BOSTON CARES WEBSITE GUIDE

BOSTON CARES
WEBSITE GUIDE
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Boston Cares Website Guide
How to Create a Boston Cares Account………………………………………………………………………………………..…page 3
How to Sign Up for a New Volunteer Orientation (NVO)……..………………………………………………….………page 8
How to sign up for New Volunteer Opportunities on our Calendar…………………………..…………………….page 9
How to Check your Account ……………………………………………….………………………….…………………………….page 16
How to Remove Yourself from an Opportunity ……………………………………………………………………………page 18
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HOW TO CREATE AN ACCOUNT
1) Open your internet browser. Some popular internet browsers are Safari, Firefox, and
Google chrome. Bostoncares.org no longer supports internet explorer. For best results,
use another browser.
2) Enter http://www.bostoncares.org/ into the search bar at the top of your browser. Hit
Enter.
3) Once our website has loaded, click Become a Member at the top left hand corner of the
page.
4) Then select Sign Up/Registration from the left hand column or click Create an Account.
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5) Fill out the area next to the asterisks, which I have highlighted below, on the Volunteer
Sign Up Page.
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6) Expand the Volunteer Registration Questions by clicking on the plus sign, answer the
questions with asterisks next to them (also highlighted), and submit your answers.
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7) After you submit, the examples below show you what your will look like and what email
you will receive.
Congratulations! You have now created an account with Boston Cares! In order to volunteer
you now need to complete a New Volunteer Orientation (NVO). See the directions below for
how to sign up for an NVO.
Note: If you try to sign up for projects before attending an NVO, you will be redirected to sign
up for an NVO.
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HOW TO SIGN UP FOR A NEW VOLUNTEER ORIENTATION (NVO)
Once you have created your account you are going to need to sign up for a New Volunteer
Orientation (NVO) before you can volunteer for any opportunities. You can either click on New
Volunteer Orientation on the success page after you register, or you can follow the steps
below.
1) To sign up for an NVO, click on Become a Member.
2) Then click on New Volunteer Orientation.
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3) On that page you will find links to different locations. Click on which location you want
to attend an NVO in order to see the NVO dates and times.
4) Scroll to the bottom of the page and you will find a section that says sign up that lists all
the dates and times of NVOs. Click on the plus sign to see the details of an NVO and click
sign up to sign up for the NVO.
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5) After you sign up, your page will look like this:
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6) Please follow the directions and check your email so that you can get additional
information about the NVO. The confirmation email that you will receive will look like
this:
After you have completed your NVO, the leader will activate your account, and you will be able
to sign up for any volunteer opportunities on our Calendar. See the below directions on
how to sign up for projects.
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HOW TO SIGN UP FOR VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES ON OUR CALENDAR
Basic Volunteer Opportunity Sign Up
1) In order to sign up for volunteer opportunities on the calendar, go to our website, and
click the Calendar tab in the top left.
2) Once you are on our calendar page, you can look for volunteer opportunities by date
and time. The light gray opportunities have passed, dark gray are filled, and the blue
opportunities are open for volunteers to sign up. Many dates have more opportunities
than show in this view. To see them, click see more at the bottom of the day. To learn
more about a particular opportunity, click on that opportunity link. If an opportunity is
full, you can still sign up for that opportunity but you will be added to the waitlist. We
recommend signing up even if an opportunity is full because often spots open up.
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3) After you click on an opportunity, the website will look like this. This page will give an
overview of the volunteer work and the organization.
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4) At the bottom of each opportunity, there is a sign up section with tabs for dates and
times that volunteers are needed. Click the plus sign to expand the date and time and
see how many volunteers have signed up and how many more are needed, the
volunteer leader and their contact link, and the zip code of the location. To sign up for
the volunteer opportunity, click sign up.
Note: Volunteer leaders are the Boston Cares name for opportunity leaders.
Note: The address of the opportunity will not appear until you sign up. You will receive full
location details in an email. They can also be found on your my account page (see page 18).
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5) After you sign up for an opportunity you will receive an email just like the one you
received when you signed up for the New Volunteer Orientation. That email will have
more details including, directions and contact information for the opportunity leader. If
for some reason the project time or location changes, you will be notified via email. A
confirmation email is displayed below.
More Specific Volunteer Opportunity Search
1) You can also do a more specific search by clicking on the plus sign at the top of the
calendar. This will open the Basic Search and Search Options tab. In this form you can
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search for opportunities close to you, or specific issue areas like youth or environment.
Once you have selected the search options that you want, click search.
2) Now your calendar should have fewer things on it. For example, I searched for
opportunities that were open to teens (13-17) in the hunger and homelessness issue
area.
3) Other than showing filtered projects, signing up is the same process.
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HOW TO CHECK YOUR ACCOUNT
If you ever want to check on your volunteer history, see details for upcoming opportunities you
are signed up for, or see your total verified hours, you can go to your account page on our
website.
1) In order to go to your account page, you first need to sign into your account on our
website home page. Type http://www.bostoncares.org/ into your search browser, and
click log in in the top right hand corner of our website.
2) Fill in your username and password and hit log in. Your username is your full email
address, and your password is the password you selected when creating your account.
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3) Once you are signed in, you can click on the My Account tab in the upper left hand
corner.
4) On your account page, you will be able to see your total verified hours, your upcoming
opportunities, and your volunteer history.
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HOW TO REMOVE YOURSELF FROM AN OPPORTUNITY
If you can no longer attend an opportunity, you can remove yourself. This makes it possible for
others to sign up for the opportunity, and helps the volunteer leaders. Please always remove
yourself 36 hours before an opportunity so we can share an accurate count with our partners.
1) First you need to log into your account and go to your account page (see above
instructions). Once on your account page, find the opportunity and date and click
remove me.
Note: If you don’t remove yourself within 36 hours, you must contact your volunteer leader. If
you fail to do so, you will be listed as a no call/no show. Three no call/no shows may result in
deactivation of your account.
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