Maintaining accurate data on the Portal is important all year round. And spring is a great time of year to ensure your group’s information is as up to date as possible!
The Portal is a platform which displays important information we hold on our central database about our volunteers. Only local group volunteers in some roles and MS Society staff have access to it. It also allows local groups to share information about the services and activities they offer via the main MS Society website.
Volunteer data
It’s really important that volunteer data on the Portal is correct. Knowing how many volunteers support the MS Society helps us to demonstrate the impact they make to the lives of people affected by MS. And to support your volunteer recruitment, facilitation of services and volunteer recognition.
By keeping your group’s volunteer information up to date on the Portal you can ensure that
we know who our volunteers are and what roles they do.
we’re all using the right contact information for our volunteers.
people who’ve stopped volunteering won’t accidentally be contacted.
volunteers are sent information, training updates and development opportunities relevant to their roles.
Promoting group services and activities
The Portal is also linked to the main MS Society website. So, every time you update or add an event, activity or service on the Portal, it will be updated on your group’s page on the website. This will be done automatically overnight, once the systems have had time to sync. Here’s an example of a group’s page on the website. The website is the first place many people go to when looking for support in their area.
By keeping your group’s services and activities information up to date on the Portal you can ensure that
you’ll reach people who are new to the group.
people using our website to search for local support will have the right contact details for your group.
people using our website can find accurate details about the events, activities and services your group offers.
our Helpline Team can confidently signpost people living with MS to support in their local area.
(If you have any changes to make to social media contact details, or you’d like to personalise the description on your group’s page on the website, please find instructions on how to do that here.)
Supporting you to make the most out of the Portal
In May and June, the Volunteer Support Team (VST) will be running new ‘Using the Portal’ support sessions on Zoom for group volunteers. Within these sessions, they’ll demonstrate how to use the Portal and answer any questions you may have. If you’d like to attend one of the informal sessions, please sign up here.
Check out our Portal resources
We’ve put together a handy checklist here of key things you can do to make sure your group’s information on the Portal is as up to date as possible, as well as details about how we can help.
Our updated Portal Guidance has a step-by-step guide on how to add and edit events, activities and services.
You can watch our short video for a demonstration of how to use the Portal.
If you have any questions, please email [email protected] or call 0300 500 8084, option #3.
