Check people in at a shift
Open the shift when it starts
Use Run shift from the Schedule.
Mark each person Showed up
They are credited with the shift's scheduled length. No-show removes those hours.
Add walk-ups with Check in
They are credited the same way. They must already be on your volunteer list or team, and a full shift needs a higher number needed first.
Log hours for someone
Open Volunteers, then Timesheets
Press Log hours.
Choose the volunteer and program
Or General if the time was not for one program.
Enter the date and hours
Between a quarter hour and 24 hours. Exact start and end times are optional, unless your organization turned on Require exact times.
Press Record hours
You see "Hours recorded and approved."
What the hours are worth
Ember values each approved hour at what you count an hour of volunteering as worth. You can set that for a program or for your whole organization. If you set nothing, Ember uses $36.14, the national value of a volunteer hour published by Independent Sector (2025 data). The value shows in Impact Reports. Volunteers never see dollar figures.
Hours waiting for approval
Hours from check-ins and Log hours are approved straight away, so Awaiting approval on the Timesheets tab is usually empty. Entries there have Approve and Send back, and sending back needs a note. Owners and admins approve. Staff can approve hours for programs they are assigned to, unless Coordinators can approve hours is off in Settings.