Need creative ideas for filling positions to volunteer 
Author: Lauren W.First off I am working for non Profit. We are reaching out to schools for kids who need volunteer hours and would like them to fill in spaces we need. It will break down to 6 times a year, 15 kids needed each time. I would like the students to fill when they will be able to woork. (IE, on Sept 16 we have a dinner, I have two time frames .1pm-4pm, and 4pm-7pm. Lets say joe blow can work from 4-7 so he will go to the website, fill something out and that will remove one avaible slot from 4-7)
I thought about a cart option, and making the amount .0 but they will have to enter a card number right?
The site is not live yet, And I can not go forward with the volunteer process till I find a way for students to show up
Also, I wanted to use a booking site but we do not have the budget (nor do we think we will use it enough for the price)
Hello Lauren
There is more possible solutions for this - both are totally free.
You can use the LuxCal calendar for that. Iy meets your needs perfectly - but you must be creative.
You can have users to log in, or you can have public users to volunteer. You can even have the users to self-register before they can "book". You can make events ( bookings ) in different categories, and each category can be set up to, if overlap is allowed. This way you can have a category showing the events you want people for. Then you can have 15 categories - you can give them the same names if the jobs is the same, or you can have them be different jobs. Then you can see which events is "manded" and which is not and eventually which job needs an extra man.
If you have one of the jobs ( a category ) called JOB03 , you can have one person that books the job from 13:00 to 15:00, and another person that books fronm 15:00 to 17:30. Then you have the JOB03 booked from 13:00 to 17:30, but with
The calendar are very easy to install and maintain.
Another solution is the ADMIDIO membership system.
Also here you can have the users to login, and a user can self-register. You have to accept users.
Here you can also have events or dates. You can for each date have a number of participants. You can set the max number for each event/date. But here you can't have different time-slots for an event. The participation goes for all the event.
The ADMIDIO is not so easy to set up and to maintain as the LuxCal calendar
Some links :
The LuxCal calendar functions-page: http://www.calendarforum.dk/features.html
The LuxCal home page : http://www.luxsoft.eu/index.php?pge=home
How to integrate the calendar in the X5 : http://www.calendarforum.dk/integrating-iframe-x5.html
ADMIDIO homepage : https://www.admidio.org
Example of ADMIDIO integrated via iframe : http://www.energifremtiden.dk/c4d/member-system.html
And another one : http://www.energifremtiden.dk/c4d/objekte.html
Hope you can use this to be inspired.
If you need more information then make a new post.
Kind regards
John S.
Lauren, if you choose to stay within WX5 you could indeed create a product for the student to buy for free. Using the pay later option they would not need to enter any card or paypal details. This might also be handy if you did not wish to "oversell" a slot because you should be able to set how many slots are available (stock control).
A simpler route may be a simple email form with radio check boxes so they can choose the appropriate slot/s. Assuming you are actively monitoring your emails, it would be a simple matter to modify or remove the form when various slots have been filled.
Hello lauren and Esahc
Don't be afraid Esahc - I am not trying to avoid X5. The solutions I propose is using X5 for the website and the calendar or ADMIDIO as an integrated part via iframes. In all the sites I have made where I used the Calendar or ADMIDIO it is integrated this way.
I don't think that using the cart for this purpose will be easy to administer.
But Lauren - now you have some input and it is for you to decide what you think will be the best solution for you.
Only remember it should be a system that someone can handle.
Kind regards
John S.
G'day John, I fear you not. I too use many add-ons, alternatives and add-ins to meet my requirements :-)
WX5 serves most of my needs, most of the time however.
No wuckers mate :-)
Author
you guys are awesome, you know that? The calendar was a good idea, and I may incorperate that at a later date, but I took the email form Idea and went one step further.
I created a skill bar at the top I will change daily/weekly as I get request in.
http://www.gormanruritan.com/sign-up.php
I know the design is lacking, but I was in a rush to build (this is why I did not go with the calendar to start with, I need to learn it). Now that I know it is functional I can change things around to make it look nicer
Take a look and see if it is understandable. basically there are three dinners left and People can sign up for whichever they want to volunteer.
Hello Lauren
It looks good. It is simple and will maybe give some manual work - but I am sure it will function.
It is a smart way - very creative - to use the skill bar : 10 points for that.
I am sure that when you discover the potential in the Calendar, that you will find a way to use it for your purpose.
Kind regards
John S.
Lauren, that's a great result (hope you fill all the slots) - your use of the skill bar is inspired :-)