Is your nonprofit still managing volunteers manually? Entering data into various spreadsheets, composing numerous emails, and sorting through paperwork isn't just frustrating; it's a significant drain on your organization's resources. This approach wastes valuable time, money, and energy, preventing your staff from focusing on more strategic, high-level tasks due to the burden of administrative duties. Although manual volunteer management might initially appear to be a cost-effective option, it fails to deliver the return on investment your nonprofit requires. Volunteer management software can elevate your volunteer program to new heights while providing a return on investment that can be measured in time and resources saved.
👉 Four ways to measure volunteer program ROI
The Benefits of Volunteer Management Software
Volunteer management software can transform the way your nonprofit manages volunteer coordination. Think of it as an essential resource that enhances your volunteer program, fortifies your relationships with volunteers, and expands your reach.
The benefits of volunteer management software include:
- Volunteer management software allows you to effectively streamline and delegate administrative work, dramatically reducing the time it takes your team to complete tasks.
- Volunteer management software allows you to automate repetitive administrative tasks and critical communications. Automation makes it easy for your organization to stay on top of even the most minute tasks while freeing up your staff members for higher-level work.
- Volunteer management software provides the infrastructure necessary for organizational growth. It frees up critical time and resources that you can direct toward scaling your nonprofit. The best volunteer management software solutions can also shift to meet your changing needs as your organization develops.
Volunteer management software can effectively address organizational pain points and assist with every step of the volunteer lifecycle, from recruitment and engagement to recognition and impact sharing—not to mention converting volunteers to donors. When you compare it with a traditional, manual approach to volunteer management, the answer is clear: volunteer management software provides a much stronger ROI.
Many organizations utilizing VolunteerHub for volunteer management are reclaiming up to 780 hours annually.
The Downside of Managing Volunteers on Spreadsheets
While spreadsheets may seem like a straightforward solution for managing volunteers, they often lead to more headaches than help. The manual entry and constant updating required can quickly become overwhelming, especially as your volunteer base grows. This method lacks the dynamic capabilities needed to efficiently track volunteer hours, manage schedules, and communicate effectively. Errors are more likely to occur, leading to potential miscommunications and missed opportunities. Moreover, spreadsheets do not offer the analytical tools necessary to gain insights into volunteer engagement and impact, leaving your organization in the dark about how to optimize your volunteer program. In the long run, relying on spreadsheets can hinder your nonprofit's ability to scale and adapt, ultimately stalling your mission-driven efforts.
How to Transition to Volunteer Management Software
Transitioning your organizational processes can be challenging, but we've put together a step-by-step guide to help you move to volunteer management software. By following this straightforward framework, you can successfully make the transition.
Identify Your Volunteer Management Pain Points
Before exploring volunteer management software options, it's essential to pinpoint the issues your software should resolve. Conduct a thorough assessment of your existing volunteer management systems to identify inefficiencies, bottlenecks, redundancies, and other challenges that software could help overcome.
Consider these questions:
- Where does your current system have limitations?
- Which tasks consume the most time?
- Are paid staff being diverted from their primary duties?
- Can any manual tasks be automated?
- What are the weaknesses in your current volunteer management processes?
- Which aspects of the volunteer lifecycle pose the greatest challenges: recruitment, engagement, recognition, retention, or converting donors to volunteers?
- Can you easily track, analyze, and report on volunteer impact data?
- What improvements do your volunteers wish to see?
- What changes might your volunteer program undergo soon, and what resources will your organization require when they occur?
Identifying these challenges can help you find the right volunteer management software solution for your needs.
Set Clear Goals for the Transition
Establishing clear objectives for transitioning from manual volunteer management to software is essential. Consider your organization's challenges and determine precisely what you need the volunteer management software to achieve.
Some examples of goals for volunteer management software include:
- More targeted volunteer recruitment
- Streamlined volunteer scheduling and check-in
- Automated communication
- Increased volunteer engagement
- Decreased volunteer turnover
- More actionable reports
- Better volunteer impact sharing
- Increased volunteer-to-donor conversion
Involve a diverse group of stakeholders, such as volunteer coordinators, organizational leaders, board members, IT personnel, and the volunteers themselves, to ensure your goals align with your nonprofit's needs.
Choose the Right Volunteer Management Software
Once you have a clear understanding of your nonprofit's software needs, it's time to select the ideal volunteer management platform. Steer clear of team management software designed for for-profit businesses; instead, opt for a solution tailored specifically for nonprofits. The top volunteer management software solutions integrate advanced technology with features unique to nonprofits and offer intuitive user interfaces. Focus on software solutions that can help you achieve your specific volunteer program objectives, such as automating routine tasks, tracking and reporting data, and facilitating volunteer fundraising, while also supporting your broader organizational goals.
Then, look for key features that can save your organization time, money, and energy, like:
- Self-scheduling, check-in, and hour-tracking
- Automated communication tools
- Customizable user groups
- Event management tools
- Roles-based access and permissions
- Event-specific landing pages
- Advanced reporting options
- Points-based reward systems and other recognition features
- Secure data storage and payment processing
- Integration with CRMs, social media, and other existing systems
- A strong value proposition for both paid staff members and volunteers
- Knowledgeable, responsive customer support
You want to find a software solution that fits your organization’s current size while also providing infrastructure for scalability. Look for platforms like VolunteerHub, which is designed for nonprofits of all sizes. As your volunteer program scales and your needs change, VolunteerHub will grow alongside you.
