The remote half of a field response: how one person, working virtually, keeps volunteers safe and accounted for, keeps the site data clean, and keeps information flowing between the field, the leadership, and the community. Written so a group anywhere can run it, with notes on how the SAFE Team did it in practice.
Works hand-in-hand with the field. The Digital Coordinator is the virtual counterpart to the person running things on the ground — see the Field Coordinator SOP (Boots on the Ground). Read the Response Overview for how all the roles fit together.
The Digital Coordinator (DC) serves in a remote role and is responsible for the smooth virtual functioning of the response — staff, trainees, and daily volunteers alike. The DC is vital support to the Field / Boots-on-the-Ground Coordinator: while that person moves teams around in the physical world, the DC watches over them from a screen, tracks where everyone is, keeps the records straight, and makes sure nothing gets lost.
Primary responsibilities of the DC:
- Virtual operations — team with the Field Coordinator to ensure safe, smooth deployment for trainees and volunteers.
- Trainee & volunteer support — make sure everyone is checked in and out of each site through the day, and safely checked out at the end of their shift.
- Communication coordination — daily contact with the Field Coordinator; monitor the group communication platform; keep volunteers reminded to check in/out and submit reports; moderate posts with leadership input; route needs to the right people; manage shared photos; support messaging of the mission; and liaise with community and site leaders as asked.
- Data management — maintain the site database (the operations/locations spreadsheet).
- Milk-sharing coordination — field requests and help coordinate safe, clinically appropriate transfer of donated human milk, per your milk-sharing SOP.
- Forms management — keep staff, provider, and client-facing forms current.
1. Managing the operations spreadsheet
The shared operations spreadsheet is the home of all site, family, and community data. Keeping it accurate is one of the DC’s principal jobs — the Field Coordinator relies on it to route teams, so what the DC enters in the evening becomes tomorrow’s plan.
How SAFE did it: we used a shared Google Sheet with a MASTER tab for all site data (populated from the Site Visit Report form volunteers submit after each visit), a FAMILIES tab for individual dyads, and DAILY URGENT and DAILY DISPATCH tabs so time-sensitive items stayed visible. The DC and Field Coordinator both worked from it live.
The spreadsheet template (with fictional sample data) is available on request — ask us. See the Field Coordinator SOP for how the field side uses the same sheet.
Entering site reports (Master tab)
- Enter each site report into the main site tab in reverse chronological order, in the Notes column. Start that day’s entry with the date, in bold.
- Before adding any new site, search first to avoid duplicates — use Find (Ctrl+F / Cmd+F) on the site name, organization, and full or partial address.
- Set the site’s status to EVAL so the update is visible to the Field Coordinator and simplifies routing.
Adding a brand-new site
- Look up the address and record the site’s direction from your home base and nearest town in a consistent format (for example, EAST / [Town]) so locations sort geographically for routing.
- Mark the priority as SCOUT.
- Fill in the narrative in the Notes column.
- Add Contact and Address as available.
- Keep the Hours column current, and set the Routes column to the site’s open days — choosing “must” options only when there’s no alternative day, or for one-off events.
Families, urgent needs & dispatch
- For a family request, search for duplicates first, then use the same dated, bold notation as the Master tab.
- If a family report contains an urgent need, add it to the Daily Dispatch and Daily Urgent tabs so it’s handled in time.
- When an urgent need arrives via a form: alert the Field Coordinator (and volunteers if needed), then move the report to the right tab (Master, Families, or Urgent/Dispatch).
Reconciling the data
After entering a report, check the box in the left-hand column to mark it entered, and highlight that row in the day’s color.
How SAFE did it: we color-coded rows by day of the week (a distinct color for Monday through Sunday). It made the sheet easy to scan and helped surface patterns and trends tied to specific days.
2. Trainee & volunteer communications
Once someone registers, the DC is their first point of contact. The DC tracks each participant from site to site through the day and makes sure everyone is safely checked in and out until they head home, reaching out directly as needed for a seamless experience.
Building the daily roster
Participants are cataloged in a volunteers spreadsheet, organized by day (or, during a training, by cohort).
Timing that worked for SAFE: the incoming DC completed roster/orientation tasks by 6:00 PM the day before their shift, so the next day was ready to go before it started.
- Pull the day’s volunteer/trainee roster from your online sign-up tool into a new daily (or cohort) tab. Update it daily and re-check for last-minute sign-ups.
- Make sure the roster is accessible to the Field Coordinator — they depend on accurate numbers to plan deployments.
