Glossary
Definitions of key terms and concepts used across the PurposeTech platform.
Products
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| PurposeTech Mobilise | Large-scale volunteer campaign management — street appeals, fundraising drives, and multi-site programmes with hundreds of locations and regional coordination |
| PurposeTech Event Volunteering | Community event volunteer registration — festivals, cleanups, sports events, and conferences with role-based scheduling and team management |
| PurposeTech Disaster Recovery | Emergency response volunteer coordination — rapid mobilisation, real-time deployment, and skills-based matching for disaster relief operations |
Platform structure
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Organisation | Your top-level account — your charity or nonprofit. Manages billing, global settings, and all tenants. One organisation can have multiple tenants |
| Tenant | A white-labelled volunteer site for a specific programme or brand. Each tenant gets its own domain, logo, colours, and email templates. Most organisations have one tenant, but large organisations may have several |
| Campaign | A specific event, appeal, or programme within a tenant. Each campaign has its own signup page, jobs, and shifts, while volunteers are shared across campaigns within the tenant. Think of it as a single "run" of your programme (e.g., "Annual Street Appeal 2026") |
| White-label | Custom branding where volunteers see your organisation's brand (logo, domain, colours) instead of PurposeTech branding. Every tenant is white-labelled by default |
Geographic hierarchy
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Region | Top-level geographic grouping within a campaign — typically a city or major geographic area (e.g., "Auckland", "Canterbury"). Used for regional reporting and planning |
| Sub-region | An optional grouping within a region for finer organisation. Not a separate entity — it's a label on areas and jobs. Use it when a region is large enough to need an extra level |
| Area | The key coordination unit. Belongs to a region and contains one or more jobs (sites). This is what coordinators are assigned to. An area coordinator manages all sites and volunteers within their area |
| Job | A specific collection site, venue, or station within an area. Also called a site or location. Each job has its own address, notes, shifts, and volunteer assignments |
| Site | Another name for Job — the physical location where volunteering happens |
| Shift | A time slot at a job. The core scheduling unit — defined by a start time, duration, and desired number of volunteers. Volunteers sign up for specific shifts |
| Collection day | The day(s) when the volunteer activity takes place. The roster grid organises shifts into columns by collection day |
User roles
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Owner | Full platform access. Can manage tenants, campaigns, settings, integrations, billing, and other admins. Can switch between tenants within the organisation |
| Volunteer Admin | Manages campaigns, volunteers, shifts, and communications. Full campaign management without access to tenant settings, integrations, or billing |
| Area Coordinator | Manages volunteers and shifts within assigned area(s). Sees the roster for their sites only. The primary day-of management role. Cannot see sites outside their areas |
| Site Coordinator | Also called Job Coordinator. Manages a single specific site/job and its shifts. A more focused role than Area Coordinator — used when a particular location needs a dedicated person |
| Site Contact | Also called Job Contact. A lightweight role — a contact person recorded against a site. No admin or roster access. Used for recording who to call if there's a problem at a location (e.g., a property manager) |
| Volunteer | Self-service only. Can view and manage their own shift bookings via the volunteer site. No admin access |
Volunteer statuses
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Prospect | Volunteer has selected shifts but hasn't completed registration. Their shift holds expire automatically if they don't finish signing up |
| Confirmed | Registered and email verified. The volunteer is expected on event day |
| Waitlisted | The shift was full when they signed up. They're in a queue — if a spot opens (or an admin promotes them), they move to confirmed |
| On hold | Shift reserved via Adopt-a-Site for a corporate group. Not yet assigned to an individual volunteer — the organisation contact needs to confirm or fill the slot |
| Unverified | Volunteer signed up but hasn't clicked the verification link in their email. They may not show up — treat these slots as uncertain |
| Cancelled | The shift assignment was cancelled, either by the volunteer or by an admin/coordinator. The slot is freed for someone else |
| Blocked | The volunteer has been added to the blocklist. They are automatically prevented from signing up for future campaigns |
Roster & day-of terms
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Roster | The grid view showing volunteer assignments for a specific site, organised by time slot and collection day. The primary working view for coordinators on event day |
| Volunteer card | A card in the roster grid showing a volunteer's name, email, phone, organisation, and status badges. Each card has a dropdown menu for actions |
| Status badge | A colour-coded label on a volunteer card indicating their status — Waitlist (amber), On hold (grey), Unverified (red), Group (indigo), Notes (dark grey) |
| Shift type | An optional category label for shifts (e.g., "Morning Collection", "Setup", "Pack Down"). Appears as a blue pill in the roster and can drive shift-specific email content |