When evaluating your volunteer management software options, it's crucial to consider how each platform has performed for similar nonprofits. Focus on software solutions that boast a strong history of success, offer case studies, and provide consistent updates.
While there’s no one-size-fits-all volunteer management software solution, keeping these key features and capabilities in mind will help you choose the right platform for your nonprofit.
Plan a Smooth Implementation Process
The effectiveness of your volunteer management software is significantly influenced by the way you implement it, so investing in the implementation process is crucial. It will truly pave the way for your success.
When you’re deciding how to implement your volunteer management software:
- Coordinate with the software provider. See what kind of support your volunteer management software provider can offer during the implementation process. They know their software best and have already successfully rolled it out with other nonprofit partners, so they will be a great help throughout the onboarding.
- Make a plan for data migration. Your manual processes have probably left you with plenty of data but no central place to put it. Consider how will you move volunteer data from your existing spreadsheets and paper records to the new software database. You can even ask volunteers to help with data entry so your program can make the shift more efficiently.
- Run a pilot program. A pilot program gives you the chance to troubleshoot potential issues and get critical feedback before you launch the software. Run a pilot of the new platform with a small focus group of staff and volunteers for anywhere from 2-8 weeks.
- Conduct comprehensive training. Make sure both your paid staff members and volunteers are comfortable with the platform. You should conduct program-wide training as well as role-specific modules so that everyone’s needs are fully covered.
- Encourage adoption. Even once they are trained, your volunteers and team members may be reluctant to use the new software. They may not even realize that they are underutilizing this new tool; they may just be executing the older processes they are already familiar with. Provide incentives for using your new software, like small prizes, awards, and social media shoutouts.
A carefully crafted implementation plan will enable you to achieve results from your volunteer management software more quickly and distinctly.
Engage and Train Volunteers
Your volunteers are the reason you adopted volunteer management software in the first place, so make sure they are on board! You’ll want to introduce your volunteers to the new platform with a two-pronged approach: engagement and training.
To engage your volunteers, articulate how the new volunteer management software system will benefit them. Emphasize the features that directly impact the volunteer experience, such as:
- Simplified registration
- Easier sign-ups
- Better communication
- Self-service options
- Rewards systems, awards, and recognition
Once your volunteers are engaged with the volunteer management software, it’s time to get them using it. Your training strategy should include:
- Communicating the implementation process to your volunteer base and important dates like when the software will launch.
- Organizing software-specific in-person and/or virtual training.
- Providing role-specific lessons.
- Giving volunteers a chance to try out the software with help from another staff member.
- Sharing additional training resources, like videos, PDFs, and FAQs.
- Updating your volunteer handbook with instructions for the new software.
- Designating a team member to be the go-to for software-related questions.
- Offering incentives for software adoption.
- Conducting a volunteer survey to get feedback on the software implementation process.
When you keep volunteers at the center of your volunteer management software implementation plan, they will be quicker to adopt and benefit from the new platform.
Optimize and Grow Your Program
Once your volunteer management software is up and running, it is time to take full advantage of it. Volunteer management software can play a key role in optimizing and growing your program if you use it properly.
Consider these volunteer management software best practices:
- Create customized landing pages. Optimize recruitment and volunteer fundraising efforts with customized landing pages.
- Implement self-service options. Use your software’s self-service options to give your volunteers more ownership over their roles while saving your staff time and energy. Leverage self-scheduling, check-in, and automated hour tracking.
- Fill empty roles. You never have to be short-staffed again! Use waitlists and opportunity-matching features to fill roles quickly and easily.
- Automate communication. Use automated text and email features to send shift reminders, newsletters, announcements, surveys, and thank you notes. Volunteer management software makes it easy to stay connected with your volunteers and keep them engaged by sending the right message to the right people at the right time.
- Gamify the volunteering process. Take advantage of points-based reward systems and other incentives to gamify the volunteering process. When your volunteers have something to strive for, they are more likely to become lifelong supporters.
- Leverage data tools. Volunteer management software offers robust databases with customizable user groups, advanced segmentation options, and automated processes. This data can help you target communication, gain valuable insight into your volunteer program, and identify potential areas for improvement.
- Generate meaningful reports. Advanced reporting options can generate meaningful reports in seconds to inform all of your volunteer program decisions. Then, you can use these reports to improve your program, optimize resource allocation, articulate impact to stakeholders, and support grant applications.
With the right volunteer management software solution as your partner, your volunteer program can reach new heights!
Simplify Volunteer Management with VolunteerHub
We’re well into the twenty-first century, and manual volunteer management simply isn’t enough. If you want to streamline your program, improve your ROI, boost volunteer engagement, and prevent turnover, you need a platform like VolunteerHub.
VolunteerHub is the number one volunteer management software on the market. Our comprehensive, intuitive platform leverages cutting-edge technology to optimize your volunteer program and address every stage of the volunteer lifecycle. We have specially designed our platform to fit nonprofits of all sizes, and our software can easily adapt to your program as it grows and changes.
What makes VolunteerHub a leading provider of volunteer software for nonprofits? We have over 20 years of experience working with nonprofits just like yours. We have helped thousands of organizations manage over 5 billion volunteer hours.
If you're concerned about the hurdles of shifting from manual volunteer management to software, we're here to assist. We offer thorough onboarding and training resources to ease you through the implementation process, and our support continues even after you're operational.
