Overview
Boost volunteer motivation and recognition with badges! Badges provide an amazing insight for you and for your volunteers into their contributions and other accomplishments. In this article, we'll show you:
How to create a badge
Go to the Volunteers dashboard and click on the "Badges" tab at the top. Here you can create your badges. Click on "+ Badge" and select which Badge image you would like to use. For some of the Badge images you can change the colour as well and add a colour code to match your organisation's colour.
Once you have selected a Badge image, give the badge a name and enter any details of the achievement below. For example, badge name: "50 hours". Details of the achievement "Completed 50 hours of volunteering".
After that select whether you want the badge the be a unique achievement and/or a discoverable achievement.
A unique achievement is a badge that a volunteer can only have once. For example a time-based badge or a milestone badge (see below for all the different types of badges)
A discoverable achievement means that the volunteer is able to see the badge and its details before actually receiving/achieving the badge. Something that a volunteer could work towards.
Automation Rule - Set a rule for the automated awarding of badges. Read our full how-to guide here on badge automation to get started with this feature.
And the last step press "Create Badge". Amazing, you just created your first badge!
How to add a badge to a volunteer's profile
So now you have created your badge you can start adding the badge to your volunteer's profile. Select a volunteer, go to their profile and click on the badges tab on the side.
Select which badge you want to award to the volunteer by pressing "+ Award Badge" and confirm you want to award that badge. You have now awarded a badge to your volunteer. The volunteer will immediately be notified about their latest achievement!
What will the volunteer see?
The volunteers can see badges they have received and badges they are able to achieve in their Badges Collection on the app. This is what their collection could look like:
Types of badges
You can customise all of the badges, name them what you want and set your own requirements. To give you an idea of the range of badges you can create, here are a few different types to get you started:
Time-Based Badges: Show the hours the volunteers have contributed to your organisation e.g. 50 & 100 hour badge
Milestone Badges: Celebrate anniversaries e.g. one year of service.
Skill Development Badges: Add badges for completing training courses or specific certifications e.g. First Aid
Role Badges: Add badges to a volunteers profile to show which volunteering roles they are qualified for e.g. Telephone Befriender badge
Volunteer of the Week/Month/Year Badges: Highlight exceptional contributions and award your volunteers with a volunteer of the month badge
Event-Specific Badges: Create a badge to recognise their contribution during a specific event e.g. London Marathon 2023
Badges Video Tutorial
As always, your thoughts, feedback and suggestions are always welcomed! We'd love to hear from you. Let us know which badges you will be creating.
If you require any further assistance, please use the support chat to ask a question to our friendly support team. We will be happy to help!