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Change a volunteer's email

Here, we explain how to manage a volunteer account when there is a change of email if they already have a live app account

Ash avatar
Written by Ash
Updated this week

Changing a volunteer's email on their account does have some knock-on effects within your dashboard. The reason is that email is the unique identifier for a volunteer's profile. Changing a volunteer's email address will mean the system sees them as a new profile and will send them a new password/ details on how to get into the app. They will also need to be reassigned to any missions/ shifts within their account.

Please consider which option is most suitable for your organisation when changing a volunteer's email address.

Option 1:

We usually recommend 'archiving' the 'old' email account and creating a new profile under the new email address.

On the 'old' profile, we advise:

  • Making it clear that the old profile is no longer used by putting "OLD" in their last name.

  • Switching off app access

  • Status changing to 'inactive'

  • Applying/ updating relevant tags/ groups

  • Unlink any forms (if applicable or relevant)

After you have archived the 'old' profile, you can manually add in a new profile with the updated email address.

On the new profile, you will want to:

  1. Assign the profile to any shifts/ missions

  2. Link any previous forms to the new account

  3. You may also wish to 'backdate' volunteering time to the new account.

Option 2:

If you would prefer to proceed with changing a volunteer's email on the same profile, then you can do so by following the instructions below.

Please be aware that if that volunteer has been active under their old email, you may lose the activity pertaining to that volunteer, as the system sees the updated email as a 'new' account.

Updating an email on an existing profile

In short, you cannot change a volunteer's email while their app account is open. Here is how you do it...

  1. Remove the app access

In the Volunteers section on the left-hand side, scroll or search to find the relevant volunteer. Press on their name to open their profile. Open the "App access" and then press "Remove Access".

2. Change the email

Now you can open their profile section and simply amend the volunteer email field to their new email.

3. Open the app account

Now open the "App access" section on their profile and then press "Set up access".

At this point, the volunteer will receive a welcome email to their new account with a new password.

Considerations

On Volunteero, a volunteer’s email address acts as their unique identifier. This means that if you change a volunteer’s email or turn off their app access, the system will automatically treat them as a new volunteer and remove them from all their existing and archived missions.

Because of this, it’s always our recommendation to create a new profile for a volunteer who needs to change their email address, rather than editing their existing one. This ensures that all their historical data, reports, and insights remain safely linked to their old email.

Before turning off app access, make a note of which missions and groups the volunteer is currently assigned to. You can then easily reassign them to the correct ones once their new profile has been created.

However, if that volunteer has been active under their old email, you may lose the activity associated with that account. In this case, create a new volunteer profile using the new email address and close the old one. To make it clear that the old profile is no longer in use, it’s a good idea to add “(OLD)” to their last name and label them with inactive or create a tag for easy identifcation.

This approach helps you avoid data loss, maintain accurate records, and ensure a smooth transition for the volunteer.

Video Tutorial

If you have any issues or questions, please use the support button in your Staff Dashboard to speak to one of the Volunteero team. We will be happy to help 🤓

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