Reviewing and Approving Volunteer Hours

Not all volunteer hours are automatically approved. Some entries need your review before they count toward a volunteer's total. The Hours Review Queue gives you a single place to approve or reject pending hours.

What triggers a pending entry?

A time entry lands in the Pending queue when:

A volunteer self-reports hours — Hours logged by volunteers through the portal for off-platform work always require admin approval.
A forgotten checkout is auto-closed — When the system closes an open check-in using the shift's scheduled end time, the entry is flagged for review so you can verify the actual time worked.

Hours from standard check-in/check-out actions (portal, QR, kiosk, or admin) are auto-approved since both timestamps are captured in real time.

Finding the review queue

Open your volunteer campaign.
Go to the Check-in tab.
Click Hours Review. You'll see a badge with the count of pending entries.

Reviewing entries

Each pending entry shows:

The volunteer's name
The shift and job
Check-in and checkout times
Total hours calculated
How the entry was created (self-reported, auto-closed, etc.)

Approving or rejecting

You can act on entries individually or in bulk:

Approve — The hours are credited to the volunteer's record and appear on reports and service transcripts.
Reject — You'll be prompted to provide a reason. The entry is removed from credited totals.

To act in bulk, select multiple entries using the checkboxes, then use the Approve Selected or Reject Selected buttons.

Notifications

For volunteers: When their hours are approved or rejected, they receive an email notification. Rejections include the reason you provided.
For admins: When a volunteer submits new self-reported hours, you receive an in-app notification and an email alerting you to review the submission.