This feature is available on the Pro Plan.
What are milestones?
Milestones help you recognize volunteer achievements, such as reaching 100 hours, completing 10 shifts in a month, or volunteering with your organization for a year. They give your team a consistent way to notice contributions and celebrate progress.
Timecounts tracks automatic milestones using the criteria you choose. You can also award milestones manually to recognize contributions that numbers don’t capture, such as a volunteer going above and beyond.
Unlike Requirements, Milestones appear on a volunteer’s profile only when they are achieved automatically or awarded manually. They are displayed in chronological order, with a date for each achievement. Milestones do not expire, and repeatable milestones record each time they are achieved.
Not sure whether to use a requirement or a milestone?
Add a milestone
Go to Settings → Checklist and open the Milestones tab. Click Add Milestone in the top-right corner. Enter a name, such as “First 100 Hours,” “Volunteer of the Month,” or “Community Champion,” or use a name from your organization’s recognition program. Add an optional description, visible only to admins in the list view, to explain its purpose or when it should be awarded.
Choose how a milestone is reached
Under How is this milestone reached?, select the option that matches what you want to recognize.
Hours volunteered: Recognize a volunteer when they reach a set number of hours, such as their first 25 hours. Choose whether to count Hours credited or Hours scheduled.
Activities volunteered: Recognize participation in a set number of shifts or events, such as 10 activities in a month.
Time with organization: Celebrate how long a volunteer has been with your organization, such as their one-year anniversary.
Birthday: Recognize a volunteer’s birthday, if their date of birth is recorded.
Leaderboard: Recognize volunteers who reach a position among your top volunteers, such as Top 1. Choose This week, This month, This year, or All time.
Awarded manually: Let an admin award the milestone for a contribution that is not tracked automatically. Choose whether it can be awarded Once or More than once.
For hours and activities, choose the period you want to measure: All time, In a week, In a month, In a year, or Custom start.
Use Hours credited when you want to recognize recorded volunteer hours. Hours scheduled reflects scheduled time, which may differ from the hours a volunteer actually contributed.
Repeatable milestones
Some milestones recognize an achievement once, while others celebrate contributions over time. For example, an All time milestone for 100 hours recognizes reaching that total. A milestone for 10 hours In a month can be achieved again in each month the volunteer meets the target. Each achievement is recorded with its date. For manually awarded milestones, choose Once or More than once when setting them up.
Add actions when a milestone is achieved
Actions let you acknowledge an achievement or help your team follow up. Under Additional actions, click + Add Action and choose an action, such as:
Send an email: Select a custom email template to celebrate the achievement.
Add a tag: Tag the volunteer so you can find them using Directory filters.
For example, you could tag volunteers who reach 100 hours so your team can invite them to an appreciation event. Click Save when you have finished making changes.
Editing a milestone
Go to Settings → Checklist → Milestones and click the pencil icon beside the milestone. Update its name, description, criteria, or actions, then click Save.
Changing the criteria may affect how volunteers achieve the milestone. If you’re unsure how a change will affect existing achievements or actions, contact customer support through the in-app chat before saving.
Reordering milestones
As your list grows, you can group related milestones to make them easier for your team to manage. Go to Settings → Checklist → Milestones and drag the handle beside an item up or down. This changes the order in Settings only. Achievements on volunteer profiles remain in chronological order.
Deleting a milestone
Go to Settings → Checklist → Milestones and click the trash icon beside the milestone you want to delete. Deleting a milestone permanently removes it and its associated volunteer achievement records. This cannot be undone, so make sure you no longer need those records before deleting.
Create a meaningful recognition email
Create your message under Settings → Email Templates, then select it when adding the email action.
Keep the message friendly and specific. Include:
The achievement you are recognizing.
A thank-you that connects their contribution to your organization’s work.
Any next step, such as an invitation to a celebration.
Choose wording that will still make sense if the milestone can be achieved more than once.
Awarding a milestone manually
To recognize an individual contribution, first create a milestone with Awarded manually selected.
Open the volunteer’s profile in the Directory and go to Checklist → Milestones. Click + Award Milestone and choose the milestone you want to award. Only milestones set to Awarded manually appear in this list. Any actions attached to the milestone run when it is awarded.
Correcting an automatic milestone
Automatic milestones reflect the volunteer records that qualify someone for an achievement, so they cannot be deleted or unchecked directly on a profile.
If a milestone was reached because of incorrect information, correct the hours, activity records, or other details that triggered it. This keeps achievements consistent with the underlying records and prevents Timecounts from awarding the same milestone again based on unchanged information.
Viewing a volunteer’s milestones
Go to the Directory, open the volunteer’s profile, and select Checklist → Milestones.
You’ll see the milestones they have achieved and the date of each achievement. Repeatable milestones show each time they were reached.
Filtering volunteers by milestones
Use Directory filters to find volunteers who have or have not achieved a milestone. This can help you plan recognition or find a group to invite to an appreciation event.