October 2026 release notes

This release needed a good run-up, and believe us, it is so worth it! Take a big breath and let's dive in.

Introducing Candidate applications 🎉

It is finally here: a brand new, shiny section of INVOLVE that will have you wriggling in your chair with excitement.

Imagine creating your own application form (your choice of questions!) for potential volunteers to fill out, and when you accept them, all that information is ported straight to their volunteer profile. Well, say hello to My Candidates. A dedicated space for managing your volunteer applications, helping you streamline recruitment from first enquiry through to onboarding.

Take a look:

1. Log in and navigate to the new My Candidates menu item
2. Create a new "pool"
3. Create an application form and put it live
4. Test out the application form yourself and see how the candidate pipeline works
5. Copy the link or print the QR code to take to your next event where you can recruit new people

Shift reminders are here ✉️

This feature was co-created with thanks to funding and input from the Perth 2027 World Police and Fire Games team led by Jacquie and Glen from the WA Police.

This one will help volunteers stay on top of their commitments with automated shift reminder emails. You can configure up to two reminder emails per program, ensuring volunteers receive timely reminders about their upcoming shifts. This can improve attendance, reduce missed shifts, and keep volunteers informed without manual follow-up.

Take a look:

1. Navigate to your program
2. Open the schedule settings by selecting the down chevron next to the program name
3. Turn on and set either the number of days or hours prior to a shift, or both

Changes to open shifts

Open shift request bypass

This feature was also co-created with thanks to funding and input from the Perth 2027 World Police and Fire Games team led by Jacquie and Glen from the WA Police.

If you don't need to approve volunteers who put their hand up for an open shift slot, this will save you time! We have added a switch to the open shift details pane that lets you turn off the default "requests require approval" setting. This lets volunteers claim an open shift slot immediately, which will appear on the schedule as a confirmed shift.

Take a look:

1. Navigate to a program's schedule
2. Select an open shift cell to create a new open shift
3. Under 'selection settings', turn off the Request require approval switch

Open shift eligibility

We have been focusing on giving you greater control over which volunteers can see and claim open shift slots. So we introduced secondary roles, a way to assign more than one role to a volunteer, and additional requirements, a way to restrict the shift to only those with certain certifications.

Secondary roles

Volunteers can be assigned 1 primary role and any number of secondary roles, and they will see open shifts from all nominated roles.

Take a look:

1. Navigate to a program's Volunteers list or Schedule
2. Select a volunteer to bring up their profile
3. At the top of the Overview, you will see the primary role dropdown and the secondary role dropdown beside it. Select the secondary role dropdown and choose from the role options

Additional requirements

You can add certificate requirements to an open shift, and only volunteers who have that certificate on their profile can claim or request a slot. For example, an aid station may require volunteers with a First-Aid Certificate to claim the shift.

Take a look:

1. Navigate to a program's schedule
2. Select an open shift cell to create a new open shift
3. Under 'selection settings', turn on the Additional requirements switch
4. Choose a certificate that is required

Bonus: With all of these changes, it may become harder to know how many volunteers can see your open shift and therefore claim or request a slot, so we've added a counter at the top 💁‍♀️

🐛 Bug Fixes

As always, this release also includes a variety of bug fixes, performance enhancements and usability improvements across the platform to help keep INVOLVE running smoothly.

Thank you for your continued feedback, ideas and support. Many of these features have been shaped directly by organisations using INVOLVE every day, and we're just getting started. We're planning more tools and workflows, but if you have a specific question, we're all ears. 💚