This page is meant to assist the assistants. It contains the "how to" for some of the online pages you will have access to.

This is primarily meant for the Assistant Coordinators for PACHST. If you are an assistant coordinator for a different campaign, you need to be having a discussion with your Coordinator to make sure you're both on the same page about your responsibilites

Back to main Coord help page: Coord Stuff 

What is the role of the Assistant Coordinator

To a certain degree, the answer is "whatever you and I say it is"

So, let's go over the roles of a Coordinator, what parts *must* stay with the Coordinator, where you have the *ability* to help, and where - besides actual tasks - the value an Assistant is offering to me as Coordinator

There are a bunch of things a Coordinator is responsible for:

• Recruiting volunteers

• Finding a warehouse

• Dealing with applications

• Sourcing and distributing toys

• Paperwork

The things that can *only* be done by the Coordinator are most of the paperwork and anything related to financial reporting or contracts. The Coordinator is the responsible party from the perspective of the Toys for Tots Foundation - and the IRS, which will yank their tax exempt status if they screw up badly enough.

So, besides taking some of the load above off the Coordinator's shoulders, why does a Coordinator need an assistant?

For me, the following reasons:

• I need someone who has a greater level of authority than "volunteer" to interact with people if I'm not available. Talking to potential sponsors, picking up keys from a warehouse location, helping coordinate the volunteers at an event, etc.

• I need someone besides me who can take a 'big picture' approach to the Campaign and help me identify things that can be improved or that I might be missing. Volunteers are absolutely critical to making Toys for Tots work, but by the nature of how tasks as delegated to them they have a "what now" focus rather than a "what next" one

• And, I need a backup in case I get hit by a truck. Between the two campaigns we will be looking at serving ~20,000 children in 2024. I intend to be around for that, but I've seen what happens to campaigns where no one steps up when a Coordinator is no longer available

  • This is not a commitment to be the new Coordinator if I'm not available. It's a commitment to work the current year's campaign to a conclusion of some type.

Now let's talk about some of the specific stuff as the Assistant you may be able to do if you're interested

How to access the Campaign's LCO site

The site is at  https://lco-admin.toysfortots.org/

You will have been given a User Name and Password through a separate email. Note that these is one and only one "assistant" login per campaign, so you may be - theoretically - sharing it with someone else. You will want to coordinate with your peers, as multiple logins with the same ID can have... funky results 

Once you log in, you will see this. Note that this is the same view the Coordinator has, with the exception of the financial details which are in the "secure site". If you hear that term, that's something you'll need to work through me to get to.

How to choose the email address applications are sent to - if you want to

By default, applications generate a confirmation email to both the applicant *and* a copy that goes to the toysfortots.org email address. 

Problem: the email box has a 2 gig limit, and routinely is overwhelmed by the end of the year. 

I have them turned off, but they can be turned on if you want them to come to your inbox

Log into the site, then select Manage Website Accounts and Settings > Local Site Settings

Scroll down about halfway until you see this:

Put in a *valid* email address. and those applications will be routed to that address. 

Why am I emphasizing "valid"? The entire IT Department for the Toys for Tots Foundation is two guys. They're smart, but they only have so many hours, and the system doesn't necessarily deal well with unexpected data in the forms. Please don't break the system, or send the emails to someone who is going to flag them as spam and make things even more challenging for us

Links to Walkthroughs for PACHST

Other coords are welcome to review, but keep in mind these are specifically designed for our campaign

Drop Site Process / Update: Drop Site Sheet Update 

Family App: Family Application Process 

Agency App: Agency Application Process 

Distribution Events: pending