Starting a Program

Libraries, mutual aid groups, outreach teams, and other community groups can set up infrastructure like VOICE with free or inexpensive tools that a small team of volunteers can run. Each part can be replaced without rebuilding the rest.

Background

The needs that VOICE answers, and the thinking behind its design, are set out on the About page. The pages in this section describe how VOICE does its work and the reasons for each choice, so that another group can weigh those reasons against its own circumstances. A group may find other ways that serve its community equally well, or that its community needs some parts more than others, and each part can be set up on its own.

Components

Message Paths

• Voicemail. Google Voice transcribes each voicemail and emails the transcript to a Gmail account that the Switchboard reads, and the transcript becomes a relay with the source Voicemail.
• Email. Email sent to any address at the domain that has no mailbox of its own reaches the shared inbox through a catchall rule, and a volunteer who monitors it records a relay when a message needs follow-up.
• Fax. The fax service emails each fax to the shared inbox as a PDF file, and a volunteer who monitors the inbox identifies the recipient from the cover sheet and records a relay.
• Written messages. A message sent with the form on the main site becomes a relay as soon as it is sent.
• In person. A volunteer records each request made during a session in the Switchboard.

In every case, a volunteer takes responsibility for the relay, records each step taken, and closes it once the work is finished and, where possible, the person has been told that a volunteer worked on their message. Every source ends in the same kind of record, so that no request depends on a volunteer remembering a conversation. The procedures are written down as well, so that the work can continue when particular volunteers step away.

The Order of Setup

VOICE was set up in this order, and each step builds on the one before it.

1. Choose a place and a regular time. Sessions tend to work best at a place people already visit, such as a library or a community center, and at a time that stays the same from week to week, because a steady time serves people better than longer hours that change.
2. Arrange the organizational basics. Google Workspace for Nonprofits requires a registered nonprofit organization or a fiscal sponsor. Google says it reviews most verification requests within 2 to 14 working days, and the domain name can be registered while the request is reviewed.
3. Set up email, with the shared inbox, a public contact address, and the catchall rule.
4. Set up the message line, so that voicemail transcripts arrive by email.
5. Set up a way to track messages. A shared spreadsheet is enough at first, and the VOICE software can take its place when the number of messages grows. Until then, volunteers copy each voicemail transcript and email into the spreadsheet.
6. Write the procedures. Adapt the session checklists, the information policies, the explanation given before an email address is created, and a confidentiality agreement to your own setting.
7. Bring in the first volunteers. At a minimum, a group needs enough people to share the work of monitoring messages, so that no one monitors the Switchboard and the shared inbox without relief, and enough to hold each in-person session.
8. Test the whole path. Leave a voicemail and confirm that it is recorded, send email to a new address and confirm that it arrives with the right label, and follow a test request until it is closed.
9. Begin small. Tell the people who come to sessions and a few partner organizations, and add the fax number, Beacon, and Lifeline help once the message line and email work reliably.
10. Review regularly. VOICE's team meets each month to review the Switchboard's counts, hear what people have said about the service, and revise the procedures where practice has shown a better way.

Limits

VOICE is not an emergency service, and its volunteers are not available at all hours. It does not give legal, medical, or financial advice, although volunteers can help people reach those who do.

Using These Pages

Configuration examples describe VOICE's own setup. Menu names in outside services change often, so the menu paths here are directions rather than exact addresses. Prices and terms were checked in October 2026 and should be checked again before you rely on them. Corrections, questions, and accounts of your own adaptations can be sent to info@voicestl.org.