Glossary
Definitions of key terms and concepts used across the PurposeTech platform.
The platform
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| PurposeTech | Volunteer and crew management for purpose events – street appeals, runs and challenges, tours and open days, festivals and clean-ups. Used for single events and by organisers running many. It works beside ticketing and fundraising platforms and does not sell tickets, take payments, or run peer-to-peer fundraising |
| Admin portal | Where Owners and Volunteer Admins set up and manage campaigns: volunteers, sites, shifts, reports, messaging, design and settings |
| Campaign site | The public website volunteers use to find shifts and sign up. It is also where coordinators sign in to work from rosters |
Platform structure
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Organisation | Your top-level account. One organisation can have more than one tenant. Team Members lists everyone with admin portal access across the organisation |
| Tenant | Your branded volunteer site setup. It holds defaults that campaigns use unless they override them: styles, header and footer, terminology, registration form fields, custom domain and email templates. Many organisations have one tenant |
| Campaign | A specific event or programme within a tenant. Each campaign has its own address, sites, shifts and settings, while volunteers are shared across campaigns within the tenant. Think of it as a single "run" of your event (e.g., "Annual Street Appeal 2026") |
| Terminology | A setting (on Tenant Settings, and on Campaign Settings to override it) that renames what the portal and campaign site call regions, areas, sites and shifts, for example "suburbs" instead of "areas" |
| Duplicate Campaign | An Owner action that copies a campaign's settings, styling and email templates into a new campaign, and optionally its regions, areas, sites and shifts, rescheduled to a new first-shift date |
Geographic hierarchy
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Region | Top-level geographic grouping within a campaign – typically a city or major geographic area (e.g., "Auckland", "Canterbury"). Regions have no coordinators of their own |
| Sub-region | An optional label on an area for finer grouping inside a region. It is a field on the area, not a separate level |
| Area | The key coordination unit. It belongs to a region and contains one or more sites. This is what area coordinators are assigned to, including which day they coordinate |
| Site | A specific collection point, venue or station within an area. Also called a job or location in some places. Each site has its own address, a public message shown to volunteers, admin notes, a status, shifts and volunteer bookings |
| Job | The platform's internal name for a site. You may still see it in exports or older documentation |
| Site status | A pipeline label on a site: Yet to contact, Pending, Confirmed, Declined, Might use, Won't use or Cancelled. Useful for tracking permission to use a location |
| Shift | A time slot at a site. The core scheduling unit – defined by a start time, duration, and the number of volunteers you want. Volunteers sign up for specific shifts |
| Collection day | The day the volunteer activity takes place. The roster groups shifts into columns by day |
User roles
There are two sign-ins and two kinds of account. Admin portal access (Owner, Volunteer Admin) is given under Organisation > Team Members. Campaign site roles (Volunteer Admin, Area Coordinator, Site Coordinator, Site Contact, Volunteer) are set from the volunteer's record under Volunteers. The same person can hold both.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Owner | Full admin portal access. Can use Design, Settings and Domains, create tenants and campaigns, duplicate campaigns, create custom email templates and send to segments, and change team members' roles |
| Volunteer Admin | In the admin portal: manages volunteers, shifts, reports and messaging, but not Design, Settings or Domains. On the campaign site: can see every roster in the campaign |
| Area Coordinator | Manages volunteers and shifts within assigned areas, on the days they are assigned. Works from the roster on the campaign site and cannot see areas outside their assignment |
| Site Coordinator | Also called Job Coordinator. Works from the roster for the specific shifts they are assigned to. A narrower role than Area Coordinator, used when a location needs a dedicated person |
| Site Contact | Also called Job Contact. A contact person recorded against a site. No admin or roster access. Used for recording who to call about a location (e.g., a property manager) |
| Volunteer | Self-service only. Can view and manage their own shift bookings on the campaign site. No admin access |
Booking statuses
A volunteer's booking on a shift has one of these statuses.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Confirmed | The booking stands. The volunteer is expected for the shift |
