Volunteer Matching pairs one incoming volunteer with another. If you run mentoring, buddy systems, transport pairs or anything else where two people are matched to each other, you can describe the pairing once as a rule and have Volaby suggest compatible counterparts while you review an application.

Suggestions are only ever suggestions. A coordinator picks the match and confirms it before anything is created.

Volunteer Matching is available on the Pro plan. Navigate to Admin Console > General > Application Actions and switch on Suggest Matches under Volunteer Matching.

The Matching Rules section appears once matching is on. Nothing changes for coordinators until you add a rule, because matching only shows up for applicants a rule actually covers.

Who can set this up: Admins only. Matching rules apply across the whole organisation.

Each rule describes one pairing. Rules run in order and the first rule covering the applicant's role is the one used, so put your most specific rules at the top.

When role / Suggest

The two roles being paired. Someone in the first role is shown people in the second. Roles come from your activity roles, covered in Volunteer Roles.

Matching works both ways. If you pair Mentor with Mentee, a coordinator reviewing a mentor sees mentees, and a coordinator reviewing a mentee sees mentors.

In program

Pin the rule to a single program and only volunteers in that program are suggested. Leave it blank and one rule covers every program, pairing within whichever programs the applicant is already in. That is useful when the same pairing runs across several programs.

Please note: if a rule is not pinned to a program and the applicant is not in a program yet, there is nothing to pair within and no suggestions appear.

Score on

Compatibility is scored on availability overlap. Volaby compares the AM and PM slots both people have submitted in their simple availability, and shows the shared slots as a percentage.

This means matching works best when your application asks for availability. If neither person has submitted any, their overlap is zero.

Show above

A minimum overlap percentage. Candidates scoring below it are hidden, so weak matches never reach a coordinator. Set it to 0 to see everyone.

On match

What happens when a coordinator confirms a pairing. The available action is Create a paired activity, which creates a new activity with both volunteers enrolled.

Schedule and Runs for

The defaults for the activity that gets created:

Runs for sets how many months the activity runs by default. A coordinator can change both when they create the match.

Sessions

The sessions the paired activity is created with, in order. Give each one a name, and attach a report type if you want the pair prompted to record something afterwards, such as a contact form or a review. See Creating Report Types.

Mark a session Flexible if it sits outside the activity's main cadence. Leave the list empty and the activity is created with a single meeting session.

When you open an incoming volunteer whose role is covered by a rule, a Find a Match panel appears on their record. It shows on both the applicant view and the profile view in Incoming Volunteers.

Each candidate in the panel shows:

Sort by compatibility highest or lowest, and use the availability filters to narrow the list to the days and times you need covered.

Expand a candidate to see their full details next to a week grid. The grid marks each AM and PM slot as shared by both people, held by the applicant only, held by the candidate only, or held by neither, so you can see whether the overlap falls where it is useful. There is also a link to open their full application in a new tab.

Click Match on a candidate to select them. The button changes to Matched, and clicking it again clears the selection.

With a match selected, clicking Approve Profile opens the activity setup instead of the usual approval dialog. You are asked to:

When you confirm, Volaby creates the activity and enrols both volunteers on it.

Please note: when a rule is not pinned to a program, the activity is created in a program both volunteers share. If they have no program in common, you are asked to add one to both before continuing.

If a rule applies and you approve without selecting a match, the approval dialog tells you first. Approving anyway is fine. It activates the volunteer without creating a pairing, and you can match them later from their record.

Matching is not the right tool for filling a roster with several volunteers. That is ordinary activity enrolment. Use matching when the pairing itself is the point and the two people need their own shared activity.