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Comprehensive Guide to Volunteer Recognition

Learn how to recognize and celebrate your volunteers in Better Impact using badges, reports, and creative tools. Discover ways to highlight milestones, issue certificates, and build a culture of appreciation and engagement.

Updated today

Keywords: Badges; Certificates; Milestones; Volunteer Engagement

Recognizing volunteers is an essential part of engagement and retention.

Better Impact provides several ways to acknowledge contributions — from automatic profile badges to certificates created with the Name Tag Wizard.

Badges are linked to criteria such as qualifications, hours, or anniversaries, and will appear automatically on volunteer profiles once criteria are met.

This guide explains how to create, manage, and communicate recognition effectively.

Note: Newly created badges may take up to 15 minutes to appear on volunteer profiles as the system updates.

Recognizing volunteers is an essential part of keeping them engaged, motivated, and committed to your organization. Recognition not only rewards effort but also reinforces positive behaviors, highlights achievements, and encourages continued participation.

Understanding Volunteer Recognition in Better Impact

In Better Impact, volunteer recognition is handled primarily through Badges, which are linked to specific criteria such as:

  1. Completing a Qualification

  2. Reaching a milestone in Lifetime Volunteer Hours

  3. Celebrating a Volunteer Anniversary

  4. Responding to Feedback Fields

How Recognition Works

  • Automatic Display: Once a badge is created, the system automatically displays it on the profiles of all volunteers who meet the criteria. There is no need to assign badges individually.

  • Criteria-Based: Volunteers only see badges for achievements they have actually earned. This ensures recognition is fair and accurate.

  • Profile Visibility: Badges appear on the volunteer’s MyImpactPage and profile dashboard, providing a visible acknowledgment of their contributions.

  • System Update Timing: Newly created badges may not appear immediately. The system can take up to 15 minutes to update all qualifying profiles.

Manual Recognition Options - Certificates

While badges are the main automated tool, administrators can also use certificates and other creative methods to acknowledge volunteer milestones:

  • Certificates: Created via the Name Tag Wizard, certificates are a printable way to formally recognize volunteers.

Using Badges

Badges are a symbol of achievement or proficiency for your volunteers. This free motivational program, enables organizations to award volunteers who attain specific qualification levels, years of service, or contribute a specified number of hours, at the organization (and enterprise) level, with a badge recognizing their efforts.

Volunteers will see their achievements on their home page and by going to My Profile >> Badges when they are logged on to myimpactpage.com and the My Impact app.
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Badges associated with qualifications that expire, will only be awarded to volunteers if the qualification has not yet expired.

Badges can be linked to Qualifications, Lifetime Hours, Volunteer Anniversaries, or Feedback Fields.

Creating Badges

Step 1: Select the Badge Type

  1. Navigate to Configuration → Badges.

  2. Choose the tab corresponding to the type of badge you want to create:

    • Qualification

    • Lifetime Hours

    • Volunteer Anniversary

    • Feedback Field

Step 2: Add the Badge

  • Click the [+] at the top of the badge list, or scroll to the bottom and select [+ Add Badge].

  • For Qualifications, you'll see [+ Add Badge to Badgeless Qualification]

Creating a Badge for a Qualification

  1. Select the qualification from the dropdown list (only qualifications without badges appear).

  2. Mouse over the Options icon beside the qualification, and choose “Add a Badge to this Option”.

  3. Fill in the badge details:

    • Badge Name: Internal name for admins (not visible to volunteers).

    • Badge Tooltip: Text displayed when volunteers hover over the badge in MyImpactPage or the My Impact app.

  4. Choose a badge image:

    • Click [Use a Template] for pre-created images, or [Choose File] to upload from your computer.

  5. Optional: Click [Modify] to edit the appearance of the badge.

  6. Click [Save], then [Close].

Notes

JPG/PNG files work for tooltips, but SVG files scale best.

You can only create badges for qualifications that are visible to volunteers. Qualifications with Private permissions cannot have badges.

Add Badge for Lifetime Hours or Volunteer Anniversary

  1. Select Lifetime Hours, Volunteer Anniversary

  2. Click the [+] at the top of the badge list, or scroll to the bottom and click the [+ Add Badge] button.

  3. Badge Name: Enter the name you would like to give to this badge. This field is not visible to volunteers; it helps admins identify the badge.

  4. Badge Tooltip: Enter the text you would like volunteers to see when they mouse over this badge in myimpactpage.com and the My Impact app.

