What features make up the best volunteer management software on the market?
Managing volunteers efficiently and effectively is one of the most important components of a successful nonprofit. A strategic volunteer management process can help to recruit, engage, and retain organizational supporters. Volunteer management software is helping nonprofits all over the world streamline the management process, free up time through automation, and make better decisions based on data. The best volunteer management software solutions on the market are providing organizations with a strong return on investment.
In today’s post, we will discuss several feature sets to look for when selecting the best volunteer management software to push your volunteer program to the next level.
Recruitment Features
One of the primary benefits of investing in volunteer management software is the ability to strengthen recruitment efforts. The best volunteer management software solutions offer features to make this process easier and less time-consuming than a traditional manual outreach strategy. Organizations can use software, like VolunteerHub, to create opportunity-specific landing pages where prospects can quickly commit and register for roles.
Did you know? 19% of nonprofits increased recruitment and retention focus after measuring volunteer impact (source)
The best volunteer management software solutions on the market are helping organizations to understand volunteer impact and build focused recruitment strategies around it. Volunteer software is also helping organizations free up time to focus on building stronger relationships with prospects.
Here is what a current VolunteerHub user had to say:
“Having VolunteerHub has freed up time allowing our Volunteer Coordinators to focus on building relationships both internally and externally.” Kristen Hopkins, Volunteer Coordinator, City Rescue Mission
Communication Features
Volunteer engagement starts at the communication level. Good communication can make a great first impression on volunteers, create awareness around opportunities, and positively impact conversion rates. Volunteer management software, like VolunteerHub, is creating new connection avenues and personalization capabilities for organizations every day through enhanced communication features. These volunteer communication features include automated texts and emails that can be personalized based on specific supporter groups.
Here is what a current VolunteerHub user had to say:
“VolunteerHub allowed us to streamline communication by emails with volunteers. It also allowed us a central location to communicate with volunteers and endless flexibility,” Austin Rippeto, Training Coordinator at Special Olympics Missouri.
Tracking Features
Arguably one of the most important features of volunteer management software is the ability to track volunteer interactions and leverage behavior trends. It is incredibly hard to develop data and see trends in a manual management process. The best volunteer management software solutions on the market can fill this void for nonprofit organizations.
Solutions, like VolunteerHub, give organizations the ability to quickly and efficiently track attendance and hours for each unique volunteer and every opportunity fulfilled. Streamlined tracking reduces the frustration, time, and financial cost of a nonautomated process.
Integration Features
Many nonprofit organizations use additional tools to conduct their efforts successfully. These tools include CRM systems and social media platforms for outreach. The best volunteer management software solutions offer integration with existing tools for better insights and sharing capabilities.
VolunteerHub offers integration with many of the top CRM systems on the market including Salesforce and Blackbaud’s suite (eTapestry, The Raisers Edge, Luminate, Altru). True CRM integration is helping organizations bridge the gap between volunteers and financial donors by better understanding the correlation between the two supporter groups.
Some volunteer management solutions, like VolunteerHub, also integrate with an organization’s social media accounts to make opportunity outreach easier and more personalized.
