Setting up and managing volunteer milestones

This feature is available on the Pro Plan. (Coming soon)

Reaching an hours goal, celebrating a volunteer anniversary, or making a special contribution are all reasons to say thank you. Milestones help the team keep track of those achievements and make recognition a regular part of the volunteer program. Timecounts can record milestones automatically as volunteers meet the criteria, or an admin can award one for something that numbers don’t capture.

Achievements appear on the volunteer’s profile card under Checklist → Milestones. The checklist is only visible to admins with the appropriate permissions, but you can add an email action to share the celebration with the volunteer. Milestones don’t expire, and repeatable milestones record each achievement.

For things volunteers need to complete or renew, such as training or a background check, use Requirements.

You don’t need a full recognition program to get started. Begin with a few milestones, like a volunteer’s first 25 credited hours or a year with the organization, and build from there. Most milestones are tracked automatically, so once they’re set up, the team doesn’t need to check off each achievement. You can also create milestones to award manually for special contributions.
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Give some thought as a team to what you’d like to celebrate and how. Milestones can reflect what matters to your organization and connect to a personal thank-you, a celebration, or a special reward. Let volunteers know what you’re recognizing and how it will be celebrated, so they have something to look forward to.

Go to Settings → Checklist and open the Milestones tab. Select Add Milestone in the top right and enter a name. Add an optional description to help admins understand its purpose or when to award it. The description appears in the Settings list. Set up the criteria and any actions using the steps below, then select Save. Repeat for each milestone on the list.

Under How is this milestone reached?, select what you’d like to recognize:

For hours and activities, also select the period to measure: All time, In a week, In a month, In a year, or Custom start.

Some achievements only happen once, like reaching a first 100 hours. Others are worth celebrating again. A milestone for 10 hours In a month can be achieved each month the volunteer meets the target, with a date recorded for each achievement. For manually awarded milestones, select Once or More than once to decide whether the team can award it again.

When you create a milestone, some volunteers may already have reached it. Timecounts records those achievements on their profiles without sending recognition emails or running tag actions for past achievements. For example, a volunteer with 180 credited hours can have their 25, 50, and 100-hour milestones recorded without receiving three emails when the team sets them up.

Where the volunteer records show when the milestone was reached, that date appears with the achievement. If the date can’t be determined, such as from an imported hours total, it shows as Previously achieved rather than using the date the milestone was created.

Automated recognition emails and tag actions run for new achievements going forward. Importing records or adding hours for past volunteering does not send a batch of emails for historical milestones. If the team would like to celebrate existing achievements, use the Milestones filter in the Directory to find those volunteers and send a thoughtful message.

Under Additional actions, select Add Action. Use Send an email to select a custom recognition email template, or Add a tag to apply a tag to the volunteer’s profile. For automatic milestones, actions run for new achievements going forward. For manual milestones, they run when an admin awards the milestone. Select Save when the milestone is ready.

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For example, a 100 Hours tag could help the team find volunteers to invite to an appreciation event.

A thoughtful thank-you tells the volunteer what they’ve achieved and why their contribution matters. Keep it personal and specific to the milestone, and include any next step, such as an invitation to a celebration. If the milestone can be achieved more than once, use wording that will still make sense the next time.

Create the message under Settings → Email Templates, then select it in the milestone’s email action.

Open the volunteer’s profile card in the Directory and go to Checklist → Milestones. This view only shows achieved or awarded milestones. Achievements with a known date appear in chronological order, including each time a repeatable milestone was reached. Historical achievements whose date can’t be determined show as Previously achieved.

For a contribution the team would like to recognize personally, create a milestone with Awarded manually selected. Open the volunteer’s profile card in the Directory and go to Checklist → Milestones. Select Award Milestone, then select the milestone to award. Only manually awarded milestones appear in this list. Any email or tag actions attached to the milestone run when it’s awarded.

Automatic milestones are based on volunteer records, so they can’t be unchecked or removed directly on the profile card. If an achievement was triggered by incorrect information, check and correct the hours, activity records, or other details behind it.

In the Directory, use the Milestones filter to find volunteers who have or haven’t achieved a milestone. For example, you could find everyone who has reached 100 hours and invite them to a celebration, or combine the filter with other Directory filters to find a specific group.
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See Filtering volunteers by checklist status for the filter options.

In Settings → Checklist → Milestones, drag the handle beside a milestone up or down. You can group related achievements or arrange the list to make it easier for the team to manage. This changes the order in Settings only. Achievements on volunteer profiles stay in chronological order.

Go to Settings → Checklist → Milestones, hover over the milestone, and select the pencil icon. Make the changes, then select Save. These settings apply across the organization.

In Settings → Checklist → Milestones, select the trash icon beside the milestone. Deleting it permanently removes the milestone and its associated volunteer achievement records. This cannot be undone, so make sure those records are no longer needed before deleting.