Perks

The Volunteer Perks system lets staff create tiered reward programs tied to volunteer hours. Volunteers can track their progress toward each perk in real time, and staff can manage perks, monitor who has earned them, and handle physical reward redemptions.

Feature flag: The perk tracking system is controlled by the perk_tracking application setting. It must be enabled before any perk pages are accessible.

Concepts

Perk Sets

A Perk Set is a container that groups related perks together — typically for a single convention year or event season. Each set can be scoped to a fiscal year, given a visibility window, and toggled active/inactive independently of the perks inside it.

Perks

A Perk is a single reward threshold within a set. It defines the minimum volunteer hours required to earn it, what the volunteer receives, and how progress is measured.

Hour Sources

Each perk can measure hours in one of two ways:

Admin: Managing Perk Sets

Navigate to Admin → Perk Sets.

Creating a Perk Set

1. Click Create Perk Set.

2. Fill in the fields:

   Field	Description
   Set Name	Display name shown to volunteers (e.g., MNFurs 2026 Perks).
   Description	Optional short description shown on the volunteer perks page.
   Fiscal Year	Links the set to a fiscal ledger. General-hours perks in this set will only count hours from that fiscal year.
   Visible From	Date the set starts appearing to volunteers. Leave blank to make it visible immediately once active.
   Visible Until	Date the set stops showing on the main perks page and moves to Perk History. Leave blank to keep it visible indefinitely.
   Sort Order	Controls the display order relative to other sets. Lower numbers appear first.
   Active	Uncheck to hide the set from volunteers entirely, regardless of the visibility window.

3. Click Create Perk Set.

Status Badges

Each set in the list shows one of the following statuses:

Deleting a Perk Set

Deleting a set does not delete the perks inside it. Those perks become unassigned and will appear in the "Unassigned Perks" group on the Perks admin page.

Admin: Managing Perks

Navigate to Admin → Perks.

Perks are listed grouped by their perk set. Unassigned perks appear at the bottom.

Creating a Perk

1. Click Create Perk.

2. Fill in the fields:

   Field	Description
   Perk Name	The reward name shown to volunteers (e.g., Free T-Shirt). Hidden until earned if the perk is a Mystery Perk.
   Description	Optional details about the reward. Also hidden until earned for Mystery Perks.
   Minimum Hours	The hour threshold a volunteer must reach to earn this perk.
   Perk Set	Assigns this perk to a set. Determines the fiscal year scope for general-hours tracking.
   Track Event(s)	Select one or more events. If selected, only shift hours from those events count. Leave empty to use all volunteer hours.
   Sort Order	Display order within the perk set. Lower numbers appear first.
   Active	Uncheck to hide this perk from volunteers.
   Mystery Perk	See Mystery Perks below.
   Access Pass	See Access Passes below.
   Physical Reward	See Physical Rewards below.

3. Click Create Perk.

Mystery Perks

When Hide this perk until earned is checked on a perk, it becomes a Mystery Perk.

Volunteer experience (unearned): The perk card on the volunteer perks page shows only a question-mark placeholder with the message "Keep volunteering to unlock and reveal this perk!" The name, description, progress bar, and any reward actions are fully hidden.

Volunteer experience (earned): Once the volunteer's hours meet the threshold, the full perk card is revealed — name, description, progress, and any pass or redemption buttons appear as normal.

Admin experience: The perk's name and all details are always visible to admins. A purple Mystery badge appears in the perk list and on the Perk Awards report.

Access Passes

An Access Pass is a digital pass a volunteer can show on their phone to gain entry to a restricted area (e.g., a VIP lounge).

To enable:

1. Check This perk includes an access pass on the perk form.
2. Enter a Pass Label describing the access granted (e.g., VIP Lounge Access).

Volunteer experience: Once earned, a Show Pass button appears on the perk card. Tapping it opens a full-screen modal displaying the volunteer's name, the perk name, and an animated color-cycling banner with a live clock to confirm the time of presentation.

Physical Rewards

A Physical Reward is a one-time redeemable item (e.g., a t-shirt or convention coupon) collected in person at a designated location.

To enable:

1. Check This perk includes a redeemable physical reward on the perk form.
2. Enter a Reward Label describing what the volunteer receives (e.g., Convention T-Shirt).

Volunteer experience: Once earned, a Redeem button appears with a warning to only press it when ready to collect or when asked by a staff member. After pressing:

• A 10-minute countdown window displays so staff can verify the redemption in real-time.
• After the window closes, the card shows Already Redeemed and the button is gone.
• Redemption is permanent and cannot be undone by the volunteer.

Admin management: Go to Admin → Perks, then click Redemptions next to the perk. This lists every volunteer who has redeemed it with their name and the timestamp. Admins can reset a redemption (e.g., if it was pressed accidentally), which allows the volunteer to redeem again.

Perk Awards Report

The Perk Awards report shows which volunteers have earned each perk within a given perk set.

Accessing the report

1. Go to Admin → Perk Sets.
2. Click Perk Awards in the Actions column for the desired set.

Reading the report

The page opens with a summary bar showing:

• Total number of perks in the set.
• Total number of unique earners across all perks.

Below that, each perk has its own card showing:

Perks with no earners yet display "No volunteers have earned this perk yet."

Note: Hour counts used to determine earners in the report match the same logic volunteers see on their progress page — event-linked perks use shift data; general-hours perks use approved VolunteerHours records.

Volunteer Experience

Volunteers access perks at Volunteer Perks in the navigation.

Current Perks page

Shows all active perk sets currently within their visibility window. For each perk:

• A split progress bar displays completed hours (green) and upcoming hours from shifts not yet finished (yellow).
• An On Track badge appears when the volunteer's total (completed + upcoming) meets the threshold but completed hours alone do not yet meet it.
• An Earned badge and green highlight appear once completed hours meet or exceed the threshold.
• Mystery Perks that have not yet been earned show only a purple placeholder card.

Perk History page

Accessible from the View History link. Shows all archived perk sets (those whose Visible Until date has passed) with read-only progress bars so volunteers can see their final record.

Progress calculation

Hours are calculated identically for the volunteer-facing page and the admin Perk Awards report:

1. Event-linked perks: Sums the duration of all shifts the volunteer is signed up for within the linked events, excluding no-shows. Shifts that use Double Hours count at 2×.
2. General-hours perks: Sums all approved VolunteerHours records for the volunteer, filtered to the perk set's fiscal year if one is set.

Hours shown include upcoming shifts (not yet completed) on the volunteer progress page, so the displayed total may decrease if a shift is cancelled or the volunteer is marked a no-show. The warning banner on the perks page reflects this.