Helper Helper was designed to be easy to set up and even easier to maintain. Most schools are fully launched within a week, and once you are live the platform largely runs itself. Here is what happens between signing up and your first student login, what our team handles for you, and the training every role receives along the way.
Your first week from sign-up to student login
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Day 1
Kickoff call
Within one business day of signing up, Krista or Chelsea schedule a short call to learn your program: your groups, your validation rules, any state requirements, and who your admins will be.
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Days 2 to 3
Training and first events
A live Zoom walkthrough of the admin panel for your admins. Together we add your community partners and post the first opportunities so students have something to sign up for.
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Days 3 to 5
We build your account
We configure your school or district, import your roster (spreadsheet or SIS sync), set up single sign-on with your IT team, and bring in any hours you already track.
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Launch day
Invite students
Customize the invitation email in the admin panel and click send. Students download the app, sign in with their school credentials, and start logging hours.
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After launch
We stay close
Same-day support from the same people who set you up, refresher trainings whenever staff changes, and a platform that largely runs itself.
Timelines depend mostly on how quickly rosters and single sign-on details come back to us.
“The onboarding process was well-documented, and the Helper Helper team was readily available whenever questions or issues arose. That combination made the experience smoother than I anticipated. Expect to be pleasantly surprised by how little IT involvement is required after go-live. Once it's up and running, it largely takes care of itself.”
Three Things to Have Ready
We build everything else with you. If you have these three things on hand, launch takes a single afternoon:
1. Your Roster
A spreadsheet with student names, school email addresses, and the groups you want to track (grade levels, homerooms, NHS, teams). We import it for you, or connect your SIS for automatic nightly syncing through ClassLink, Canvas, PowerSchool, and others.
2. Your Community Partners
The nonprofits and community groups your students already serve with. A name and a category is all you need. Partners can also get their own free login to post opportunities and approve hours directly.
3. Your First Opportunities
One or more upcoming events so students have something to sign up for the moment they log in. Set time slots, capacity limits, and validation methods for each one.
Not there yet? No problem.
The admin panel walks every new account through a five-step setup checklist (organization, opportunity, roster, app branding, invitations), and we complete it together on your training call.
Launch Day: One Email
When you are ready for students, log in to the admin panel, open Institution Settings, and choose Invite Volunteers via Email. Edit the draft however you like, then click send. Each student receives a personalized message with links to the iPhone and Android apps, the web app address, and their login.
- Single sign-on schools send a version with no password at all. Everyone else gets a temporary password that expires in a week and can be resent at any time.
- The first login doubles as training. The app opens with a short tutorial, and students can add past service the same day.
- Spread the word offline with this printable flyer.
Included at no extra charge What our team handles
Account configuration
Your school or district account, service categories, goals, admin roles, and the app welcome message. Custom branded apps are included too.
Roster import and SIS sync
Send us a spreadsheet and we load students and staff. Or connect PowerSchool, ClassLink, Canvas, and other systems for nightly syncing.
Single sign-on
Google Workspace, Microsoft Entra, ClassLink, Clever, Canvas, or any SAML or OIDC provider, so students sign in with the credentials they already use.
Existing hours import
Already tracking hours in spreadsheets or another platform? We import them before launch so no student loses credit for service already completed.
Minimal IT Involvement
Helper Helper is cloud-hosted. There is nothing to install on school servers or student devices, and nothing for IT to patch, back up, or renew. If your school uses single sign-on, your IT team adds Helper Helper as a trusted application in your identity provider, a one-time task that typically takes minutes. Rostering can run through your SIS or a simple spreadsheet, whichever your data team prefers. After that, the platform is managed by our team and your program coordinators. Data handling, FERPA, and hosting details are on the security and privacy page.
HECVAT-assessed, FERPA-compliant, encrypted in-transit and at-rest, hosted on AWS infrastructure.
This designation benefits both parties: for your school or district, it means you can deploy Helper Helper without the administrative burden of collecting individual parent consent for every student — the same way you onboard other essential technology platforms. For Helper Helper, it means we are held to the same strict data-handling standards as your own employees, giving your community confidence that student records are protected by the full weight of federal privacy law.
The FTC provides guidance confirming that schools may consent on behalf of parents in the educational context under COPPA. Please request to see our Notice of Data Practices for Children Under 13 and our Privacy Policy for further details.
