What is Banned status?
Banned status prevents a volunteer from participating in your organization through Timecounts. Banned volunteers cannot sign up for opportunities and will only be able to view content that has been set to Public visibility.
Banning is a serious action and should generally be reserved for situations involving safety concerns, harassment, repeated no-shows, or policy violations. Whenever appropriate, we recommend communicating directly with the volunteer before applying a ban. Banning should generally be the result of a conversation, investigation, or documented policy violation rather than a substitute for communication.
Before banning a volunteer
If someone is still in Onboarding, we recommend rejecting their application instead.
If a volunteer is simply no longer active, we recommend moving them to Inactive rather than Banned.
Customize ban reasons
Ban reasons can be managed in Settings → Ban Reasons.
The default list includes commonly used reasons organizations may choose when banning a volunteer. Since every organization has different policies and requirements, you can add, edit, or delete ban reasons to match your needs.
When a volunteer is moved to Banned status, admins will be required to select a ban reason from this list.
How to ban a volunteer
To ban a volunteer, open their profile card by clicking their name, then select Banned from the Status dropdown. Because banning is a serious action that should be used sparingly, volunteers can only be banned individually from their profile card and cannot be banned in bulk.
A confirmation popup will appear where you'll be required to select a ban reason. You may also add an optional private note that is only visible to admins and an optional expiry date for temporary bans.
Once done, the volunteer will immediately be moved to Banned status and will appear in the Banned view of the Directory. Volunteers will not receive an email or notification when their status is changed.
What happens when a volunteer is banned?
When a volunteer is banned, their profile is immediately moved to Banned status and appears in the Banned view of the Directory. Volunteers do not receive an email or notification when their status is changed.
Banned volunteers can no longer sign up for shifts, events, applications, onboarding processes, or any other opportunities within your organization. If they attempt to sign up for a shift or event, they will see a message letting them know they do not have permission to sign up. This message cannot be customized, so any details about the restriction should be communicated directly with the volunteer.
Volunteers can still sign in to their Timecounts account and view publicly available information, as well as any volunteer hours previously credited to their profile. However, they cannot access content that is restricted to active volunteers.
The volunteer's profile, history, and past activity remain in your organization and can continue to be viewed and managed by admins from the Banned view of the Directory. While a volunteer is banned, admins cannot send them messages through Timecounts. No information or activity history is deleted when a volunteer is banned.
Managing banned volunteers
When a volunteer is banned, they are moved to the Banned view of the Directory. This view allows administrators to review and manage banned volunteers, including the date they were banned, the ban reason, who applied the ban, the expiry date (if one has been set), and any private notes associated with the ban.
An expiry date can be used for temporary bans. If no expiry date is set, the volunteer will remain banned until an administrator restores them to Active status.
If a private note is added when banning a volunteer, it will appear in the Private Notes column and will also be recorded in the volunteer's Notes tab. This ensures the information remains part of the volunteer's history, even if they are later restored to Active status.
Removing a ban
If a volunteer was banned in error or should be allowed to volunteer again, you can restore them to Active status. Open the volunteer's profile card and select Active from the Status dropdown.
Alternatively, use the checkbox next to their name in the Directory and choose the Move to Active bulk action.
Changing a volunteer's status does not send any email or notification to the volunteer. Once restored, the volunteer can participate normally according to your organization's settings.