Support Articles

It’s common to have multiple forms associated with any of your opportunities.  We have built a simple way for you to post your forms (and for you to load those forms back into ServiceReef).  Let’s get started... Adding a New Form Click the Add Form button in the top right Enter data about your form Form Name Form Instructions File Upload Due Date Required Save  Editing a Form Click on Form Title Edit form data Deleting a Form Click the trash can to the far right of your forms directory  Where are form located for the participant? Forms are found on the public page for each event and located in the information table located in the middle section of the opportunity page.  Here participants can view forms, see when they are due, and download forms.   NOTE: If the opportunity is private, only participants who have been approved will have access to these forms.   Uploading Participant Forms Please read this post for how to upload forms.

Do you ever need to resend a donor their donation receipt? No problem! You can easily resend a donation receipt by accessing either the Donations & Payments from your Organization profile or an Opportunity profile. This PDF walks you through this process.

The biggest issue with IE is that they support backward compatibility with IE7 through a feature they call "Compatibility View Settings".  Even if the user is on IE11, turning Compatibility View "on" will make the browser behave as if it was IE7. IE7 was released in 2006 and hasn't been updated since early 2009.  For security issues, and to enhance the end user experience, ServiceReef does not support non-modern browsers (which is in essence what IE11 becomes in this scenario). So... in short, if you have a user in IE and they complain of something weird, have them try in another browser first (e.g. FireFox, Chrome, or Safari).  If that "solves" it and they really, really love using IE and never want to use another browser... then have them go to IE Settings (the little "gear" in the upper right corner) > then to Compatibility View Settings > and turn off the "Display intranet sites in Compatibility View" check box. That should solve a wide variety of issues, not just in ServiceReef.  Unfortunately, some Microsoft programs don't even work with this "off", so their own products have issues... although I've mainly encountered that in government or large corporate environments.

The Weekly Event Admin Summary email goes out at approximately 10:25 AM EST and the Weekly Event Update email goes out at approximately 10:00 AM EST. Note - there could be a very slight delay in these going out but those are the usual times. Just as an FYI, all of the emails including the daily ones go out between 10:00 and 10:30. 

The user flow for ServiceReef is significant and this truly sets apart the journey of the various users (participants, donors, administrators, etc.). This PDF helps draw a picture for how the process works for all members interacting with one volunteer event.

We understand that the standard communications will not cover all of the touch points you need with you team.  To get started, click on the green “Schedule Email” button on the Communications tab of your opportunity management.   Building your Email Audience - Are you sending this to your opportunity participants, everyone who has applied, or to all who have donated?  The default is to your participants.  The donor selection will send an email to anyone who has donated to any of the participants of this opportunity (say for example you have ten team members and each have ten donors… this would generate an email to 100 people).  NOTE: These donors must donate to the participants through your ServiceReef organization account in order to populate in this email. Message Subject - What shows up in the title bar Message Body - Your message Signature - Your organization’s name, your name, etc. Attachment - Perhaps you need to send out a medical form or some waiver, simply attach that file here. Schedule - You can either send the email immediately or set a date/time for the email to send.  To send immediately simply click the “Schedule Email” button.  If you select a date/time then the email will sit in your email directory and send on the specified date and time.   We do recommend that you send a test email of your communication before sending out to your audience group - this simply helps you to make certain you’ve communicated what you intended to communicate. Customized emails will be posted in a list on the Communications tab page allowing you a view to see all emails (sent email and future emails).  You can edit emails waiting to send.  