| Prospect | A slot that has been reserved but not yet confirmed, such as a slot a coordinator has put on hold for an adopting group. The roster shows it as On hold |
| Waitlisted | A booking marked as waitlisted rather than confirmed |
| Pending | A status the platform defines, but the standard booking flow does not set it |
| Canceled | The booking was cancelled, by the volunteer or by an admin or coordinator. The space is freed |
Roster badges and day-of terms
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Roster | The view showing volunteer bookings for a site, organised by time slot and day. Coordinators open it on the campaign site, and it is the main working view on event day |
| Volunteer card | A card in the roster showing a volunteer's name, email, phone and status badges. Its menu offers Move volunteer, Confirm (for held slots), Remove waitlist and Remove |
| Unverified badge | The volunteer has registered but has not yet clicked the sign-in link in their email, so the booking is not confirmed. An unconfirmed booking is held for 10 minutes and then released |
| On hold badge | The slot is reserved for someone (for example an adopting group) and has not been confirmed. Use Confirm on the card to confirm it |
| Waitlist badge | The booking is marked as waitlisted |
| Group badge | The volunteer invited a friend, or was invited by one. Hover over it to see who is linked |
| Notes badge | The volunteer has a note against their record in this campaign. Hover to read it |
| Shift type | An optional category label for shifts (e.g., "Setup", "Pack down"). It appears on the roster and can be used in shift-specific email content |
| Walk-in | A volunteer who turns up on the day without pre-registering. Coordinators add them from the roster with Add volunteer |
| No-show | A volunteer who was booked but did not arrive. PurposeTech does not record arrivals or no-shows. On-the-day check-in is on the roadmap |
Features & tools
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Adopt-a-Site | A way to reserve slots for a corporate or community group. A coordinator selects empty slots on the roster and reserves them with the group's contact details. A campaign setting decides whether a coordinator's reservation makes the whole shift appear full to the public |
| Move volunteer | The tool for moving a volunteer to another shift or site. Available on larger screens from the volunteer card's menu, and also in bulk |
| Merge tool | Combines duplicate volunteer records on the Volunteers page. Shift bookings, campaign records, feedback and email history move to the record you keep |
| At a glance | A switch on the roster, for admins, that shows all sites across the campaign in one table so you can spot coverage gaps. It is read-only |
| Add Campaign Data | The window in Volunteers > Overview for creating regions, areas, sites and shifts in bulk. The Data grid takes rows typed in, pasted from Excel or uploaded as CSV or XLSX |
| Shift Generator | Creates the same shift pattern across many sites at once |
| Make copies | Copies a region or area, with what is inside it and its shift times, up to 20 times |
| Waitlist (area) | A queue for a full area. People join when the whole area is full, and your team phones them and places them on a shift when a space opens (Volunteers > Waitlist). People on it have no booked shift |
| Tags | Admin-only labels you put on volunteers (for example "Corporate team"). They show on the Volunteers list, can be filtered on and are included in CSV downloads. Volunteers never see them |
| Calendar | A planning view for your own events, with month, week and board views. Entries are internal planning items, not pages on the public site |
| Onboarding flow | A public sign-up flow you build with an AI assistant, with conditional questions, optional approval and follow-up emails. Each flow gets its own address |
| Site files and consent forms | Files uploaded against a site, such as a signed agreement from a property owner. Coordinators can download a site's consent forms from its roster |
Shift & booking terms
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Desired volunteers | The number of volunteers you want for a shift. It sets the shift's capacity and the number of open slots on the roster |
| Shift fulfilment | How many of the desired volunteers have signed up, shown as "X of Y booked". Used in reports to find coverage gaps |
| Display on website | A visibility setting on shifts, sites and areas. When off, volunteers can't see or book that item on the public site, but admins still can |
| Show full | A site setting that displays the site as full and stops new sign-ups without deleting anything |
| Cancel only | A site setting that lets existing volunteers cancel but stops anyone new booking |
