On your Open/Partially Filled, Filled or Expired Needs, each Recurring need will show an Add Shifts button on the right. Click that button to load in additional times for a volunteer need that day. Each shift added will appear as a separate need on your Open/Partially Filled Needs report.

Yes. There are two ways to duplicate a need:

• After you post a need, the screen that follows will ask you whether you would like to Duplicate that need.  If you select that option, a new need posting form will appear with all of the information you just completed prefilled so you can modify as necessary and quickly post the new need.
• On your Open/Partially Filled, Filled or Expired Needs reports you can look up a need that has already been posted and click the Duplicate button next to that need.  When you click Duplicate, the need posting form will be prefilled with the same details as the prior need so you can modify as necessary and post the new need. You cannot duplicate a Recurring need because of the complexity of replicating the specific occurrences which may or may not have been altered by the Key Contact.

You can only create your own categories only if you are using our Events module. Otherwise, you can select from the wide variety of categories and sub-categories for each type of possible need that Meet The Need has refined over many years. Standardizing categories and sub-categories and keeping them consistent is important for aligning both the posting and searching of needs.

We do not currently allow for the category or sub-category of a previously posted need to be changed. We suggest making the need Inactive on your Open/Partially Filled, Filled or Expired Needs reports and reposting it with the correct category or sub-category.

After creating a Recurring need on a specific day of the week, delete every other occurrence of that need.

We restrict the maximum duration of a recurring need to 6 months in order to keep the list of needs listed on Meet The Need current. Allowing needs (especially recurring needs where one need can equate to many occurrences) to be posted more than 6 months out has resulted in needs appearing in search results that are longer relevant. To maintain those recurring needs on an ongoing basis, Key Contacts may continue to add occurrences each week as prior occurrences roll off (because the dates have passed).

Recurring needs have multiple regular occurrences on either a daily, weekly or monthly basis. For example, a volunteer need for every day this week from 9am-12pm or every Tuesday for the next month from 9am to 12pm. Selecting this option automatically creates those occurrences toward the bottom of the table on the need posting form. Each occurrence may be edited (e.g. if a particular day falls on a holiday). Individuals can pick which date(s) they wish to adopt or they can opt to adopt every occurrence.

Which module should I use to post my needs? (View Instructional Video)

• MTN has 4 main modules:
• Volunteer & Goods Management
• – One time, recurring or open ended needs for volunteers
• – Post needs for items
• Shared Case Management
  • – Post needs for families in your community
  • – Record family visits and assistance you provided
  • – Schedule families to receive goods/services in the future
  • – See what other organizations have helped families in your community
• Events Management
  • – Post needs for one time or ongoing special events
  • – Event has a definite begin and end date
  • – Want to create your own categories for customized posting and searching
  • – Post needs for multi-location and multi-organization events
• International Missions
  
  • – Post needs for your missionaries in the field
  • – Post needs for upcoming mission trips
  • – Add missionaries and record your missions activity

On your Open/Partially Filled, Filled or Expired Needs reports, click Edit next to that need and set View Status to Public to publish it instantly out to the entire Meet the Need network, click Semi Private to show it only on your web site, or select Members Only to restrict it to only be seen by your Approved Members (e.g. background checked individuals). Members Only status will require that individuals log in first to prove that they are an approved “member” of your organization or team, authorized to see and meet that need.

Charities will normally select Public when posting a need because they will always want their needs to be shared with local churches and companies.

On your Open/Partially Filled, Filled or Expired Needs reports, click Edit next to that need and set Display Status to Inactive to stop the need from being displayed on any web sites, including your own. NOTE: You can also set the Expiration Date to a past date to remove the need from all web sites automatically.