How Confirmation emails work
Confirmation emails confirm a volunteer’s status after they sign up, are assigned, or an admin makes an update. The email includes their status—such as Requested, Confirmed, Waitlisted, Cancelled, or Declined—along with the relevant activity details. Confirmed volunteers can also add the activity to their personal calendar.
When a volunteer signs up for multiple shifts or has related status updates, Timecounts waits 10–15 minutes and groups the confirmations into one email. This prevents volunteers from receiving several emails in quick succession. Confirmation emails are unlimited on all plans and do not count toward your monthly email credits.
Customize a Confirmation email
Organizations on the Pro plan can add a custom message to Confirmation emails. This is useful for sharing next steps, arrival instructions, what to bring or wear, or a short welcome.
Go to Settings → Email Templates to create your message. Once it’s saved, open the Event, Schedule, or Application, select the Details tab, and choose the template under the Confirmation email setting.
Your custom message appears at the top of the email, followed by the volunteer’s status and relevant activity details, which Timecounts adds automatically. We recommend keeping your message short so volunteers don’t miss the most important information about their commitment.
Assigning volunteers to unpublished Schedules
You may want to assign volunteers before publishing a Schedule, either because you’re building the schedule manually or giving certain volunteers their shifts before opening the remaining spaces for signup. In the Schedule’s Details tab, you can choose to send Confirmation emails as volunteers are assigned or wait until the shifts are published. Click Save at the bottom of the page for your changes to take effect.
Keep in mind that this setting only controls the initial Confirmation email. Confirmed volunteers will still receive Reminder emails before their shifts, whether the Schedule is published or unpublished. If needed, you can turn off Reminder emails from the Details tab, although we recommend leaving them on.
Confirmation emails for Applications
Applications have their own automated emails for notifying volunteers when they are marked as Qualified or Declined. You can manage each email separately from the Application’s Details tab and add an Email Template with your own message.
The Qualified email can explain what approval gives the volunteer access to, such as particular shifts or opportunities, along with anything they need to know or do next. The Declined email can provide an appropriate response when you are unable to move forward with their Application.
If you are qualifying volunteers manually and don’t need to notify them, uncheck the Confirmation email option before updating their status. Remember to click Save at the bottom of the Details page for your changes to take effect.
When Confirmation emails are not sent
When volunteers cancel through their own dashboard, they immediately see the activity removed from their upcoming commitments, so an additional cancellation email is not sent. Volunteers also won’t receive emails they have chosen to unsubscribe from in their user settings.
Confirmation emails are separate from Reminder emails. Changing when a Confirmation email is sent does not turn off future Reminders.
Learn more about Managing Reminder emails.