Volunteer management software can help your food bank create a streamlined process to recruit, manage, and engage supporters.
Your food bank is instrumental in addressing one of the world’s biggest problems…hunger. According to DoSomething.org, 49.1 million Americans live in food-insecure households. Hunger affects all parts of the world. According to Action Against Hunger, 815 million people, globally, are undernourished.
Your food bank has an opportunity to provide the community with a service to address a dire need. Chances are that your organization needs volunteers and their commitment to reach your mission and strategic goals. How do volunteers play a role at your nonprofit? Would better volunteer management improve your organization's ability to recruit, retain, and engage supporters? Would more strategic volunteer management lead to an increase in reach and mission attainment?
Did you know that 76% of food banks do not feel as though they can adequately meet the needs of their communities without adjusting the amount of food distributed?
Implementing a volunteer management solution can help your food bank run a more efficient volunteer program and increase reachability. Many Food Banks, just like yours, have saved hundreds of hours a year, recruited more talent, and positively impacted retention rates by implementing volunteer software to streamline processes.
Here are a few common problems that your food bank may be facing and the solution that volunteer management software provides.
Email Communications with Food Bank Volunteers
Email is still one of the most effective communication strategies for food banks. According to a study by Iron Paper, the average open rate for email marketing campaigns in the nonprofit space is 24.98%. This is a great average considering that 17% is the norm across all industries. Your food bank should be using email as a way to communicate volunteer opportunities and impact.
Here is the problem…
The problem: Your food bank spends countless hours sending individual emails to volunteer prospects to fill opportunities and nurture relationships.
The solution: Volunteer management software can automate the communication process between your organization and its volunteer prospects/supporters. The software makes it possible for your food bank to create custom messages to be sent at strategic times. Your organization can use volunteer management tools, like VolunteerHub, to let volunteers know what they have signed up for, remind them of their commitment, and thank them for fulfillment.
Maintaining Volunteer Data
Building a database of volunteer prospects is crucial to your food bank's success. How are you capturing leads and maintaining your contact database? Cleaning up your organizations database can help you assess the impact and provide transparency into how your food bank volunteer program is performing overall. According to a study, performed by CyberSphere, bad data sources result in 30% of all leads failing.
Problem #1: Your food bank uses spreadsheets to document volunteer information and interactions.
Problem #2: Your food bank uses a manual process to create reports and measure program goals.
The solution: Volunteer software can automate the data collection and organization of volunteer data for your food bank so you can spend time optimizing other areas of your program. Volunteer software can also help your food bank eliminate manual data-entry errors and run reports quickly and efficiently. Volunteer management software, like VolunteerHub, can scrub your food bank data and eliminate duplicates, increasing data accuracy.
Recruiting and Engaging Volunteers
Volunteers deliver your food bank value and help your organization provide resources to the community. According to an Independent Sector study, a volunteer hour is now worth over $24.00. Chances are, the value of volunteer time is priceless to your cause. Many food banks struggle to find volunteers to fill their ongoing need for support. Almost 10% of nonprofits saw staffing and volunteer recruitment challenges last year, according to a 2018 report. Increasing the reach of your volunteer opportunities and acquiring/sustaining talent will lead to growth.
Problem #1: Your food bank's recruitment process is outdated and creates barriers for your organization and potential volunteers.
Problem #2: Your food bank volunteer coordinators are spending their time on the phone trying to recruit volunteers manually.
The Solution: Volunteer management software can improve your food bank recruitment process and reachability by allowing your supporters to register for opportunities online. Your organizations volunteers can quickly see new opportunities and sign up for fulfillment. Volunteer software, like VolunteerHub, eliminates the need for your coordinators to manually register your volunteer base.
Final Thoughts
Volunteer management software can help streamline your food bank's volunteer program by providing tools to capture data, recruit and engage volunteers, and communicate with supporters strategically. Deploying tools to automate your volunteer management process will save your organization time and resources.
Food Banks trust VolunteerHub for volunteer management! Here are a few case studies proving the value.
St. Louis Area Food Bank Overcomes Obstacles with VolunteerHub
VolunteerHub Optimizes Central Texas Food Banks Volunteer Program
VolunteerHub Helps City Rescue Mission Focus on Volunteer Engagement
Food Bank Achieves 4-Month ROI from VolunteerHub’s Integration with Raiser’s Edge
Interested in learning how VolunteerHub can streamline your food bank volunteer program? Request a demo.
