❖ Heads up! This article is intended for agency managers. If you're a site manager, click here.
Interests are a great tool for helping volunteers match with Needs that interest them or align with their skills. When you create a Need, you need to associate an Interest with it. This makes it easier for volunteers to find those Needs when filtering and searching by Interest. Here we cover:
ⓘ So you know: Some sites have language overrides in place. You may see Skills in place of Interests, Programs in place of Agencies, or others. Language overrides are applied by site manager request only.
Where to select Interests
You must select an Interest to associate with your Need when creating one. You can always update which Interests you want associated with you Needs. 
How to update a Need's Interest
Want to remove an Interest or add another? You can!
1. Go to My Agency > Needs.
2. Select the Need you want to update.
3. Scroll to Interests & Abilities on the Edit Need page.
4. Now you can:
- Add more Interests with the dropdown menu
- Remove Interests by clicking the X beside them
- Star which Interest you want as the primary Interest for that Need. That will determine which Interest's icon will show up in the volunteer view of the Needs page
5. Be sure to click Update Need when you're done to save your changes.
✅ Best practice: If you make other changes to the volunteer Need when updating the Interests, it's a good idea to check the box beside Notify Respondents of this update?—especially if the Need has volunteer responses.
Default Interests list
Every site is set to have 16 default Interests. However, the site manager can add custom Interests as well. Below are the 16 default Interests and their associated icons. Please note that you may not see these Interests as an option if the site manager has added or removed any from the default list.
✅ Best practice: Want a new Interest for your volunteer Needs? Please contact your site manager to discuss adding custom Interests that better fit your agency's Needs as they manage all Interests for the site. Your site manager is the best point of contact for discussing alternative options.
| Interest & Icon | Types of Needs |
Advocacy  | outreach coordinators; speakers; letter-writing; organizing; education; research; rallies; voter education; lobbying; legal; attending public meetings; community forums; phone bank |
Board Service | advisory board; executive board; committee service |
Clerical  | customer service, office duties; grant writing |
Court-Mandated | court-mandated volunteer work |
Education | tutoring; arts instruction; homework help; training; reading/literacy; STEM; mentoring |
Finance | financial planning; tax preparation; financial coaching |
Food Prep | meal preparation; hunger relief |
In-Kind | monetary; clothing; canned and non-perishable foods |
Legal | legal |
Marketing | social networking; phone calls; developing/disseminating flyers, brochures, and other marketing tools |
Medical | first-aid classes; healthcare/hospice |
Nonprofit Professional | internships; finance; seasonal; full-time and part-time; development; AmeriCorps; clerical; program; contract; executive |
Physical Labor | construction work; home repairs; painting; cleaning; transportation; garden work |
Skilled Labor | construction; painting; home repairs; electrician; nursing; carpentry; maintenance |
Social  | event planning; client interaction; fundraising; bilingual/Spanish speaking |
Technology | computer use; social media; web design/development; other software |