RunMyVillage User Talk - 3 PM ET/ 2PM CT/ 1 PM MT/ 12PM PT
Sometimes, you don’t know that a session was “Part 1” until after it finishes! Our May 17 User Talk will be Part 2 of Why We Do Things the Way We Do.” We will discuss different choices Villages have made to implement (or not implement) important RMV functionality.
Part 1 (we now discover) was the November 2021 User Talk - the attendees selected and discussed “the whys and the hows” of their Village’s implementation and management of volunteer/member issues, blogs/forums, and backing up CE/RMV. The conversation was wide-ranging and illuminating about the choices Villages made to implement RMV one way and not some other way and how they used the features. Interesting “how to” and “why” ideas mixed with an occasional “I never thought about using RMV that way.”
Part 2 has new topics for attendees to select from at the start of the session – no presentations, just conversation among the Village and any CE/RMV attendees. Here’s the preliminary list of topics.
1. How do Villages handle volunteers who are not “paying” members and why have they made the choice they made?
-Create a new membership category of non-paying volunteer?
-Put in non-member database?
-“comp” membership dues?
-other (e.g., invitations to events)
2. What do Villages do to allow/encourage members to use RMV’s online features? Under what circumstances do Villages discourage some or all members for using RMV’s online features? Getting older people to use the features; training; process for help especially for members have problems. Are there different approaches for different on-line features - Event registrations and payments, update/access member profile, membership renewals, donations? (May also include discussion of PC/MAC, tablets, and phones)
3. How do Villages create, maintain, publish, and allow access to a Membership Directory. Is it necessary to have one? How do you make it valuable and successful? Photos?
-Online, print, hybrid? Do you use RMV?
-Who has access, what information is contained in the directory?
-How to manage “permissions,” content review?
4. How do you use the RMV’s Metro area feature to manage geographic subsets of communities (that is, use it for areas smaller than or different than real metropolitan areas) or for other reasons?
5. How does your village deal with contractors – ratings, setting up contractor services/categories, vetting, discounts, contract referral, authorized list distributed, can volunteers/donors get contractor referrals?
6. Some Villages rely on SR# as an important part of their processes; some don’t use it the # at all. What are the pros/cons?
7. How detailed does your Village capture hours and number of volunteers – both member direct services and non-member services (e.g., BOD, committees, office volunteers, technology)? What is captured and stored on RMV (e.g., are non-member services stored as part of the volunteer record on RMV)? Do you use other technology (e.g., spreadsheets)?
8. How does your Village deal with recurring services (e.g., trash, phone buddy/check-in, shopping, mail pickup/delivery) – how to enter, track]
If you have an additional topic that you or your Village would like added to the possibilities, please let us know by sending a note by noon the day before the User Talk.
For those interested in Part 1, the November session’s video is at the VtV website – the three topics selected were: (1) Why and how do Villages handle various issues with volunteers and providing services (e.g., volunteer who does not want to provide services to a specific member); (2) How do Villages use Blogs/Forums and (3) How/why do Villages backup RMV files?
This is not a session for new Villages, but rather a chance for people from existing Villages to explore choices and ideas that might be useful to their Village. Please invite anyone from your Village who you think might be interested in this topic.
If you have not signed up for the VtV RMV User Group’s Forum, please do so through (1) signing up through your Profile on the VtV site or (2) sending us a note at RMVusers@vtvnetwork.org.
These monthly talks are designed to help Villages use RunMyVillage more effectively. Each month has a different topic. The intended audience always includes the technology community within your Village; in addition, others in the Village may be invited based on the planned topic. Each of the User Talks has time for Villages to ask RunMyVillage-related questions to RMV and to other Villages. Examples of what we plan for these talks: RMV new release updates and discussions, results of surveys of desired enhancements to RMV, discussion of best practices and common issues particularly where Villages use RMV is different ways, and orientations for new Villages. If you have ideas for topics, email us at RMVusers@vtvnetwork.org.