There are a couple of options available when placing a volunteer on hold.
Short Term:
If a volunteer is wanting to take a short break from volunteering or even just from receiving requests for support (i.e if they are currently supporting a family and don't have the time or availability to take on any further support); a good option may be to update their availability.
Availability applies to the entire volunteer household, not just an individual volunteer.
It may be worth adding a Note explaining the circumstances around the change in availability.
Volunteers will not receive requests for support due to start during the period they are marked as unavailable; however, they may still receive requests for support starting outside of this period.
Availability is considered for Host Friend and Family Friend requests; if they are also a Resource Friend, they may still receive Resource requests during this period. One option may be to remove the Resource Friend role.
Adding a Task to follow up with the volunteer before they become available again, can be helpful to check that the volunteer is comfortable to start receiving requests again before the period ends; if they're not, their availability can be updated accordingly.
In certain situations, the advanced search options can be used to ignore volunteer availability when requesting support for a family. If a volunteer has requested not to receive any contact over this period the Long Term option may be more appropriate.
Long Term:
If a volunteer is wanting to take a longer break or would like to stop volunteering entirely, select the volunteer and press Turn Off under Supporter Status.
Select the appropriate reason for the change in status from the drop down list. If a volunteer is only wanting to stop supporting temporarily, then On Hold is the best option as this indicates that we are expecting them to return to volunteering after a period of time. If they don't wish to volunteer at all anymore, then choose any other relevant reason from the list to mark them as Switched Off.
Press Mark as Inactive to save.
A Note documenting the change will be added automatically but it would be a good idea to add a full Note explaining the circumstances around the change. A line will also be added to the Supporter Overview box as below.
Unless switching off indefinitely, Adding a Task to follow up with the volunteer about their availability at a later date, can be a helpful reminder.
The Long Term option shouldn't be used for volunteers who are currently supporting a family. If a volunteer is also a Prayer Partner, then placing them on hold or switching them off will stop them from receiving anymore prayer requests. If they are a Financial Supporter then the system will not allow you to place them on hold or switch them off. An alternative can be turning off the Family Friend, Host Friend and/or Resource Friend roles, which will stop them coming back for assignments but allow them to continue as an active Prayer Partner or Financial Supporter.