Adding an Affiliation to a Volunteer

This guide provides basic instruction on how to add an affiliation to the Global Link record of any registered volunteer. Affiliations help others know the task/role a volunteer has agreed to do, AND affiliations give the individual access to specific parts of Global Link.  Knowledge of how to add and manage affiliations is crucial to the maintenance of your team’s volunteer records, as well as ensures your volunteers have the access they need in Global Link to do their volunteer role and/or task.

Please note that the process for assigning the Liaison affiliation is different from the process outlined below.  Information regarding liaison assignments can be found here.  

The ability to add an affiliation is only available to volunteers with the following affiliations:

• Chair
• Chair Elect
• Host Family Orientation Coordinator
• Orientation Leader
• Hosting Coordinator
• Hosting Interviewer
• Sending Coordinator
• School Outreach Coordinator
• Volunteer Engagement Coordinator
• Volunteer Registration Interviewer

Adding an Affiliation:

1. To add an affiliation for a particular volunteer, click on “Person” on the left hand side of the Global Link homepage.

2. The “Person Search” screen will appear. On this screen, you enter the information you have on a volunteer in an attempt to find their Global Link record. Some of the most common ways to search for volunteers are by first and last name and/or email address. Once you have entered your search terms , click the “Search” button.

3. When the search is complete a list of people that meet your search criteria will appear at the bottom of your screen.  Note: In some cases, only one record will appear. In other cases, you may have put additional information into your search (such as their Area Team or their state) in order to further narrow your search results.

From the various results that appear, pick the entry that most closely matches your original search. To select this record, click on the highlighted blue name. 

4. Once you have selected the correct record, the Person Detail screen will automatically appear. This screen gives you additional information including the contact information they have given to AFS. It also gives you the option to view their “Affiliation” tab. It is important to note that you will only be able to view the “Affiliation” tab for those volunteers who are affiliated with the same team/chapter as yourself. Click on the “Affiliation” tab.

5. The expanded affiliation screen will appear, click on “Add Affiliation(s)”.

6. The Affiliation Detail screen will appear, click on “Select Affiliation”.

7. As soon as you click “Select Affiliation”, a new window will open. This window lists all of the affiliations, which can be added to this volunteer’s Global Link record. The subheadings will provide you with additional information about each available affiliation.

a. “Type”: There are three types of affiliations that can be added to a volunteer record- “Email,” "Member," and “Volunteer”. “Email” affiliations designate specific volunteers to receive notification emails from AFS about specific issues or events. “Volunteer” affiliations are added to show a volunteer’s specific role within their local team and/or chapter. And "Member" affiliations do not require a person to be a registered volunteer.  The Member {ROLE} affiliations also control who shows up in the Volunteer Leaders section of the MyAFS Team Directory here: 

b. “Native Name/English Name”: This column lists the specific name of the volunteer and/or email affiliation. This is the name that will appear on the volunteer’s record after the affiliation has been successfully added.

c. “Internal/External”: All affiliations will be Internal.

Note: To find an affiliation you can simply scroll down and search through the alphabetized list or you can narrow your search by using the search parameters at the top of the screen.

8. When you have found the affiliation you want to add, click on the corresponding empty circle in the far left column. In this example, I want to add a Volunteer “Hosting Interviewer” affiliation.

9. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen, click on "OK".

10. You will automatically be brought back to the main Affiliation Detail Screen. Click on “Select/Add Organization”.

11. As soon as you click “Select/Add Organization”, a new window will open. This window lists all of the organizations, which can be associated with this affiliation. This list is limited to the team, chapters, and schools with whom you are associated. This means you are unable to add affiliations for another team. The subheadings will provide you with additional information about each organization.

a. “Type”: There are three types of organizations that can be associated with an affiliation- “AFS Team”, “AFS Chapter” and “School”.

b. “Native Name/English Name”: This column lists the specific name of the team, chapter or school. This is the name that will be associated with the volunteer’s new affiliation after it has been successfully added.

c. “Address/Phone”: This column lists additional contact information for all schools.

Note: To find an organization you can simply scroll down and search through the alphabetized list or you can narrow your search by using the search parameters at the top of the screen.  

12. When you have found the correct organization, click on the corresponding empty circle in the far left column. In this example, I want my affiliation to be associated with the Greater Minneapolis Team.  

Note: You can select more than one option - for example you can assign a School Representative both to the Area Team and to specific schools within the team. 

13. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen, click on "OK".

14. You will automatically be brought back to the main Affiliation Detail Screen. Before you are able to officially add this chosen affiliation, you must select an affiliation “Status” and “Start Date”. 

a. The “Status” tab offers three options: “Active”, “Inactive” and “Interest”. 

i. The most common status for an added affiliation is “Active”. This means that this volunteer is actively volunteering in their newly affiliated role and/or is actively signed up for the designated email affiliation.

ii. The “Interest” status can be used to represent a volunteer’s interest in holding this affiliation in the future. This status is often used if a volunteer is interested in holding a role that requires prior training that hasn't been completed yet.

iii. The “Inactive” status should NEVER be used when adding an affiliation. This status is reserved for indicating a person is no longer in the role.  

b. The “Start Date” should always be set to the current date. Click on the calendar next to this tab in order to select today’s date.

15. Once you have selected a “Status” and “Start Date”, click SAVE