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Volunteers & service hours

Teams, a schedule families answer in one tap, clearance dates you can prove, and hours counted at the door.
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Volunteers
Check-in desk and who's scheduled to serve
On campus nowCheck out all
Rosa DelgadoFront Deskin since 8:05 AM · 2h 20m
Tom BianchiLunch Crewin since 10:40 AM · 25m
Fall Festival · Sat 10/17Every year · copied
Servers3/5 · needs 2 more · 1 pending
Greeter1/1 · filled
Ann Whitfield — fingerprint clearance expires 41d. Card on file; no fingerprints stored.

In short

Pearspark runs volunteers end to end: a roster carrying each person's fingerprint-clearance status and expiry date, teams and positions, events with a headcount per position that can repeat or be copied to new dates, requests families accept or decline straight from the email, self-signup and blockout dates in the family portal, staffed check-in, and an hours CSV for the board.

The check-in desk, and who's on campus right now

The desk is a search box: type a name, tap Check in. "On campus now" lists everyone still in the building and how long they've been here, and one "Check out all" ends the day. A visit somebody forgot to close is flagged as missing rather than quietly counted as fourteen hours. Staff sign volunteers in — every visit records who did it and when.

Teams, positions, and a schedule that repeats

Build the teams a small school actually has — Lunch Crew, Field Trips, Front Desk — and the positions inside them. An event says what it needs by headcount (2 Servers, 1 Greeter) and shows a fill meter: 3 of 5 confirmed, 1 still pending. A repeating event becomes real dates on the calendar, up to 60 at a time, because each date carries its own people, replies, and check-ins; "every school day" reads your school's actual schedule rather than guessing. Next year's festival is a copy of last year's, needs and all.

Families answer in one tap — or claim the spot themselves

Nothing emails automatically: you schedule people, then send the requests when the plan is settled. The email has Accept and Decline buttons that work on their own, so a grandparent answers from a phone without a password. A reminder goes out to everyone who accepted before the day arrives. In the portal, volunteers see their upcoming schedule, say "Can't make it" honestly, and add blockout dates — which warn you the next time you try to schedule them.

Clearances you can prove, without storing fingerprints

Each volunteer's record holds clearance status, card number, and expiry date — the card on file, never biometric data. Mark a position as requiring a current clearance and the roster tells you who doesn't have one; filter to expiring-soon and you renew in September instead of discovering it at the field trip. Your school decides how strict to be: warnings only, a required clearance for the positions you mark, or a required clearance for every position. When it's required, nobody without a current clearance can sign up or accept a request, and the office can't ask them either. At the door, checking in someone whose clearance lapsed takes a deliberate "check in anyway", and the visit is logged either way.

Sample data
The volunteer roster: six volunteers with their fingerprint clearance status — pending, cleared with an expiry date and card number, not on file, or expired — their email, hours this year, and a Check in or Check out button. Names are sample data.
The volunteer roster: each person's clearance, when it expires, and their hours this year.

Hours the board will accept

Every closed visit is hours. The check-in log shows each one — in, out, duration, and which staff member signed them in — over this month, last month, the year, or a custom range, and the CSV export gives a row per visit plus a total per volunteer. The numbers come from the door, not from a form a family fills in from memory in May.

What's included

  • Volunteer roster with photos, contact details, and notes
  • Add existing parents to the roster in one step
  • Fingerprint clearance status, card number, and expiry — no biometric data stored
  • Expiring-soon filter, 60 days ahead
  • Teams and positions; require a current clearance to sign up, for marked positions or all of them
  • Events with a headcount per position and a fill meter
  • Repeating events as real dates: weekly, biweekly, monthly, or school days
  • Copy an event — needs, times, and people — to new dates
  • Accept / decline straight from the request email, no login
  • Automatic reminder email before the event
  • Family portal: upcoming schedule, open spots, blockout dates
  • Open self-signup or office-scheduled only — the school's choice
  • Staffed check-in desk with "on campus now" and check-out-all
  • Check-in log with date ranges and missing-checkout flags
  • Volunteer hours CSV: every visit plus per-volunteer totals
  • Portal invitations sent per volunteer, when you choose

All of it is part of the one price: $50 a month including 20 students, then $2.50 a student, stepping down as you grow (see the bands). Nothing on this page is a paid add-on.

See it done in 60 seconds

All 11 videos

Real screen recordings, one task a minute.

Set up volunteer teams and positionsAdmins
Staff a volunteer event and send the requestsAdmins
Answer a request to serveFamilies
Claim an open volunteer spotFamilies
Add a volunteer and run check-inAdmins
Track fingerprint clearances before they expireAdmins

Common questions

Do volunteers need an account to reply?
No. The request email carries Accept and Decline buttons that work on their own, so someone with a phone and no password can answer. A portal login — invited one volunteer at a time, when you choose — adds the rest: their upcoming schedule, open spots to claim, and the days they're unavailable.
Does Pearspark run background checks?
No, and it stores no fingerprint or biometric data. It keeps the record: clearance status, card number, and expiry date. You run the check through your state's process; Pearspark is the part that tells you in September that three cards expire in October, and that flags a lapsed one at the door.
How are service hours counted?
At the door. A staff member checks a volunteer in and out, and each closed visit becomes a duration in the check-in log, an hours-to-date figure on the roster, and a row in the CSV export with per-volunteer totals. There's no self-reported hours form. What the CSV gives you is a row per visit — in, out, duration, who signed them in — plus a total per volunteer for whatever date range you choose, so a school with a twenty-hour family rule sorts that column and sees who is short in about a minute. What it does not do is the last step: hours are counted per volunteer rather than per family, so two parents of the same child are two rows to add together, and Pearspark neither bills a shortfall nor sends the reminder about it.
Can families sign themselves up, or do we ask each person?
Either — it's one school-wide setting. In open mode families see open spots in the portal and claim them, and a parent who claims one joins the volunteer roster automatically. In office-scheduled mode there's no self-signup at all: only the people you schedule are asked.

Comparing this with what you use now

Volunteers & service hours is part of the argument in these comparisons. Each one is sourced, last reviewed September 2026, and says plainly where the other system is the better choice.

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