots to 3. If Jim, Michael, and Kevin cannot make it, I will make sure to take the number of reserved slots down to 0, because this team does not have any minors coming.

Click here to find additional info on managing your volunteer team.

Click here to find info on reusing your existing teams and deleting a team registration.

Questions? Contact us at Volunteer@everymeal.org or 612-568-4003