Introduction
Scripture Union has a reputation for running fun and effective camps, missions and other activities in pursuit of the SU Aims, Beliefs and Working Principles, and doing this with the safety of children and vulnerable people at the forefront of all we do.
Scripture Union has established a new portal for use Team/Camp Directors (Activity Leaders) to manage the administration of their ministry activity, with an emphasis on meeting risk management expectations.
The SU Activities Portal is built on the contemporary Salesforce platform. SU also makes use of a WordPress website and Microsoft Office365 in the technology used to support ministry.
The Portal is established as a key point of connection between SU and the Activity. Amongst other things it helps ensure we have the necessary record keeping in place for the long term protection of SU.
Definitions
When we talk about the portal, it is useful to understand the terminology used.
“Activity” is a Camp, Mission, School Group, Itinerant or other program that is run in the name of SU for the purposes of reaching children, young people and their families.
“Activity Instance”is each separate occasion when the Activity is run, eg. each successive year’s camp or family mission.
“Event” is central to the SU Activities Portal and is used for many purposes including the web listing of a camp, the signing up of participants and receiving payment, receiving payment from team members, and anything else the Activity Leader want to use it for (eg. houseparty registrations, fundraising events and so forth).
“Activity Leader”refers to those appointed by SU as responsible and accountable for the running of the Activity under the SU name, often also called Camp, Team, or School Director.
Frequently Asked Questions
Security and Access
Who can access the Portal?
Team leaders (directors) of an SU Activity (eg a School lunchtime group, a SUFM or a Camp) are provided access to the SU Activities Portal.
Team leaders may also nominate assistant leaders to access the Portal. Requests for this are made to SU. The feedback form can be used for this purpose.
How many per team can access the Portal?
In this first year of implementation there is no restriction or cost to teams. Whilst there is no restriction, each licence costs SU $63 per annum ($5.25/mo) and policy related to this may need to be reviewed in future years.
Information Online and Downloads
How do new volunteers apply?
Volunteers can apply by navigating to your team’s pages on the SU website then clicking on “VOLUNTEER”. (NB, not Register – this is for participants).
How do volunteers update their information?
Volunteers are provided with a personalised link (URL) which provides them with a form that includes the information we already have on record. Download “Team – rego mail merge” (under Reports on the Portal) and then do a mail merge (instructions are in the SU Activities Portal Guidelines). You can also contact SU for assistance.
Reports/ Downloads
Reports are generally divided between those relating to Team members – the volunteers serving in the SU Activity, and Participants – those attending the SU Activity. Note however that for Events related to an Activity, such as a team weekend away, those registering will be participants for that Event.
Reports are provided in the Portal. These are accessed by selection the Reports tab at the top of the portal page. You may need to click on “More” to select the Report page.
Note that to locate reports you need to first click on ‘All Folders’. The default view is ‘Recent’ which is helpful after you’ve used the Portal for a while but is less than helpful for first time users.
Reports are able to be downloaded as Excel or CSV files.
Reports is the GENERAL folder are generically applicable to all SU Activities and will only show the details relevant to your own Activity.
Reports in the SPECIFIC folders are created specific to your camp, mission or school group.
It is suggested you take time to peruse the reports to familiarize yourself with what is available.
You can download any report to Excel by clicking on the EXPORT button at the top right of the screen.
Select FORMATTED if you want a report that is able to be printed out in a readable format. Select DETAILS ONLY if you want to download for further manipulation in Excel, including for mail merge purposes.
Managing Volunteers
The SU Activities Portal provides support to the Activity Leader in managing the volunteers serving on the Activity.
Up to Date Information
It is in everyone’s interest to keep the information about a volunteer up to date, so that everyone is using the most up to date information.
It is frustrating to have to re-enter information that has been previously provided and so we want to send out “prefilled” forms whenever possible.
Prefilling a form requires a customised URL (web address) that not only directs the volunteer to the form, but also prefills the form with the information we already have on file. A list of the customised URLs is provided in the Report: “Team – Rego Mail Merge“.
If you’re unfamiliar with doing a mail merge to email, <click here> for instructions or contact the SU Office for assistance.
Appointment as a Volunteer
SU has always taken volunteer selection and appointment seriously and this is especially important ‘post royal commission’.
The SU Activities Portal provides functionality to record information relevant to a volunteer’s appointment. It remains essential for the Activity Director to mark the volunteer as Application Status: “Approved”.
Payment of Team Fees
SU seeks to adopt a high standard in the handling of money and now provides functionality to receive and process payments.
To collect team fees, as Activity Leader you setup an Event, using type “General”, and nominate both a full rate and a concessional rate.
“Registration Fee” is the full adult team fee. “Concessional Registration Fee” is the student/non-working adult team fee.
SU wants participation in programs to be as accessible as possible, with an equitable approach across SU ministries.
The Activity Leader remains responsible for establishing the team budget and setting the adult full and concession rates at a level to cover the Activity’s costs.
For accompanying family members the following discount structure is automatically applied in the Event form
| Age | Percentage Reduction of the Full Concessional Rate |
| 18 and over | 0%, ie full concessional rate applies |
| 16 to 17 | 12% off the full concessional rate |
| 11 to 15 | 40% off the full concessional rate |
| 6 to 10 | 47% off the full concessional rate |
| 1 to 5 | 72% off the full concessional rate |
| Under 1 | 100% off the full concessional rate, ie free |
Activity Leaders do not have discretion to change the payment structure, but do have the discretion of choosing:
- To not charge anything for children below a certain age eg. accompanying children under 10 pay $0;
- To submit a SU Kids to Camp Benevolent Fund application for subsidy towards up to half the fees;
- To set a Family Discount Percentage (in the Event setup) which provides a percentage discount if there are three or more from the one family. (This option is generally just used for Participants).
Where the Activity Leader wants to set an early bird rate then a separate Event for this would need to be created with a Booking End date set at the end of the Early Bird period.
Where the Activity Leader wants to receive registrations separately for their training weekend then a separate Event would be established for this. The same fee structure would apply. However, where a training weekend forms part of the full team fees it is not recommended that fees be collected separately.
Feedback
Getting help and providing feedback.
The following form can be used to direct your query to the right place:
Enquiry form