External Organisation Volunteering Portal FAQs
The SUMS External Organisation Volunteering Portal provides an easy-to-use dashboard for organisations to register to Students’ Unions to be able to advertise their opportunities and placements.
It provides a great platform to allow collaboration between organisations and Students’ Union to promote volunteering opportunities directly from within a Union.
Below is some guidance on how to use dashboard, including how to initially register, how you will receive your login details and how you can view and manage placed students.
If you have any further queries at all in regards to the platform, please contact the relevant Students’ Union in the first instance for additional guidance.
How do I register with the online portal?
Please contact the relevant Students’ Union to request a link to the registration page for you to apply as an external organisation.
When you access the link, you will be taken to a registration page for you to fill in all of the details of your organisation, including that of a main point of contact. Click ‘Sign Up’ to submit your application, and a member of staff at the Students’ Union will review and either approve or decline your application.
What will happen once my application has been approved or declined?
You will receive an email once your application has been reviewed and a decision has been made.
If your application has been declined, you may have been given some feedback as to why. Keep an eye out for this in the email, as it’s possible you could apply again simply due to some missing information or such.
How do I log into the portal for the first time?
If your application is approved, you will receive 2 emails:
- The first email to confirm the approval of your application, confirm your username and provide a link to your login page;
- The second email will provide you with your password.
When you access the login page, you will first need to select from the dropdown menu with Students’ Union you have registered with.
Then login with the details provided to access your dashboard.
What is available to me on the portal?
When you log into your portal, you will be able to access your opportunities and manage your student placements.
Select 'Create and modify opportunities' to create new opportunities for review, and track your pending and active opportunities.
All opportunities submitted need to be reviewed and approved by your Students’ Union. Keep an eye on this page to track the status of your opportunities. If an opportunity has been declined, or feedback has been given, you will be able to amend the application and resubmit for a second review.
You can view the details of an opportunity after it has been approved; you will not be able to make any changes to the opportunity.
How can I see placed students for my opportunities?
Select 'Placements' to view all students that have been registered for your opportunities. Students will appear here when a member of staff at the Students’ Union has ‘moved’ them to the placement following their interest.
From here, you will also be able to mark students as having ‘Started their placement’, to alert the Students’ Union that they have begun with their opportunity.
Created on 2nd February 2022