  5. Enter a number into the Years or Hours text box.

  6. Click [Use a Template] to select from one of the pre-created badge images or click the [Choose File] button to upload an image from your computer or network.

  7. Click the [Modify] button to alter the appearance of the badge, or the [Save] button to save your changes.

  8. Click the [Close] button.

Note

For Enterprise Admins, the Anniversary Badges created at the Enterprise level will ignore start dates if the profile has a status of “Archived – Didn’t Start” or “Archived – Rejected”, and provide volunteers with a badge based upon profile associations only presumed to have been started.
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​Example: “Volunteer A” is “Accepted” in Sub-account 1 with a date joined of 03/01/2021; and “Archived – Didn’t Start” in Sub-account 2 with a date joined of 04/13/2019, then all of the calculations based upon the date joined will be based upon 03/01/2021.

Add Badge for Numeric Feedback Field

  1. Select Feedback Fields

  2. Click the [+] at the top of the badge list, or scroll to the bottom and click the [+ Add Badge] button.

  3. Select the Feedback Field from the dropdown list. (Note: Only numeric feedback fields will appear in this list).

  4. Enter a number into the Feedback Count text box.

  5. Badge Name: Enter the name you would like to give to this badge. This field is not visible to volunteers; it helps admins identify the badge.

  6. Badge Tooltip: Enter the text you would like volunteers to see when they mouse over this badge in myimpactpage.com and the My Impact app.

  7. Click [Use a Template] to select from one of the pre-created badge images or click the [Choose File] button to upload an image from your computer or network.

  8. Click the [Modify] button to alter the appearance of the badge, or the [Confirm] button to save your changes.

  9. Click the [Save] button.

Edit a Badge and Badge Images

Edit Badge for Qualifications

  1. Go to: Configuration, then click on “Badges” found in the sidebar under Profile Customization

  2. Select Qualifications

  3. Mouse over the Options icon to the left of a Qualification and select “Manage Badges for this Qualification”

  4. Mouse over the Options icon to the left of a Qualification option and select:

    1. Edit Badge Name / Tooltip: This enables you to edit the name of the badge and or the tooltip associated it.

    2. Edit Badge Image: This enables you to change the image you have chosen for the badge. You can use a pre-created template, upload an image of your own (maximum resolution is 96×96 pixels), or modify the existing image.

    3. Remove Badge from this Option: This enables you to remove the badge you have created for the selected Qualification option.

  5. Click the [Save] button to save your changes.

Edit Badge for Lifetime Hours or Volunteer Anniversary

  1. Go to: Configuration, then click on “Badges” found in the sidebar under Profile Customization

  2. Select Lifetime Hours, Volunteer Anniversary

  3. Mouse over the Options icon to the left of a Badge Name and select:

    1. Edit Badge Details: This enables you to edit the name of the badge, the number of hours or years, and/or the tooltip associated it.

    2. Edit Badge Image: This enables you to change the image you have chosen for the badge. You can use a pre-created template, upload an image of your own (maximum resolution is 96×96 pixels), or modify the existing image.

    3. Remove: This enables you to remove the badge you have created for the selected option.

  4. Click the [Save] button to save your changes.

Edit Badge for Feedback Fields

  1. Go to: Configuration, then click on “Badges” found in the sidebar under Profile Customization

  2. Select Feedback Fields

  3. Mouse over the Options icon to the left of a Feedback Field option and select:

    1. Edit Badge Details: This enables you to edit the name of the badge, the feedback count and/or the tooltip associated it.

    2. Edit Badge Image: This enables you to change the image you have chosen for the badge. You can use a pre-created template, upload an image of your own (maximum resolution is 96×96 pixels), or modify the existing image.

    3. Remove: This enables you to remove the badge you have created for the selected Feedback Field option.

  4. Click the [Save] button to save your changes.
    ​

Note

You can also modify the appearance of a badge as you are adding a new badge.

Edit Badge Image

After selecting "edit badge image", the following aspects of a Badge’s Image may be modified:

Crop

Filter

Color

Markup

  • Crop

  • Rotate Counter-clockwise

  • Flip Horizontal

  • Flip Vertical

  • Original

  • various other filtering options

  • Brightness

  • Contrast

  • Exposure

  • Saturation

  • Draw

  • Arrow

  • Text

  • Square

  • Circle

Manage Badges Associated with a Qualification

  1. Go to: Configuration, then click on “Badges” found in the sidebar under Profile Customization

  2. Select Qualifications

  3. Mouse over the Options icon to the left of a Qualification with Badges and select the desired option:

    • Manage Badges for this Qualification: This enables you to change name, tooltip, or image associated with a specific badge you have created for an option. You can also use this option to remove one badge from the selected option.

