> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.deandesk.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Volunteers & volunteer hours

> Approve volunteer applications, assign volunteers to projects, and review volunteer hour submissions from your school community.

<Info>
  **School-level feature** — managed within your school portal at `yourschool.deandesk.com`.
</Info>

DeanDesk has two related volunteer tools:

* **Volunteer Management** — an application and approval flow that controls who can work on school projects. Found under **Admin Dashboard → People → Volunteer Management**.
* **Volunteer Hours** — community-service hour logging for parents and other members, with admin review. Found under **Admin Dashboard → Operations → Volunteer Hours**.

They work independently: anyone in your community can log volunteer hours without going through the volunteer application, and an approved volunteer doesn't have to log hours.

<Warning>
  Volunteer hours are not the same as the **My Hours** page at **My Profile → My Hours**. That page belongs to the [Time and Payroll](/finance/payroll) feature and lets paid staff (teachers, TAs, admins) log additional work hours for payroll. Volunteer hours are unpaid community-service hours and are logged from the Dashboard widget or the **My Family** tab instead.
</Warning>

## The volunteer application flow

Members apply to become volunteers from the **Projects** page in the main portal.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Member applies">
    A member who is not yet an approved volunteer opens **Projects** and sees **Join the Volunteer Program**. They answer **Why would you like to volunteer?** and submit their application.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Application is pending">
    While the application is under review, the member sees a pending notice on the Projects page instead of the project list.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Admin reviews">
    An admin opens **Admin Dashboard → People → Volunteer Management**. New applications appear in the **Pending Applications** tab with the applicant's name, email, application reason, and submitted date.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Approve or reject">
    The admin clicks the approve or reject action and can add optional notes. Approved volunteers gain access to the school's projects. Rejected applicants can reapply later.
  </Step>
</Steps>

### Volunteer statuses

| Status          | Meaning                                                           |
| --------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Pending**     | Application submitted, awaiting review                            |
| **Approved**    | Active volunteer with access to assigned projects                 |
| **Rejected**    | Application declined — the member may reapply                     |
| **Deactivated** | Previously approved, currently inactive — an admin can reactivate |

## Managing volunteers

**Volunteer Management** has three tabs:

* **Pending Applications** — review and approve or reject new applications.
* **All Volunteers** — every volunteer record, filterable by status (**All**, **Pending**, **Approved**, **Rejected**, **Deactivated**). From here you can deactivate an approved volunteer, reactivate a deactivated one, or delete a record entirely.
* **Project Assignment** — pick an approved volunteer, check the projects they should work on, and click **Save Assignments**.

## Logging volunteer hours (members)

Any signed-in user — parent, member, student, teacher, or admin — can log volunteer hours, as long as the school has volunteer hours visible (see [Visibility setting](#visibility-setting) below). There are two places to log:

* **My Family tab** — go to **My Profile → My Family → Volunteer Hours**. This tab shows your total approved hours, hours by category, and a **My Submissions** table. Click **Log Hours** to submit.
* **Dashboard widget** — parents with the parent dashboard also see a **Volunteer Hours** widget on their Dashboard with their total approved hours and a category breakdown. Click **Log Volunteer Hours** to submit an entry without leaving the Dashboard.

The **Log Volunteer Hours** form asks for:

| Field           | Rules                                                                       |
| --------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Date**        | Cannot be in the future                                                     |
| **Hours**       | Between 0.25 and 24, in quarter-hour steps (e.g. 1.5 for 1 hour 30 minutes) |
| **Category**    | **Classroom**, **Event**, **Fundraising**, **Administrative**, or **Other** |
| **Description** | Up to 1,000 characters describing the work performed                        |

Submissions start as **Pending**. While a submission is pending, you can still edit or delete it from the **My Submissions** table. Once an admin approves or rejects it, the entry locks. If a submission was rejected, hover over its status chip to see the reason.

Only **approved** hours count toward your total.

## Reviewing hours (admins)

Open **Admin Dashboard → Operations → Volunteer Hours** to reach the **Volunteer Hours Management** page.

At the top, three stat cards summarize activity: **Pending Review**, **Hours Approved This Month**, and **Total Approved Hours**.

Below, the submissions table shows who submitted, the date, hours, category, description, and status. Filter by:

* **Status** — All, Pending, Approved, Rejected
* **Category** — Classroom, Event, Fundraising, Administrative, Other

For each pending submission, use the approve or reject action:

* **Approve** — the hours are added to the member's approved total immediately.
* **Reject** — you must enter a **Rejection Reason**, which is visible to the volunteer on their submission.

## Visibility setting

You can hide volunteer hours from everyone except admins:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the Features tab">
    Go to **Admin Dashboard → School Configuration → Features**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Toggle visibility">
    In the **Volunteer Hours** card, switch **Show volunteer hours to non-admin users** on or off.
  </Step>
</Steps>

When the toggle is off, parents, volunteers, students, and teachers cannot see or submit volunteer hours — the dashboard widget and the **Volunteer Hours** tab under **My Family** disappear for them. Admins can still review and manage previously submitted hours from the admin area.

See [School configuration](/setup/school-settings) for the other feature toggles.