| Shift hold | A temporary reservation of 10 minutes while a volunteer completes registration. Unconfirmed holds are released automatically |
| Registration cutoff | A campaign setting for when sign-up closes: a single fixed date, or automatically before each shift (by default 48 hours before for volunteers and 2 hours before for area coordinators) |
Volunteer management terms
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Adopter organisation | The group or organisation name recorded against a volunteer who represents a group, for example one booked through Adopt-a-Site |
| Referral | When a volunteer adds or invites a friend. The system records who invited whom, and the friend shows a Group badge |
| Group booking | Several volunteers booked together through a referral or an adopted site. They show a Group badge |
| Feedback | A note recorded against a volunteer, of type Positive, Negative, Private note or Blacklist |
| Blacklist | A feedback type for people who should not volunteer again. A blacklisted person can't sign in or register under the same tenant, and sees only a general "Sign-in failed" or "Registration failed" message |
| Soft delete | When a record is marked deleted but kept in the database to preserve history, for example after a merge. Permanent deletion can be requested through support |
| CSV import | Bulk upload of volunteers on the Volunteers page. Columns include email, first name, last name, mobile phone and adopter organisation |
Communication terms
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Email template | One of the automated emails under Messaging > Email Templates, such as welcome, shift confirmation, reminders, cancelled shift and invite-a-friend. Each has a preview, a schedule, statistics and a history |
| Welcome email | Sent to a volunteer after they register |
| Shift confirmation email | Sent when a volunteer is assigned to shifts, whether they signed up themselves or a coordinator added them |
| Reminder email | The two reminder templates sent before the event. Each is scheduled either at a fixed date or a set time before the event |
| Abandoned sign-up email | A reminder to people who started registering and did not finish. It is scheduled a set time after their first sign-up step |
| Segment send | An Owner option on custom email templates and reminders to send to a segment (by role, with a minimum number of shifts) or to a pasted list of email addresses |
| Email History | Messaging > Email History lists what was sent, with delivery status, bounces and opens, searchable by email address, subject or tag |
| Verification | The volunteer clicking the sign-in link in their email, which confirms their booking |
| Magic link | The passwordless sign-in link emailed to a user. Valid for 15 minutes when requested from the sign-in page |
| OTP (One-Time Passcode) | A fallback sign-in method when the link doesn't arrive. The user receives a code by email instead |
Authentication & access
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Passwordless login | PurposeTech has no passwords. Users sign in with an emailed link or one-time code, and admins can also use a passkey. Sessions last 24 hours |
| Passkey | A sign-in method for the admin portal that uses your device's unlock (Face ID, Touch ID, Windows Hello). Added under My Account > Security |
| Custom domain | A domain you own (e.g., volunteers.yourcharity.org.nz) pointed at your campaign. Volunteers see your address instead of a PurposeTech subdomain |
| Password protection | A campaign setting that asks visitors for a password before they can see the campaign site. New campaigns start with it on. Set under Settings > Domains |
Reports
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Filled by Area | Shift fill rates by area, with a coverage bar per row and the sites inside each area |
| Post Campaign | Per-site results after the campaign: efficiency, geography and year-on-year comparison |
| Anomalies | Four rostering checks: over-subscribed shifts, partial coordinator coverage, disjointed shift coverage and double-booked shifts |
| UTM Report | Shows which marketing channels brought people to the sign-up forms, based on UTM tags in the links they arrived by |
| Collection | The EFTPOS and cash totals recorded against a site, entered by hand or imported with Import Site Data |
Integrations
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Salesforce integration | Syncs regions, areas, sites, shifts, volunteers and bookings with Salesforce. Set up with the PurposeTech team and managed by Owners under Settings > Salesforce Sync. Records that fail to sync appear as sync conflicts |
| Sync conflict | A record that failed to sync, with an error message and a status of Error, Resolved or Ignored |
| Postmark | The email delivery service PurposeTech uses to send emails (confirmations, reminders, sign-in links). An Owner sets the sender address under Settings > Campaign API Keys |