Bulk Operations & Import
Bulk assign, cancel, email, export, and CSV import for managing large volunteer groups efficiently.
Overview
For large campaigns, individual volunteer management doesn't scale. PurposeTech supports several bulk operations from the volunteers table.
Bulk assign
Select multiple volunteers in the table and assign them to specific shifts in one action. Useful for:
- Pre-assigning returning volunteers from last year
- Moving a group of people to a new location after a schedule change
- Assigning CSV-imported volunteers to their shifts
Bulk cancel
Cancel shift assignments for multiple volunteers at once with an optional reason. Useful for:
- Clearing out shifts that have been cancelled or rescheduled
- Removing a group of no-shows after the event
Bulk email
Select volunteers and trigger specific emails:
- Send registration email — for bulk-imported volunteers who haven't verified yet
- Resend confirmation — re-send shift details to a group
- Schedule missing — catch up volunteers who missed a scheduled email
Bulk export
Export the selected volunteers (or the entire filtered view) as CSV for offline analysis, custom reports, or import into other systems.
See Reports & Data Exports for all reporting views and export formats.
CSV import
For campaigns where volunteers are pre-registered — corporate groups, returning volunteers from last year, or partner organisations sending volunteer lists — you can bulk import from CSV.
The import flow
- Download the template — click "Import Users" in the volunteers table to get a CSV template with the correct column headers
- Fill in the data — required: email. Optional: first name, last name, phone, address, adopter organisation
- Upload and preview — the system validates every row and highlights issues:
| Row colour | Meaning |
|---|---|
| White | Valid — ready to import |
| Red | Validation error — invalid email, missing required field |
| Orange | Existing user — email already in the system (won't create a duplicate) |
| Blue | Field difference — your CSV data differs from the existing record |
- Select rows — use checkboxes to pick which volunteers to import. You can deselect existing users if you don't want to touch them
- Import — selected volunteers are created in the system
After import
Imported volunteers are created but not yet assigned to shifts or verified. You can then:
- Assign to shifts — bulk assign them to specific shifts
- Send registration email — trigger the email with a login link so they can verify and see their booking
- Schedule missing emails — catch up on any automated emails they've missed
Import best practices
- Clean your data first — remove duplicates, fix formatting, verify email addresses before uploading
- Start small — test with a batch of 10 volunteers before importing the full list
- Check for existing users — the orange highlighting shows you who's already in the system. Review these carefully before importing
- Add the adopter organisation — for corporate group imports, fill in the "Adopter Organisation" column so their group affiliation shows on the roster
Next steps
- Volunteer Management — the full volunteer lifecycle
- Reports & Data Exports — reporting views and data exports
- Feedback & Safety — recording feedback and managing the blocklist