Build a volunteer signup form and connect it to onboarding

Estimated setup time: 10–15 minutes
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Prior to building your signup form, we recommend creating any Profile Fields you'll need.
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Profile Fields store information directly on volunteer profiles and can be reused across forms, directories, reports, exports, and volunteer onboarding. Examples include phone number, date of birth, emergency contact information, skills, and availability.
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​Related article: Specify profile fields for your organization.

Timecounts includes a built-in form builder that allows you to collect information from volunteers throughout their journey with your organization.
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Forms can be attached to volunteer onboarding, applications, events, and other activities to gather the information you need at the right time. While forms can also be shared independently, most organizations use them as part of a larger workflow, making it easier to review responses, qualify volunteers, and manage participation.

In this guide, we'll create and attach a form to your volunteer onboarding process, which is how most organizations collect information from new volunteers.

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The Timecounts form builder uses a simple drag-and-drop interface. Fields appear on the left and can be dragged onto the form preview on the right. You can click any field to edit its settings, mark it as required, or reorder fields using the drag handle.

Before building your form, it's important to understand the difference between Profile Fields and Additional Fields.
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​A simple way to think about it:

When in doubt, ask yourself: "Will I want to reference this information again in the future?" If the answer is yes, create a Profile Field.
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Profile Fields store information directly on a volunteer's profile and should be configured before building your form.
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Examples include:

Because Profile Fields are connected to your volunteer directory, they can be viewed and updated from volunteer profiles, displayed as directory columns, exported in reports, and reused across multiple forms.

As a general rule, if you expect to reference the information again in the future, it should be created as a Profile Field.
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Additional Fields are designed for one-time or form-specific questions that do not need to be stored as part of a volunteer's ongoing profile.

Examples include:

These responses remain attached to the form submission but are not added to the volunteer's profile and cannot be reused throughout Timecounts like Profile Fields.
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Formatting elements help organize your forms and improve readability.

You can add:

These elements do not collect information but can be used to provide instructions, explain requirements, or group related questions together.

If a question must be answered before a volunteer can submit the form, mark it as Required. To do this, click open the field and enable the Required checkbox across the bottom. Volunteers will not be able to complete the form until all required fields have been filled out.

We recommend only making fields required when the information is essential to your onboarding, application, or review process. Requiring too many fields can reduce form completion rates.
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One of the ways Timecounts helps create a better volunteer experience is by remembering information volunteers have already provided.

By default, if a volunteer has previously answered a profile field, that question will be automatically hidden on future forms. This means volunteers only need to answer new questions rather than repeatedly entering the same information.

For example, if a volunteer has already provided their date of birth, phone number, and address, and you later add a new question about their skills, they will only be asked to complete the new skills question if they encounter the same form.
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This approach helps reduce form fatigue, increases completion rates, and makes signing up for future opportunities much faster.
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In some cases, you may want a question to appear every time a volunteer completes a form, even if they have answered it before.
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To enable this setting, click on the field in your form and select Always Show at the bottom of the field settings, beside the Required option.
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This setting is best used for information that may change over time, such as:

We recommend using Always Show sparingly. Most profile information only needs to be collected once, and repeatedly asking volunteers the same questions can create unnecessary friction.​
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When you are ready to use your form, click Publish in the top-right corner of the page.
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Publishing a form does not automatically make it visible to volunteers. Instead, it makes the form available for use throughout Timecounts, allowing you to attach it to volunteer onboarding, events, applications, and other workflows.

A form must be published before it can be selected from any form dropdown menu. Once published, you can continue editing the form at any time.
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If you no longer wish to use a form, click the Published button in the top-right corner of the page and select Unpublish Form from the dropdown.
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Once unpublished, the form can no longer be selected or used in onboarding, applications, events, or other volunteer workflows until it is published again.

You can republish the form at any time by returning to the same menu and selecting Publish Form.

After publishing, the Preview button will change to a Share button.
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Important: This form link should not be shared with new volunteers. Timecounts provides a dedicated onboarding process with its own unique URL that should be used when recruiting and onboarding new volunteers.
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The standalone form link is intended for existing volunteers who are already in your directory and need to update or provide additional information.
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To onboard new volunteers, continue with the steps below.
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Now that your form has been published, it's time to connect it to your volunteer hub.

Go to Hub Editor > Details and scroll down to the New Volunteer Onboarding section.
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For most organizations, we recommend using Open Registration, which allows anyone with your volunteer hub link to begin the onboarding process. With Open Registration selected, choose your newly published form from the dropdown menu. If your form does not appear in the list, ensure it has been published.
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Once selected, remember to click Save at the bottom of the page.

By attaching a form to your onboarding process, Timecounts automatically creates a dedicated registration flow and a unique /join URL for new volunteers. You can share this link with volunteers but we recommend sharing the main hub URL when recruiting volunteers.

When a volunteer completes the onboarding process, their submission will appear as a task on your dashboard and you will receive a notification email.
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Your signup form is now connected to onboarding and ready to use.
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Once your hub has been published, new volunteers can begin the onboarding process directly from your hub. Depending on your onboarding settings, new volunteers may either be automatically accepted or submitted for review. If review is required, their submission will appear as a task on your dashboard and you will receive a notification email.
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Important: Do not share the standalone form link with new volunteers. Once a form is connected to onboarding, Timecounts automatically creates a dedicated onboarding URL ending in /join. This onboarding flow ensures that approval settings, automated communications, and other onboarding requirements are applied correctly.

Most organizations simply share their main hub link and allow volunteers to start onboarding from there. Timecounts will automatically guide new volunteers through your configured onboarding process based on your organization's settings.

You can return to the form builder at any time to update questions, add new fields, or modify your onboarding process as your volunteer program grows.