How SAFE did it: we used Sign-Up Genius. Logged in with admin access to the group’s account, we generated a report for the current month, filtered to the day(s) of interest, exported the list of sign-ups (all fields, “view without blanks”) to a spreadsheet, and pulled it into the volunteer tab. Any comparable sign-up tool works — the point is a clean daily roster the field side can trust.
Orientation email
- Send the orientation email to everyone scheduled for the coming week, then resend the morning before they volunteer or train.
- For training cohorts, SAFE sent it the Sunday and Wednesday before the training started, plus a brief morning-of note to catch last-minute changes, confirm departure times, and answer final questions.
- Keep watching for cancellations — by email, in the sign-up tool, and by text. Cancellations are common and normal; update the roster promptly so the field count stays accurate.
Adding people to your communication channels
Add each new participant to your group communication platform and your team email list.
How SAFE did it: we used GroupMe as the group platform and a team listserv for email. New volunteers were added to the group by phone number. Use whatever your team already lives in — the goal is that every volunteer can reach the DC and the whole group instantly. (Keep any group invite link private; share it directly with vetted participants rather than posting it publicly.)
Daily messaging
Post to the group in the morning and again at least midday, using the space to pass along anything volunteers might not be thinking about — especially weather, travel conditions, and self-care.
Sample morning message (adapt the brackets):
Good morning [Team]! I’ll be your Digital (Remote) Coordinator today — monitoring [group platform] all day and in regular contact with our Field Coordinator. Reach me at [phone] / [email]; please don’t hesitate with any questions or concerns.
Morning meeting at [location/time] unless noted otherwise — stay tuned for changes.
Please “check in” on arrival using the [check-in form] (pinned above), and use the same form to check in and out of every site and to submit site reports and urgent needs.
Inclement weather backup: [virtual meeting link/time].
If you’re heading out today, dress in layers, pack food, snacks, and plenty of water, and take care on the roads. If there’s something you need but don’t have, reach out and we’ll help you source it. Thank you for spending your time with us today.
Sample midday message:
Gentle reminder to use the [check-in form] to check in and out of sites (and for site reports / urgent needs, with addresses) — and a midday nudge to nourish and hydrate yourselves!
3. Post-training follow-up & evaluation
If your program includes a training component, the DC handles the thank-you and any follow-up survey.
Keep survey language non-coercive. If you partner with a research institution to evaluate your training, participation must be clearly voluntary and anonymous, and completion should never be tied to credit or benefits. The DC sends a warm thank-you to the departing cohort that also carries the survey link, with a plain note that participation is optional.
How SAFE did it: our training was evaluated through a partnering university institute with a two-part voluntary, anonymous survey — one shortly after training and a follow-up about a month later. We tracked each participant’s name, email, and completion date on a dedicated tab, with conditional formatting that auto-calculated the follow-up due date and flagged overdue or duplicate entries by color. If you set up something similar, a simple tracker with reminders keeps it from slipping.
4. Milk-sharing coordination
The DC serves as a liaison between providers, distribution sites, direct requests from families, and any intake/telehealth line — and, together with the Field Coordinator, helps coordinate safe, clinically appropriate transfer of donated human milk per your milk-sharing SOP. The DC assists with communication among donor, recipient, and provider, helps arrange the transfer (often meeting at an area milk bank), and documents transfers and families.
Do not improvise this. Milk-sharing is the highest-liability activity a response can take on, and the rules vary by state. Read When Donated Milk Shows Up and SAFE’s position on donations in emergencies before coordinating any transfer. Keep donor and recipient information confidential.
5. Meetings & handoff
- Evening handoff. The DC attends the leadership meeting the evening before their shift for a clean transition. The outgoing DC reports any urgent needs carried over from the day (or earlier) until they’re resolved or marked stable, so nothing falls through the gap between coordinators.
- Morning meeting. When on shift, the DC joins the morning meeting (see the Field Coordinator SOP for the full run of day). Use the same virtual meeting link for every meeting — it removes a daily point of friction.
Companion pages
| When you need… | Go to |
|---|---|
| The field / on-the-ground counterpart role | Field Coordinator SOP (Boots on the Ground) |
| The whole response structure & all the roles | Response Overview |
| Assessing needs on the ground | Rapid Needs Assessment |
| Calling & scouting distribution sites (scripts) | Contacting Sites |
| Donated human milk | When Donated Milk Shows Up |
| Debrief, self-care & trauma-informed support | Trauma-Informed Response |
| Building your own resource directory | Creating a Resource List |
| Training your volunteers & site staff | Nourishing Resilience training |