The HECVAT was developed by the higher education community (EDUCAUSE) and is widely used by colleges and universities to assess the IT security, data protection, and privacy practices of third-party software vendors before adoption. While originally designed for higher ed, its comprehensive framework is equally valuable for K–12 schools and districts looking for a rigorous, standardized way to evaluate whether a vendor meets their security and compliance requirements.
AWS operates the most widely adopted and trusted cloud infrastructure in the world, with security practices that meet or exceed the requirements of federal agencies, financial institutions, and healthcare providers. Their data centers are protected by 24/7 on-site security, biometric access controls, redundant power and networking, and continuous monitoring.
AWS is independently audited against the most rigorous standards in the industry — including SOC 1, SOC 2, SOC 3, ISO 27001, FedRAMP, and PCI DSS — and provides industry-leading uptime guarantees backed by a 99.99% service-level agreement. This means your school can count on Helper Helper being available when students and advisors need it.
Administrators can be scoped to specific groups, schools, grade levels, or graduating classes — an NHS advisor sees only their NHS members, a school principal sees only their school, and a district coordinator sees the full district.
Outside community partners receive organization admin roles that let them post their own volunteer opportunities, manage sign-ups, and confirm attendance for events they host, without any visibility into student records, other organizations’ events, or school-internal data.
“The onboarding process was very easy to institute. It has worked flawlessly for our students and faculty since it was configured. From an IT standpoint, it could not have been more ‘set it and forget it.’”
“The initial setup process, as well as adding additional schools to the tool, was quite smooth. The HH technical team collaborated with our district data team to ensure the integration resulted in accurate volunteer hours for students in our SIS.”
Training for every role Videos, guides, and a launch kit
Live Zoom trainings come with every purchase. These are the same materials we use in them, available whenever a new adviser, partner, or student needs a walkthrough.
Institutional Admins
The full admin panel: settings, rosters, organizations, opportunities, validating hours, reports, and inviting students.
Team Admins
Create opportunities for your team, add members to events, validate student-added hours, and run team reports.
Community Partners
Post and edit opportunities, receive volunteer lists and check-in links before each event, and approve hours. The guide includes two outreach emails you can send to partners.
Students
Find and sign up for opportunities, check in with a validation code, add past commitments, and share photos. A tutorial also plays in the app on first login.
Need a refresher later, or a new adviser starting mid-year? Our support team runs follow-up trainings at any time. Same-day response, no ticket queues.
Onboarding questions, answered
What advisers, registrars, and technology directors usually ask before launch. Anything else? Call (734) 531-8806 or email info@helperhelper.com.
How long does onboarding take?
Most schools are live within a week of signing up. The pace is set mostly by how quickly we receive your roster (or SIS access) and, if you use it, single sign-on details from IT.
What do we need to send you?
A roster spreadsheet (names, school email addresses, and any groups you want to track), the names of a few community partners, and who your administrators will be. If you would rather connect your SIS, we take it from there with your data team.
Can you import the hours we already track?
Yes, at no charge. Whether they live in spreadsheets, a homegrown database, or another platform, we load them before launch so students keep credit for service they have already completed.
Do students need to create their own accounts?
No. Accounts are created from your roster. Students receive an invitation email with download links and either sign in with their school credentials (single sign-on) or with a temporary password they change on first login.
What does our IT department have to do?
Usually one thing: add Helper Helper as a trusted application in your identity provider, if you use single sign-on. There is nothing to install or host. SIS rostering is optional, and we configure it together with your data team. The integrations page lists supported providers.
Is training included? What about new advisers next year?
Yes. Live Zoom trainings for institutional admins, team admins, and community partners are part of every account, and the videos and guides on this page are always available. When staff changes, contact support and we will schedule a refresher.
Can we launch mid-year?
Yes. Onboarding works the same at any point in the year, and because we import the hours you already track, students do not lose credit when you switch mid-semester.
Can community partners approve hours without an account?
Yes. Each opportunity's coordinator receives an email before the event with the volunteer list, a validation code, and a check-in link, no login required. Partners who want to post their own opportunities can get a free Organization Admin account.
Do we have to do a demo first?
No. You can sign up now and pay online in a couple of minutes; onboarding starts within one business day either way. If you would like to see the platform first, schedule a demo and we can also set up a free trial for your school.