Understanding & Using CarePortal RSS Feeds

Overview

This article explains what an RSS feed is and how you or your organization can use CarePortal's RSS feed to show custom search criteria of open requests on your own website.

Intended Audience

Agencies, Churches, Implementing Partners, Community Champions 

What's Covered in this Article?

• What is an RSS Feed?
• What Could an RSS Feed Do?
• Where Do I Find the CarePortal Requests RSS Feed?
• How Do I Customize the RSS Feed?

What is an RSS Feed?

RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication." It allows websites, podcasts, social media platforms and others to give their users a live feed of data that can be easily accessed through an RSS Reader OR embedded into a website using one of many available RSS plugins or aggregators. This simply means you can embed a live, customizable feed of CarePortal requests directly on your website.

What Could an RSS Feed Do?

There are dozens if not hundreds of examples of how an RSS Feed could be used. Any organization or individual involved in the CarePortal network could set up a live, interactive feed of open requests (on their own website or even in a private list) that display the open requests that match any advanced search criteria on the CarePortal Open Requests page.

Examples include any combination of the following, and more:

• All requests for a specific popular item such as a bed or clothing
• Requests from an individual county or zip code
• Requests entered with a specific purpose statement such as helping prevent a child from entering foster care
• Requests that allow someone to fund items directly through the CarePortal platform
• Only the open requests in a specific estimated value range

Where Do I Find the CarePortal Requests RSS Feed?

CarePortal's RSS Requests feed can be found in two places:

1. The main Open Requests page on the CarePortal website
2. Any church or response team's public request page

You will see the icon to the right in the upper right corner of each of these pages, which is the button that will generate the specific code to allow you to take the current search criteria and add it to an RSS reader for your own web page outside of the CarePortal platform. Clicking this icon will open a new tab that will look something like the screenshot below.  (Note: the appearance of this code may vary depending on your browser.)

How Do I Customize the RSS Feed?

Note: To use an RSS Feed, you will need to use one of many available RSS Readers, often offered as a plugin or aggregator within your website.

Step 1

Select your search criteria that you want to display in your RSS feed by customizing the advanced search settings and clicking the orange Search button. 

Step 2

Click the RSS icon, which will generate a new tab that provides the specific URL for the search parameters you entered, which can be entered into your RSS Reader. 

Quick Tip: Don't pay attention to the HTML code on the web page itself. It's the URL you're after!

Step 3

Test your RSS Feed in the published version of your RSS Reader or website to make sure you see the appropriate list of CarePortal requests being displayed. Immediately begin to see a list of CarePortal requests.