    • Remove Badges from all Options: This enables you to remove the badges you have created for all the Qualification options.

Important

If you do not see this feature under the Configuration menu, it is because you don't have access to it - you may have a Limited Admin Role applied to your admin profile, or this feature is managed at the Enterprise level.

Please contact a full admin of your account to help you with that.

Creating Certificates with the Name Tag Wizard

While badges are the main automated recognition tool in Better Impact, administrators can also provide formal certificates to acknowledge volunteer achievements, milestones, or contributions.

Certificates are manually created using the Name Tag Wizard, which allows for printable or digital recognition.

See this article for more information about the Name Tag Wizard.

Step 1: Access the Name Tag Wizard

  1. Navigate to Reports → Print Name Tags in the admin menu.

  2. Click Name Tag Wizard to open the certificate creation tool.

Step 2: Select Volunteers

  1. Choose the volunteer group for which you want to issue certificates.

    • Options can include all volunteers, a specific activity, committee, or filtered by custom criteria.

  2. You can filter further using custom fields or qualifications to target specific achievements.

Step 3: Design the Certificate

  1. Select the fields you want to include on the certificate (Personal Information, Custom Fields, Qualifications or Logged Hours)

  2. Customize the layout:

    • Add volunteer name placeholder

    • Include organization logo

    • Add achievement or milestone text (e.g., “100 Hours of Volunteer Service”)

  3. Optionally, add decorative elements or borders to make the certificate visually appealing.

Step 4: Preview and Adjust

  • Use the Preview function to ensure volunteer names, dates, and text appear correctly.

  • Make any adjustments to font size, placement, or graphics before finalizing.

Step 5: Print or Save

  1. Print certificates for events, recognition ceremonies, or mailing.

  2. Alternatively, save as PDF to distribute digitally via email or internal systems.

Recognizing Milestones Through Reporting

The Personal Profile Raw Data report is the best tool for tracking volunteer milestones such as hours served, anniversaries, and qualifications. It consolidates all key profile details in one place, making it easy to identify who to recognize.

How to Use It

  1. Go to Reports → General Reports → Personal Profile Raw Data.

  2. Apply filters (e.g., status or any search criteria) to focus on specific volunteer groups.

  3. Select relevant fields such as Date Joined, Qualifications, Feedback Fields or Hours Logged.

  4. Generate or export the report to review achievements and milestones.

Recognition in Action

  • Anniversaries: Sort by Date Joined to find volunteers reaching service milestones.

  • Hours: Sort by Hours Logged to identify top contributors.

  • Qualifications: Recognize volunteers who have recently earned or renewed key certifications.

Use these insights to ensure badges are displaying correctly, issue certificates, or send personalized appreciation messages.

Tips

Maintain a Regular Recognition Schedule

To ensure timely and consistent recognition:

  • Run the Personal Profile Raw Data report monthly or quarterly.

  • Save your field selections and filters for easy reuse.

  • Save your search and pin it to reuse in the future.

  • Review recognition thresholds (e.g., 100 hours, 1-year anniversary) to keep them aligned with your volunteer program goals.

Tips for Meaningful Volunteer Recognition

A thoughtful recognition program goes beyond badges and certificates. It reinforces engagement, motivation, and a sense of belonging. Here are a few ways to make your recognition efforts truly impactful:

  • Be timely: Celebrate achievements as soon as possible after they occur.

  • Be specific: Highlight what the volunteer accomplished — not just that they “did a good job.”

  • Be visible: Display badges and recognitions where volunteers and peers can see them - you can share any recognition messages on the News section.

  • Be consistent: Run recognition reports regularly and apply the same criteria for everyone.

  • Be personal: Add a short thank-you note or message from a coordinator or team leader - you can use the personal message for this.

  • Be inclusive: Recognize all types of contributions — hours, skills, milestones, and commitment.

Related Articles
Volunteer Impact - Where to Start
Comprehensive Guide to Activities
Glossary and Abbreviations
Volunteer Recognition: Badges
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