Communicaitons to your team are extremely important as you need to keep participants up to date and informed.  We break down email communications into two major areas and will discuss in two separate postings.  This article will be to address the automated communicated while the next article will address the customized email builder.   Automated communications are the standard communications generated by ServiceReef.  You can de-select any of these communications to not be sent to your team.   Automated Communicaitons Directory  Registration Confirmation - Each participant is emailed after registering for this opportunity with the details about the opportunity (immediately following registration). Registration Notification - The Admins that you setup for this opportunity will get notified every time someone registers for this opportunity (immediately following registration). Participant Approved/Declined - An email will be sent to the participant after you approve or decline his/her registration (when admin approves/declines). Weekly Update - This email goes out every Friday reminding registrants of the trip date, upcoming meetings, and their financial progress (if applicable) (every Friday leading up to the event). Meeting Reminders - An email will be sent to all approved registrants reminding them of any upcoming meetings you have set up (3 days before meeting). Week Before Reminder - This email goes out the week before your event to remind your team about the details of the event. The date and time, location, and contact information are included (week before event). Day Before Reminder - This email goes out the day before your event to remind your team about the details of the event. The date and time, location, and contact information are included (day before event). Opportunity Follow-up - This email thanks your team for participating in the event and prompts them to complete the follow-up survey and share their story from the event (day after event). Week After Follow-up - This email thanks your team for participating in the event and prompts them to complete the follow-up survey (if they haven't done so already), share their story from the event, and sign up for another opportunity from your organization (week after event). Event Admin Summary - This email emails each event administrator weekly with the details about registrations and fundraising progress during the past week (every Friday while donations are active).   NOTE: ServiceReef also offers a premium feature to edit the content of the standard communications - contact us for more information - support@servicereef.com.  

This is one of our favorite features of ServiceReef because it empowers you and your team to manage an opportunity with ease by delegating responsibility and easily controlling who has admin permissions to various aspects of an opportunity.   NOTE: You do have two levels of ServiceReef admins - the first is at the organization level and the second is here, at an event.  We will unpack event level admins in this posting.   There are two admin options for event management.  You can allow the admin to have ability to edit the opportunity and/or the ability to get notifications.  Here’s what happens: Edit Opportunity - Allows for the admin to change any data related to this specific event. Get Notifications - Allows for the admin to receive notifications of new applications. To add a new admin they must have created a ServiceReef account.  Once they have created a ServiceReef account you can search for their name and then add them.  Make sure to select the admin functions required.  And don’t forget to click save!

Application questions are the specific pieces of information (questions) you want to ask those who are applying for one of your opportunities.  You do not have to build  application questions but most organization determine a need to ask a few basic additional pieces of information.  We also recommend that you do ask a few questions to help gain a better perspective on your applicants, their interests, and their fit with your organization.   Some example questions you might ask: How did you hear about us? How have you been involved in missional living? What other short term trips have you attended? What have you learned from other short term trips? Why are you applying for this opportunity? What do you hope to learn from this opportunity?   What fears/concerns do you have? How does your family feel about you attending this opportunity? What are your personal strengths? What are your personal weaknesses? What skills do you have to offer? What is your profession? Do you attend our church / are you a member of our organization? Do you have any dietary restrictions? Are you physically fit to perform the team tasks of this opportunity? Is there anything else we should know? You are given the ability to add various types of questions for an application.  Simply click and drag from the right listing of question types to start.  You can always add questions, edit questions, or delete questions.  Questions can also be noted as mandatory or not.   Here are the types of application questions you can build: Single Line Text - Perhaps you were asking how many global opportunities someone has participated in to date. Paragraph Text - Perhaps you were asking for someone’s reason for applying for this opportunity.   Drop Down List - Perhaps you want to know how someone heard about your organization. Single Selection - Perhaps you want to know which activity someone desires to serve in most.  Multiple Selection - Perhaps you want to ask all that apply to someone’s interests and or skills. Section Break - Perhaps you want to divide your questions into understandable categories  Page Break - This segments the user experience to move to a new page in answering questions.  We recommend this for two reasons - first, each time someone moves from one page to another the information is saved, and second, this helps make your application not seem to cumbersome in length.   Upload File - Here you can require a file to be uploaded during the application process - perhaps you require a copy of their driver’s license or their proof of insurance… or you require someone’s resume to apply.   NOTE: ServiceReef requires basic participant information, such as name, email, phone, and address.  You don’t need to add these as additional questions in your application.  When you view a participant’s application all of the ServiceReef data will be displayed with each user along with their answers to your specific questions.  

