An Activity represents a specific, real-world piece of work being delivered to create positive impact. It sits between a broader initiative and the individual opportunities that enable people to participate. While an initiative captures the overall programme and an opportunity enables participation, an Activity is the actual delivery - the work itself.
Each Activity has its own dates, a designated host, and can have multiple opportunities linked to it. It also brings together volunteer hours and engagement data in one place, making it the central record of what is being delivered on the ground.
Why Activities matter
Activities group related work into a single record. Instead of having scattered opportunities, hours, and (soon) donations sitting in isolation, Activities pull everything that belongs to one piece of work into one place. This gives you:
A clearer picture of delivery - one record per piece of work, not a collection of disconnected items.
Less repeated admin - cause, host, and beneficiary groups set at the Activity level flow down automatically to linked opportunities, so there's no need to re-enter the same details.
A foundation for reporting - Activities are what opportunities, hours, and (soon) donations and measures all attach to. Setting them up cleanly now means your reporting is ready as new features land.
When Activities are useful
An Activity can exist on its own without any opportunities attached. This is useful when:
You're planning ahead and want to set up a piece of work before any opportunities are posted.
The work doesn't need volunteers to book through the platform (e.g. a donation drive, an in-kind contribution) - you can still capture it as an Activity, add participants, and log hours.
Multiple opportunities relate to the same piece of work - linking them to one Activity keeps them grouped.
When an opportunity is linked to an Activity, it becomes directly connected to the work being delivered - inheriting key details and contributing to a joined-up picture of impact.
How Initiatives fit in
You may have come across Initiatives on the platform - they refer to larger programmes that span multiple Activities. For example, an Initiative could be a year-long employability programme, with several Activities sitting under it (a CV workshop, a mentoring series, an apprenticeship drive).
Activities can optionally be linked to an Initiative when they're created. Linking is optional - an Activity works perfectly well on its own.
Initiatives are already available on the platform if enabled in your app. For now, we're focusing on the Activity level as the core delivery and reporting layer, with further Initiative improvements to come.
What's next
👉 Ready to post an opportunity to engage your stakeholders?
See Posting an opportunity and linking it to an Activity for the step-by-step guide.
💬 Need more help? Contact us anytime at support@goodsted.com, we're happy to assist!