Recommendation to create a 2-sided Clubs / Volunteers site

[k3mri]

Hi all. Which theme would you recommend for a site that lists Clubs as vendors and the users are volunteers. Clubs post events and volunteers post their availability, qualification, etc. Clubs will search through volunteers to invite them to volunteer.

Thoughts? And thanks.

[system]

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[ChrisB]

Hi @k3mri,

Welcome to the community!

When choosing a theme, go with the HivePress theme that you like best and that most closely matches the look and feel you want for your site.

Keep in mind that WordPress themes mainly control the design — and all of them can be customized further if you’re comfortable with code. Some themes come packed with built-in customization options, while others are intentionally kept simple and lightweight to avoid unnecessary bloat.

The directory features themselves come from the main HivePress plugin, not the theme. You can also extend your site’s functionality with any of the 12+ official HivePress extensions.

For the best compatibility (and to save yourself future headaches), it’s strongly recommended to stick with an official HivePress theme. Third-party themes can sometimes cause conflicts because of differences in code.

All official HivePress themes are tested to work smoothly with any combination of the official extensions you decide to use.

I hope this helps!

Cheers,
Chris

[k3mri]

Thanks Chris. I was just wondering which of the premium themes were best suited out of the box. I’ll be doing lots of customizing but thought that maybe one of the themse was a little ‘closer’ to my concept than the others. Thanks again!

[ChrisB]

Hi @k3mri,

Each theme has a demo site set-up, so you can get a feel for which one might work best for your own use-case.

Have a look at each of them here:

1. MeetingHive

2. RentalHive

3. ExpertHive

4. TaskHive

5. JobHive

6. ListingHive (free)

I hope this helps!

Cheers,
Chris

[kseniia]

Hi,

Thank you for considering our products.

As ChrisB mentioned, the theme choice purely depends on your design preferences. You can use the free ListingHive theme or one of the premium themes.

Please note that users don’t have a dedicated page with profiles, and there is no search option for users. For your use case, we recommend using volunteers as vendors. This will allow them to list their profiles, as vendors have dedicated pages and can display their information on the frontend. Alternatively, you can use listings as profiles. If you don’t need a search feature for clubs, clubs can be registered as users and post events using Requests. This approach allows volunteers to list their profiles while clubs can search for volunteers (as they would be registered as vendors) or post events, and volunteers can contact clubs through these events or make direct offers if they are interested.

Please note that all strings can be changed with Loco Translate, so you can rename “Requests” to “Events,” “Vendors” to “Volunteers,” and more.

If you decide to proceed with this approach using Requests, we recommend using the ExpertHive theme, as it is bundled with the Requests extension.

Please let me know if you need further assistance.

[k3mri]

Thanks so much for your help Kseniia. So I guess both volunteers and clubs would be ‘vendors’? I guess my confusion is how does one look for the other. I really do need clubs to be able to look up volunteers and volunteers to be able to look for (not clubs) but ‘events’ (requests?).

Thoughts?

[kseniia]

If you need clubs to be able to search for volunteers, then volunteers should definitely be vendors.

As for clubs, if you also want users to search for events, there are two possible approaches:

1. Using listings as events: In this case, clubs would be vendors who post event listings. You can create two vendor categories (e.g., Clubs and Volunteers) to distinguish them. Since each category has its own dedicated page, you can add a volunteer’s page to your header menu so clubs can easily browse them. Clubs will be able to post events as listings, and volunteers will be able to search [since listings have a dedicated page].
2. Using requests as events: this option allows clubs to post events as requests. Volunteers can then browse through these requests to find suitable opportunities and make offers or express interest.

All listings, vendors, and requests are fully customizable, so you can add custom attributes to make profiles or events more informative. These attributes can also be made filterable to make the search easier.

Hope this helps

[akhilesh.as.as]

@system

AI Assistant

Hi @k3mri,

Welcome to the community!

Something similar to yours— I also have this idea of listing opportunities for youth.

I love sharing opportunities. That’s why I created my site, using ExpertHive. It is perfect for volunteering and events. Check out my site site for reference - https://letmespread.com/

I have used Listing Hive as well but felt more comfortable on this.
So, you are looking for a suggestion/recommendation? Go check out this Experthive theme.

All the best!

Akhilesh