GivePulse

Q: Why does Oakland use GivePulse?

A: Oakland University wants to build deeper connections across the metropolitan Detroit community. Supporting the work of non-profits in the area and caring for those in need are just some of the many ways we hope to nurture that relationship. GivePulse helps students learn about and sign up for these kinds of opportunities.

We chose GivePulse instead of similar platforms because It is free and available for anyone, not just students and faculty. We can use GivePulse to foster and strengthen our community’s spirit of service and engagement. 

Q: I don’t want others to be able to see information about my community engagement. How can I change my privacy settings?

A: Under your name in the top right corner, select “Account.” In the account settings menu on the left side of the screen, select “Settings.” The box to set your account to private will be in the middle of the menu. Hit “Save Changes” before leaving the page.

Q: The leader of our group changed. How do I change the administrator to someone new?

A: To change administrators for a group, you will need permission from a current administrator. From the “manage group” page, select “users” then “manage memberships.” From the dropdown menus under “actions,” the current administrator can add and remove administrator access.

Q: How do I log in to GivePulse?

A: All Oakland University students, faculty, and staff have an existing account with GivePulse and need to claim their account. GivePulse uses OU’s single sign-on, so use your Oakland email and password when logging in.

To log in and find volunteer Opportunities.

1. Visit oakland.givepulse.com.
2. In the top right-hand corner, click the account management button and select ‘Log In.’
3. Select ‘Log in via Oakland’ and log in using your Oakland email and password.

If you want to personalize your account, select “Account” from the drop-down menu under your name or image to complete the final steps, including the causes you care about and your skills. Filling out your profile information helps groups find you for events that are relevant to you.

Q: How do I find service opportunities?

A: You can find service opportunities in several different ways

1. From the Oakland dashboard page, select events to view upcoming, open, and ongoing volunteer opportunities. Click an event block to learn more about each opportunity. Ready to commit? Select the blue “register” button on the upper right-hand side of the event page.
2. Click the ‘Explore’ tab on the top right of the screen to search current service opportunities. If you are interested in a particular type of service opportunity or issue area, you can search for those within the Explore tab.
3. Interested in volunteering with a particular organization? Search our list of affiliates (community partners) to explore their volunteer opportunities.

Q: What should I do if my affiliate (community partner) isn’t on GivePulse?

A: Please contact your site supervisor and direct them to our join GivePulse page. From the site:

1. Enter the information for the individual who will be managing the organization’s page
2. Enter the information for the organization
3. Create your first volunteer opportunity (optional)
4. Click “Continue” in the lower left corner
5. Once you have published your organization, students will be able to search for your organization and tag you in service hours they log

Q: Can I get this on my phone?

A: Yes. GivePulse is available in both the App Store and Google Play Store.

Download the iOS App

Download the Android App

You can search for volunteer opportunities, submit service hours, and update your personal profile through the app. Administrators, event managers, and check-in attendants can switch to their admin role in the app by selecting the profile option in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen and selecting ‘Switch to Admin.’ 

Q: How do I add an impact?

A: There are two different ways to add an impact on GivePulse.

1. Add an impact from any page or for independent service.
2. Go to your profile at the top of the menu and select ‘Add Impact.’ Search for the organization where you volunteered. Can’t find where you volunteered? Select the ‘Can’t Find it’ button to finish recording your service hours. Fill out all the required information and submit your impact.
3. Add an impact from registration
4. If you have already registered for an event, you will receive an email notification following the event to confirm your hours. You can always check events or shifts you are registered for by selecting ‘My Activity’ from the menu and selecting ‘Registrations.’

Q: What is the difference between “impacts” and “service hours”?

A: Service hours and impacts go hand-in-hand, but a few differences exist.

Impacts: Every time you volunteer, serve or donate (items or monetarily) to a social impact initiative, you make an Impact. Adding impacts, or “sharing information about what you did in the community that made an impact of some kind” empowers you to record your engagement with the community. Impacts help provide data for reporting purposes, get feedback on the quality of the experience, and better understand the impact of the work we are doing in the community. Learn more about Impacts.

Hours: These are the total hours you served, including verified and unverified, across different impact types, including volunteering, training, meetings, etc.

Q: How do I ensure that my service counts for groups I’m part of?

A: If you want your hours to count for an organization you are serving or a service club, make sure to select them from the share with section when adding a service impact. Your hours will not count toward that organization if you don’t share them. If all your service will be as part of a group, organization or service club, you can automatically share ALL your service hours.  To do this, follow these steps:

1. Once logged into GivePulse, click the “My Groups” tab and find the group you would like to share hours from the list.
2. Look for the arrow to the right of the group you want to share hours with. Click the arrow next to the group and select “More Options.”
3. Check the box next to “Always Share Impacts.” From now on, when you verify your service hours after a volunteer experience, this group will automatically be selected. 

Note: If you do not want certain hours to count for a pre-selected group, you can deselect that group manually before verifying your service impact/hours. 

Q: Who verifies the hours I complete?

A: In most cases, the person running your affiliate (community partners) GivePulse page will verify your hours. Otherwise, someone in the Office of Community Engagement will follow up and verify your hours. If you have any GivePulse issues, please email us at [email protected].

Q: The leader of our group changed. How do I change the administrator to someone new?

A: To change administrators for a group, you will need permission from a current administrator. From the “manage group” page, select “users” then “manage memberships.” From the dropdown menus under “actions,” the current administrator can add and remove administrator access.

Q: How do I connect with Oakland University to get volunteers?

A: GivePulse is free of cost for our affiliates (community partners) organizations. By having a profile, you can create volunteer opportunities that members of the OU community can sign up to attend. You can also utilize GivePulse as a volunteer management platform to track and promote opportunities for community volunteers.

1. Join our GivePulse page
2. Enter the information for the individual who will be managing the organization’s page
3. Enter the information for the organization
4. Create your first volunteer opportunity (optional)
5. Click “Continue” in the lower left corner
6. Once you have published your organization, students will be able to search for your organization and tag you in service hours they log

Q: What’s the difference between shifts and timeslots when creating an event?

A: Shifts are for opportunities where you need volunteers for specific time sets. Shifts allow you to set exactly when the volunteers will start and end their service. Timeslots are for more open-ended opportunities. Timeslots allow you to set a period of time when the user can volunteer and select when they want to serve. Example: You may need volunteers anywhere from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. Volunteers can select to serve from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm using timeslots. Note: You do have the ability to set a minimum number of hours that the user must serve.

Q: Students volunteered with my group. How do I verify their impact?

A: There are two ways to verify impacts. If you created an event for which the student registered, you can simply sign them in. If there was no associated event and students reported the hours to you directly, you may follow these instructions to verify their impact.

Q: What data will be available to my organization?

A: Using GivePulse, you can create custom impact reports. To do this, start from your page dashboard. Select “Impacts” from the menu on the left of the screen and then click “Manage Impacts.” On this page, select “Configure Layout”. This menu will allow you to select which items you want to look at. Once you have done that, click the blue “Actions” button and then click “Export.” This will give you the option to export all of the data or just the items visible on the page. Once you select your preference, it will export the information into an Excel document.