| Walk-in | A volunteer who shows up on event day without pre-registering. Coordinators can add them directly from the roster |
| No-show | A volunteer who was confirmed but didn't arrive for their shift |
Features & tools
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Adopt-a-Site | Feature for corporate group bookings. When enabled, coordinators can select multiple empty slots and reserve them for an adopting organisation. The organisation's contact person then fills the slots with their volunteers |
| Move Tool | A drag-and-drop interface for reassigning volunteers between shifts and sites. Supports single and bulk moves. Accessed from the volunteer dropdown menu on the roster |
| Merge Tool | Feature to merge duplicate volunteer records. Transfers all shift assignments, campaign history, feedback, and referrals to a single winning record. The duplicate is soft-deleted |
| At-a-Glance | An admin-only birds-eye view showing all sites across the entire campaign in a single table. Read-only — used for spotting coverage gaps across the whole programme |
| Force assign | An admin action that overrides shift capacity limits to assign a volunteer to a full shift |
| Linked area groups | Groups of areas that share the same job/shift pattern. Create the structure once, clone it across all areas in the group — useful for national campaigns with hundreds of identical sites |
| Linked job groups | Groups of jobs within an area that share the same shift pattern. Similar to linked area groups but at the job level |
Shift & booking terms
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Desired volunteers | The number of volunteers you want for a shift. Used to calculate fulfilment and show empty slots in the roster |
| Shift fulfilment | How many of the desired volunteers have signed up (shown as "X of Y"). Used in reporting to identify coverage gaps |
| Display on website | A visibility setting on shifts, jobs, and areas. When turned off, volunteers can't see or book that item on the public site — but it remains visible to admins |
| Shift hold | A temporary reservation that prevents double-booking while a volunteer completes registration. Holds expire automatically if signup isn't finished |
| Shift expiry | A campaign-level setting that controls when shifts become unavailable for booking. After expiry, coordinators can't add volunteers (admins can override) |
| Clone shifts | Bulk creation method — set up shifts for one job, then duplicate the pattern across multiple jobs |
Volunteer management terms
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Adopter / Adopter organisation | A corporate group or organisation that "adopts" a site via Adopt-a-Site. Shown on volunteer cards when the volunteer represents a group |
| Referral | When a volunteer invites a friend using a referral link. The system tracks the relationship between referrer and referred |
| Group booking | When multiple volunteers sign up together, often via a referral link or group registration. Volunteers in a group are tagged with a Group badge |
| Blocklist | A system for flagging individuals who should not volunteer again. Blocklisted users are automatically prevented from signing up for future campaigns under the same tenant |
| Feedback | Notes or flags recorded against a volunteer after an event — can be positive (commendation) or negative (leading to blocklist) |
| Soft delete | When a record is marked as deleted but not permanently removed from the database. Used in merge operations and volunteer removal to preserve audit history. Permanent deletion can be requested via support for GDPR or data retention compliance |
| CSV import | Bulk upload of volunteer records from a spreadsheet. Maps columns to volunteer fields and creates/updates records |
Communication terms
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Abandoned cart email | An automated email sent to volunteers who started signup but didn't complete it. Configurable timing (e.g., 24 hours after abandonment) |
| Shift confirmation email | Sent automatically when a volunteer is assigned to a shift — whether they signed up themselves or were added by a coordinator |
| Reminder email | Sent before event day to remind volunteers of their shift details. Timing is configurable per campaign |
| Verification / email verification | The process where a volunteer clicks a link in their email to confirm their booking. Until verified, they show an "Unverified" badge on the roster |
| Magic link | A passwordless login method. Users enter their email, receive a link, and click it to sign in. No password needed |
| OTP (One-Time Passcode) | A fallback login method when the magic link doesn't arrive. The user receives a numeric code via email instead |
Authentication & access
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Passwordless login | PurposeTech uses magic links instead of passwords for all users (volunteers and admins). Enter your email, click the link, you're in |
| Custom domain | A domain you own (e.g., volunteers.yourcharity.org.nz) pointed at your PurposeTech tenant. Volunteers see your URL instead of a PurposeTech subdomain |
| Consent proof | A file (e.g., signed agreement from a property owner) uploaded against a job/site. Available for download from the roster view |
Integrations
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Salesforce integration | Two-way sync between PurposeTech and Salesforce. Volunteers, jobs, shifts, and assignments stay in sync. Enterprise plan feature — configured by the PurposeTech team |
| Postmark | The email delivery service PurposeTech uses to send all transactional emails (confirmations, reminders, magic links). Managed by PurposeTech |