“Publish Online” Status Options for Opportunities

Question:

What do the different options for the "Publish Online" field mean when I am creating or updating an opportunity?

Answer:

This field is very important because it determines whether or not this Event or Service Project is visible and available to your volunteers for registration. The various options for this field are described below:

1. The "No" option is used when you do not want the opportunity to be displayed on your organization's event registration page.  
• This can be used when you want the opportunity to be private and don't want the general volunteer population to know it exists, or to hide it while you are making updates or preparing for the opportunity launch.
2. The "Yes - Open" option is used for opportunities that you want to be listed on your event registration page and to be available for registration.  
• The opportunity will be listed in green and will display the total number of volunteers still needed or "Unlimited" for opportunity with unlimited registration.  
• Once the opportunity fills up, it will still be displayed on your event registration page, but will display "Full" in red lettering.
3. The "Yes - Closed" option is used for opportunities that, at some time in the past, you had listed on your registration page and available for registration but now you no longer want to accept registration.  
• This could be due to needing preparation time between accepting registrations and the actual start date, or due to a change in the number of needed volunteers. It is not advised to hide these opportunities from your registration page in these situations, because often times, volunteers will have either seen it listed at some point or think it should be listed and will contact your organization for assistance.
• By marking the opportunity as "Yes - Closed", the opportunity will be displayed with the text reading "Registration Closed" in red lettering so the volunteer will be aware of the status.
4. The "Yes - Canceled" option is used for opportunities that have been canceled and no longer require registration or volunteer participation.  
• Marking an opportunity as "Yes - Canceled" does not automatically notify volunteers who have already signed up for the event so this will have to be done manually, using the CERVIS email system.  
• It is not advised to hide opportunities from your registration page when canceled, because oftentimes, volunteers will have either seen it listed at some point or think it should be listed and will contact your organization for assistance.  
• By marking the opportunity as "Yes - Canceled", the opportunity will be displayed with the text reading "Canceled" in red lettering so the volunteer will be aware of the status.
5. The "Yes - Coming Soon" option is used for events that are upcoming yet you would not like to open registration for the event yet.  
• Marking an event as "Yes - Coming Soon" can be useful in many situations where you would like to make volunteers aware of an event prior to a registration date, thereby building anticipation for the event or providing pertinent information to volunteers to be able to decide they are able to and would like to register for the event.  
• By marking the event as "Yes - Coming Soon", the event will be displayed with the text reading "Coming Soon" in blue lettering so the volunteer will be aware of the status.
6. The "Yes - Contact Us" option is used for opportunities that you would like volunteers to be able to see, but would like volunteers to contact you in order to fill.
• Volunteers are not able to register themselves for slots or opportunities marked as "Yes - Contact Us".
• By marking the event as "Yes - Contact Us", the event will be displayed with the text reading "Contact Us" in blue lettering so the volunteer will be aware of the status.
7. The "Sign-in Console Only" option is used when you would like to create an opportunity that volunteers cannot see online. However, if a volunteer is registered for the opportunity he/she will be able to sign into the event using the Sign-in Console. Additionally, these opportunities will also be available for Walk-in Registration if you turned on the option in the System Configuration to “Allow Walk-in Registration via Sign-in Console”.

Note that prior to the update to version 9.5.0 on July 31, 2021, this field was called "Show on Web Registration Page"