Availability

The Availability page lets volunteers manage when they're available to serve. This information is used by the Scheduler to generate better assignments.

Who Can Access This

• All team members can manage their own availability.
• Guardians can also manage availability for their dependents via the Family page.
• Ministry Leads can manage availability and event preferences for volunteers who are qualified in ministries they lead. They do this from the volunteer's profile in the Volunteers area.

Unavailability Dates

Mark specific dates when you cannot serve.

Adding an Unavailable Period

1. Select a Start Date and End Date for the period.
2. Optionally choose an Event Scope:
   • All Events — you're unavailable for everything during this period.
   • Specific Event — you're only unavailable for a particular event (but available for others).
3. Optionally add a Reason (e.g., "Family vacation" or "Work travel").
4. Click Add.

Viewing and Removing Unavailability

Your upcoming unavailable periods are listed in a calendar view. Past unavailable periods are hidden so the list stays focused on dates that can still affect scheduling. Consecutive dates are grouped into ranges for clarity. Each period shows:

• The date range.
• The event scope (all events or a specific event).
• The reason (if provided).

Click the trash icon to remove an unavailability period.

Event Preferences

Below the unavailability calendar, you can set preferences for specific events. For each event, choose one of four options:

• Preferred (green) — you actively want to serve at this event.
• Available (blue) — you can serve if needed.
• Unavailable (red) — you cannot serve at this event.
• No Preference (gray) — the default. You have no strong preference.

These preference colors stay the same even when your church uses a custom site color.

Click on an option to toggle it. Preferences are saved automatically.

How Preferences Affect Scheduling

The Scheduler considers your preferences when generating assignments:

• Preferred events are prioritized — you're more likely to be assigned.
• Available events are considered normally.
• Unavailable events are excluded — you won't be scheduled.
• No Preference events are treated as available.

Tips

• Set your unavailability as far in advance as possible so administrators can plan around it.
• Use event preferences to indicate which events you enjoy serving at most.
• If you're a guardian, remember to also set availability for your dependents.

Administrator Visibility

Owners and administrators can see upcoming volunteer unavailability from the organization dashboard. Ministry Leads see upcoming unavailability for volunteers in the ministries they lead. The dashboard list shows each volunteer, the unavailable date range, and a ministry badge when one applies so leaders can scan it quickly. The upcoming list uses your organization's timezone when deciding what counts as today.

To see more detail for one person, open their volunteer profile. Their profile shows upcoming unavailable dates and event preferences in one place. Owners, administrators, and allowed Ministry Leads can click Edit Availability to add or remove unavailable dates, or Edit Preferences to update event preferences.