Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to the most common questions about using PurposeTech.
Getting started
How do my volunteers sign up?
Share the link to your campaign site (e.g., volunteers.yourcharity.org.nz). Volunteers pick a location, choose a shift, enter their details, and verify their email. The whole process takes under two minutes — no account creation or password needed.
Do volunteers need to create a password?
No. PurposeTech uses passwordless login. Volunteers enter their email and receive a login link (or a one-time passcode). No passwords to remember, reset, or manage.
Can volunteers sign up on their phone?
Yes. The signup flow is fully mobile-optimised. Most volunteers will sign up from their phone — the experience is designed for that.
Do volunteers need to download an app?
No. PurposeTech runs entirely in the browser. No app download, no App Store, no updates. Works on any modern browser on any device.
How long does it take to set up a campaign?
A simple campaign (one location, a few shifts) can be live in under an hour. A national campaign with hundreds of locations typically takes a day or two — most of that time is spent on shift creation, which can be accelerated with linked area groups and cloning.
Can I run a test before going live?
Yes. Set your campaign to Private (requires a password to access) and run through the full signup flow yourself. Use the Test send feature in email templates to preview every email. Once you're happy, remove the password and share the link.
Is there a limit to how many volunteers or sites I can have?
No hard limit. PurposeTech is built for scale — organisations regularly run campaigns with 8,000+ volunteers across 1,000+ sites. If you have exceptionally large campaigns, contact our team to discuss your setup.
Can I use PurposeTech for a one-off event?
Yes. PurposeTech works for both recurring annual programmes and one-off events. Create a campaign for your event, run it, and keep the data for reference. Many organisations start with a single event and then expand to recurring programmes.
Campaigns & configuration
Can I run multiple campaigns at the same time?
Yes. Each tenant can have multiple active campaigns simultaneously. Each gets its own signup page, branding, jobs, and shifts — but volunteers are shared across campaigns within the tenant. Manage them all from one admin portal.
Can I reuse last year's campaign?
Not directly — each year gets a new campaign. But you can:
- Export volunteers from the old campaign as CSV and import them into the new one
- Clone shift patterns from previous campaign jobs
- Reference historical data for planning
What's the difference between a tenant and a campaign?
A tenant is your branded volunteer site — it has its own domain, logo, colours, and email settings. It persists across years.
A campaign is a specific event or programme within a tenant. You create a new campaign each time you run an appeal, event, or programme. Old campaigns stay accessible for reference.
Most organisations have one tenant and create a new campaign for each event.
Can I make my campaign invite-only?
Yes. Set the campaign to Private and assign a password. Only people who have the password can access the signup page. Share the password with your invitees.
How do I customise what volunteers see on the signup page?
Through campaign configuration:
- Branding — logo, colours, and copy via style overrides
- Registration fields — add custom fields (dropdown, checkbox, text) to the signup form
- Site copy — customise button labels, descriptions, and messages
- Email templates — customise every automated email with your branding and messaging
Can different campaigns have different branding?
Yes. Enable Override Tenant Settings on a campaign to use campaign-specific branding — different logo, colours, header/footer, and email templates. This is useful for co-branded events or programmes that have a distinct visual identity.
What happens to a campaign after the event?
The campaign stays in the admin portal with all its data — volunteers, shifts, assignments, emails, reports. You can reference it at any time for historical reporting, and export data for planning next year's programme. Campaigns are never deleted.
Can I restrict which jobs/sites volunteers see?
Yes, at several levels:
- Display on Website — hide individual shifts, jobs, or entire areas
- Campaign privacy — make the whole campaign password-protected
- Geographic filtering — volunteers browse by region, so you control the hierarchy
Data & integrations
Does PurposeTech integrate with Salesforce?
Yes — two-way sync. Volunteers, jobs, shifts, and assignments stay in sync between PurposeTech and Salesforce. This is an Enterprise plan feature configured by the PurposeTech team. See Salesforce Integration.
Can I export my data?
Yes, in multiple ways:
- CSV export from any table in the admin portal (volunteers, shifts, assignments, etc.)
- PDF roster export from the roster view (for printing)
- Salesforce sync for ongoing data flow to your CRM
- Reporting dashboards for campaign metrics
- Email delivery logs for communication tracking
Who owns the data?
You do. Your volunteer data belongs to your organisation. PurposeTech processes it on your behalf under our Data Processing Agreement. You can export everything at any time.
Is my data secure?
Yes. PurposeTech is hosted on secure cloud infrastructure with TLS in transit and AES-256 encryption at rest. Access controls follow a role-based model with audit logging. See our Trust Center for full details on security practices, certifications, and data handling.
How long is data retained?
| Data type | Retention |
|---|---|
| Campaign data (volunteers, shifts, assignments) | Retained for the life of your account. Archived campaigns stay accessible for historical reporting |
| Contact form submissions | 12 months, then automatically purged |
| Email delivery logs | 90 days |
| Docs AI chat conversations | 90 days, PII redacted at point of capture |
| Analytics and session data | 90 days, anonymised |
When you cancel your account, all data is deleted within 30 days. You can request a full data export before cancellation. For individual deletion requests (e.g., GDPR right to erasure), contact support.
Can I integrate with other tools?
PurposeTech's primary integration is with Salesforce. For other tools, you can use CSV export/import as a bridge. If you have specific integration needs, contact our team to discuss options.
Does PurposeTech support webhooks?
Contact our team for webhook integration requirements. This is available on the Enterprise plan.
Branding & customisation
Can I use my own domain?
Yes. Set up a custom domain (e.g., volunteers.yourcharity.org.nz) and your volunteer site will be served from your URL with HTTPS. See Custom Domains & Branding.
Can I customise the volunteer signup page?
Yes — branding (logo, colours), registration fields (custom questions), copy (text and labels), and email templates can all be customised. The volunteer experience looks like it was built for your organisation.
Can I use PurposeTech in a different language?
Yes. The copy overrides system lets you replace all user-facing text with content in any language. This supports Te Reo Māori, Mandarin, Spanish, French, or any other language. Contact our team for help with multilingual setup.
Do volunteers see PurposeTech branding?
No. PurposeTech is fully white-labelled. Volunteers see your logo, your colours, your domain, and your email address. There is no visible PurposeTech branding on the volunteer-facing experience.
Billing & plans
How does pricing work?
PurposeTech pricing is based on your organisation's scale and needs. Contact our sales team for a tailored quote.
Can I try PurposeTech before committing?
Yes. We offer guided demos and pilot programmes. Get in touch to see the platform in action with your specific use case.
Is there a free tier?
Contact our sales team for current pricing options, including any trial or pilot programmes.
Technical
What browsers does PurposeTech support?
All modern browsers: Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge — on both desktop and mobile. PurposeTech does not support Internet Explorer.
Is there an API?
PurposeTech has an internal API that powers the platform. For integration requirements, contact our team to discuss your needs.
What uptime does PurposeTech guarantee?
Check our Status page for current system status and historical uptime. PurposeTech is hosted on high-availability infrastructure.
How is data backed up?
Data is continuously replicated across availability zones with automated daily backups retained for 30 days. Point-in-time recovery is available with a recovery point objective (RPO) of under one hour. See our Trust Center for details.
Does PurposeTech work offline?
PurposeTech requires an internet connection for full functionality. For event day contingency, export a PDF roster before heading to your site — this gives you a complete offline reference. Any changes made after you go offline will need to be entered when you have connectivity again.
Still have a question?
If your question isn't answered here:
- Browse the full Documentation for detailed guides
- Check the Glossary for term definitions
- Contact PurposeTech support at support@purposetech.io
- Visit our Support page to submit a request