Mission templates are the building blocks of your missions. They should reflect the different types of activities your organisation runs, and you can configure specific settings for each activity type, such as whether location details are needed.

Once you’ve created a bank of mission templates tailored to your activities, you can reuse them again and again. Think of them like a cookie cutter: once you’ve shaped the template with the right settings, you can use it to quickly ‘stamp out’ multiple missions of the same kind, without starting from scratch each time.

Use the links below to jump straight to the section you’d like to learn about.

Creating a new template

Mission template options

General Options

Client Safety

Volunteer scheduling

Mission Notifications

Editing existing templates

Naming Tips

Video Tutorial

Before creating a mission template, make sure you’ve set up a report template first.

The report template should include the questions you want volunteers to answer for that specific activity type. If you need extra guidance, check out our article on Custom Report Templates.

Once you've created your custom report template, it's now time to add a new mission template.

You can customise each mission template to reflect the type of activity.

Template Name - Choose a name that clearly reflects the activity or task, and that volunteers will easily understand, as this name is visible to your volunteers. You can use the same terminology your organisation already uses on its website under roles.

You can also decide how detailed to be. For example, you might create a single template called “Event”, but if you regularly run three distinct types of events, it may be worth creating a separate template for each. This gives volunteers a clearer picture and makes it easier for them to search in the app.

Template Icon - You can add an icon to your mission template, which will also be visible to volunteers in the app. This helps make the app experience more engaging and visually appealing.

Choose an icon from our built-in library, or upload your own SVG file. We also provide a link to an external site with over 500,000 logo options you can download and use to match your activity type.

You can customise the background colour of the icon to keep it consistent with your branding or make it stand out in the app.

Template description - This is an internal description and will not be shown to the volunteers.

Report Template

Link your mission template to a report template. We recommend that each Mission type has a matching custom report so that you can get impactful data straight from your volunteers, which is relevant to the mission type.

Learn how to create a custom report in this article.

Note: even if you do not want to allow reporting on a mission, you still have to link a report template.

Mission Descriptions

Think about whether there’s information you always include in your mission descriptions. If so, you can choose to pre-fill the description at the template level. You’ll also have the option to add extra details that will only be visible to approved volunteers.

And remember, the mission description isn’t fixed; you can always edit or adjust it when creating a mission, or at any point afterwards, to add any rich details.

Reporting option

You can choose to switch off the option for Volunteers to report. Please note: if you switch reporting OFF, the mission template will still require you to include a report template (even though it won't be used).

Location - If you turn on this feature, you will be able to specify an address for the mission, the volunteers will be able to see how far this is from them, and they can filter their available missions based on this attribute.

Note that this will automatically draw the location from the one stored on the client's profile, but you will be given the option to override this to anything you want when actually creating a mission.

Upload receipts - If you turn on this feature, volunteers will have the option to submit an expense request when submitting a mission report. They will be able to add an amount, add a comment and upload a picture. If you do not pay expenses, ensure this feature is turned off.

Checklist or shopping list - If you turn on this option, when you create a mission, you will be able to create a list that will be visible for the volunteers in the app.

App view:

Allow the approved volunteer to call the client - Is your mission relating to an individual client, and will that approved volunteer need to be able to give them a call in order to conduct that mission? If so, turn on this option. Volunteers will have a "Call" button in the mission.

I imagine you're worried about client data protection. Don't worry, we always think about that too 😇. If you set up your mission as requiring approval, then until you have approved a volunteer on a mission, they will not be able to see this "Call" button.

If the mission will likely have an organisation as the client, for example, events, then this option will allow them to call the number stored on the organisation's profile.

Show full client name to approved volunteers - Are you happy for an approved volunteer to have the surname of the client? If so, switch on this feature. Note that prescription drops, in particular, may require this, as a volunteer cannot collect a prescription without that information.

Enable volunteer scheduling to create shifts that can be taken by volunteers. More info on creating shifts in this guide here.

Select your preferences for:

Each option allows you to specify timeframes. Please note: for the timeframe reminders, you need to ensure that when you create a mission, it includes a start time.

You can use the names of templates effectively to encourage volunteers to act in a certain way. For example, you could have 2 missions templated for shopping:

The templates will be the same, and it will just ensure that volunteers will pick this mission first. You can use the priority, but there is no guarantee volunteers will pick those you flag with a high priority first, just because they see them higher in the list.

As always, if you require any further assistance with this, please use the support button in your Staff Dashboard or email us at support@volunteero.org. Our team will be happy to help! 😊