Building your application is another complex piece for how you lead missions trips.  Because of the powerful tools available on ServiceReef for handling applications we are going to break this introduction into two part - General Application Settings & Application Builder.   Some things to consider before we get started: Do you require people to apply for your opportunities or just auto-enroll? Do you take roll for who attends your opportunities? Do you have fees associated with applying for an opportunity? Do you have application questions relevant just to your organization, just to an opportunity, or both?    Approval ServiceReef defaults to assume you will require for applicants to apply for an event and then enter an approval process.  We use the term apply for signing up for any event, regardless if the event has unique questions or a simple click to sign up.  If you select the approval process option for this first question then the button on the opportunity page will read “Apply” while if you select the option for auto-enroll the button on the opportunity page will read “Sign Up”.     Our experience shows that more local serving events will select the auto-enroll feature while most every global missions trip will select the approval process.     Roll Will you take roll and record attendance for this opportunity?  Yes or No.  Why do we ask this question?  Simple… many schools require a certain amount of service hours and it’s important that we track who has attended each opportunity.  You may be hosting an opportunity and may not necessarily care of roll is taken but it certainly could matter to those who are serving with your organization.  This really is a matter of who your participants are and if this is needed.  Obviously, if you are a school then you’ll probably always use this function.     The event admin has the ability to note (during or after the event) who attended so there is a tracking of this attendance on ServiceReef.  Each organization is responsible to share with other organization who has served with them… if they take roll.   Application Fee Do you require an application fee to apply for your opportunities?  Application fees serve as a simple means to determine how serious someone is to apply for one of your opportunities. Here are some helpful things to know about the application fee: The application fee is in addition to the trip cost that you set on the Financial page of your opportunity.   The application fee will be processed at the time of application for opportunities that have auto-enroll or it will be processed at the time of acceptance for opportunities that require approval.   If an application fee is required the applicant will be required to fill out financial information in their application process (regardless of when the transaction will be processed).     Application Settings Before you start building specific opportunity application question there are a few more specifics required.  Here’s what you’ll need to know: Does the user need to fill out an application?  If you select Yes then you’ll be able to add/edit specific opportunity questions.  If you select No then you don’t need to worry about creating questions . Do you want to use the Master Application LINK HERE?  Remember you have two applications you can manage - the Master Application and the Opportunity Application.  Here you are selecting if you require applicants to complete the Master Application in addition to any Opportunity questions.  The user experience will guide through one series of questions regardless if you require both question sets or only one - it’s seamless for the applicant. Do you allow applicants to apply elsewhere?  This is for instances where you might have a paper application or some other means of managing applications.  Not many organizations use this.

Regardless if you’re the financial guru or simply have to wade through managing finances for an opportunity, ServiceReef makes it simple for you.  You have two major places in an event to manage various financial aspects, here on the Financial tab and also on the Application tab.  We will unpack the Financial tab here. Fundraising for Participants Fundraising Required? - Here you note if the participants are required to raise funds for an opportunity.  If you select Yes then you’ll need to enter the full amount they are to raise for their event.  This amount does not include any application fees.  You also can select a date when these funds are due.  If you select No then you will have no other data fields to enter.  An example of an event where you don’t require fund raising might be to serve at a weekend soup kitchen opportunity.   Allow Donations? - Here you select if this opportunity will allow for other people to provide support/fundraising for participants or if the participant is required to pay for the event on their own.  Most missions trips will select Yes and allow for donors to help support a specific participant.   Deposits & Milestones We often want to specific fundraising milestones along the way for our participants.  This helps them set goals and keep on track for where they should be by different points in time.  It also keeps a good accountability for your participants on fundraising.   Examples of milestones might be when the initial deposit is due, date for 50% of funds to be raised by, or date when airfare funds are due. NOTE: These milestones simply help as a means to guide the participant - the system does not relate actual milestones with fundraising to date as there are too many complications to how you might enter/build your milestones.   Donations to Organization Many organizations will allow for general donations to the opportunity - above and beyond donations to each individual participant.   You can select if you will allow general donations and what that donation target amount might be.   This fundraising goal will be posted on your opportunity public page.   Donation Deadline Do you have a date where you will no longer accept donations for this opportunity?  This is where you would set that.  Here’s an example… you have an opportunity for a high school trip to Kenya and you want the opportunity for fundraising to stop two weeks prior to the event send off… this is where you set that.   Why would you set a date for this?  Many organizations set dates for a donation deadline to require the trip participant to fulfill the remaining balance on their own in order to manage participants who may never pay their full amount.  

ServiceReef shouldn’t be your only vehicle for publishing your opportunities, you have way too many people who need to hear about what you’re doing.  Let’s build a list for other ways you can build awareness in your community: Facebook Twitter Instagram Organization Website Awareness Weekends Printed Materials Previous Participants Announcement Boards Announcement Video Screens