Volunteers

When a volunteer wants to register for your event, they will need to go to the dedicated SignMeUp event page.  If volunteer registration is open they will see ‘Sign up now’ in blue.  If volunteer registration is not open, ‘Sign up now’ will be greyed out.  The message will tell them when volunteer registration will open, or if volunteer registration has finished.  If you are an admin and you want to edit an application form, please see the article ‘Application Forms’.

Every organisation's form will vary depending on the custom questions which each organisation has included.  Information about the ‘locked’ (compulsory) questions which are included on every form are explained below. Custom questions created by the organisation will need to be placed into one of the pre-existing sections.  Most will probably be placed into ‘Additional Information’.  To navigate between the different sections, volunteers will need to click the ‘Next’ or ‘Previous’ button. 

Applications will be saved as sections are completed so a volunteer can leave their application and come back to it at a later date should they wish.

Before registering, the volunteer will need an account. Please see ‘creating an account’ article for help on how to do this and the age limits on holding an account.

Who would you like to register?

On clicking on the ‘Sign up now’ button, a pop up box will appear with two options: ‘Myself’ or ‘Someone new’. 

Myself refers to the person who has created the account and the SignMeUp system will autofill the information in the application form with the details of the volunteer whose account it is registered to. 

Someone new refers to applying on behalf of someone else who isn’t the main account holder. This is generally used when a parent or guardian who is over 18, is registering a volunteer who is under 16, as they cannot have their own account. 

Tell us about the volunteer

When either option is clicked, you are taken to a form which needs to be completed. 

It will ask for the volunteers First name and Last name.  The Name known by is if a nickname is used by the volunteer. For example, their first name is ‘Isabella’ but the name that everyone calls them is ‘Bella’. Bella would be written in the Name known by box, and would be printed on the badge.  

The volunteers birth date is important as this will be used to work out if they are old enough to volunteer at the event and if a DBS check will be required if they offer to help in a role where a DBS check is asked for.

A volunteer must put down a primary phone number in case they need to be contacted about the event. Every volunteer will have the option to put down a secondary phone number but this can be left blank.

The volunteer must put in their current home address. It is the expectation that volunteers applying will have a UK address.  If a volunteer does not have a UK address they need to put down as much of their foreign address as possible. 

What help are you offering?

This is where a volunteer will select a role they would like to help with. If the role they would like to help with is not on the list, it is either because it has not been created as a role, they are the wrong age to select the role, or it has been hidden by administration to be assigned to certain people only. 

If the organisation has chosen to set it, when a role is selected, additional information can show about the role. This can include an explanation of the role so that the volunteer knows what they are expected to do. 

Some roles will also have a session selector.  This means that the different dates and times will appear and the volunteer will need to select which days they are able to help at the event as that volunteer. 

After selecting and saving the role, the ‘Next’ button will need to be clicked to navigate to the next section. 

Additional information

This will be the section where most custom questions specific to the event will be added. The compulsory question in this section is asking if the volunteer has any medical needs. It is important to answer this truthfully, as then the organisation can accommodate any requirements. It will also mean that in case of an emergency, the event administration team can pass on the relevant details to emergency services. 

Your references

The volunteer will then be asked to submit details of referees in order for their offer of help to be accepted. The number of referees will have been set by the organisation.  Each referee that you provide must be someone that you have known for a minimum of two years, be aged 18 or over, and not be related to you. Preferably, at least one referee that you provide should work in a recognised profession or for a public body (e.g. doctor, lawyer, accountant, teacher, council employee, minister of religion etc.).

The volunteer will need to put down each referee's full name, email address and UK phone number.  It is a good idea for the volunteer to check that the referee is happy for their details to be used, as when the application is submitted the SignMeUp system will send out the emails automatically. 

If you need more information, please see the ‘References’ section. 

Disclosure & Barring Services (DBS) check

Depending on the age of the volunteer, and the role that they have selected, will depend on whether a DBS check is needed.  The system will automatically do this calculation and show the volunteer that either a DBS check is not required, or that it is required.   If a DBS is required, the SignMeUp system will ask the volunteer some questions.  If the volunteer already has a DBS, they will be able to put in the current details.  If a volunteer requires a DBS, the SignMeUp system will begin processing it for them. 

If you need more information about DBS checks, please see the ‘DBS’ section.

Declarations 

These questions are legally required to be completed by the volunteer. The volunteer will work through them and any information that a volunteer provides as part of this will be able to be seen by the admin team. 

Once these questions have been completed, the volunteer will be able to submit their application form and they will no longer be able to edit it.