Choosing the right nonprofit tools can help your organization streamline efforts.
Picture an Excel spreadsheet with hundreds of volunteer names. Your organization may use this list to communicate, schedule, and manage your volunteers. This effort may take hours and consume time that could be better used for projects in your organization with more urgency. Your organization should be taking advantage of the right nonprofit tools to eliminate the manual process.
In today’s fast-paced world, we want everything done immediately. We can receive information with the click of a button. Volunteer management can be that simple! No longer do you need to waste countless hours organizing data on Excel spreadsheets and send out individual emails. Here are some impressive features of volunteer management software that can save your organization time and resources:
CRM is One of The Key Nonprofit Tools
One of the most time-consuming processes when organizing volunteers is managing the data relating to the volunteers. Your organization will collect the data, validate it, and finally, the data must be managed by someone on your staff. This process takes time and manpower.
CRM integration is a great way to gain control of this large amount of information. Automating the process is fast, easy, and will reduce the risk of error. Integrating with Blackbaud’s CRM tools (The Raiser’s Edge, Blackbaud CRM, Luminate CRM, Altru, and eTapestry) and Salesforce® allows managing and maintaining the data to be stress-free. CRM integration can create the following:
- Seamless Integration- The integration synchronizes with leading CRM tools while updating data in the background.
- Self-updating System- The system prompts volunteers to update their information routinely, ensuring your volunteer information is current.
- Headache-Free Setup and Support- setup and maintenance is included in the cost of the volunteer management software.
So long PC. Hello, tablet.
Does your organization’s volunteer check-in area become congested? It is easy for this to happen when you have many volunteers checking in at the same time.
Having the ability to step away from your PC and interact with your team of volunteers is priceless. The check-in process will become organized and seamless as you interact with your staff and volunteers instead of being stuck behind your computer. Here are a few ways that mobile capabilities are ideal for your organization and will save you time and energy:
- Tablet check-in capabilities
- Alleviate bottleneck registration
- Automatic volunteer hour tracking
- Mobile optimized user interface
- Eliminates pen and paper process
Instant Communication
When your organization hosts an event with thousands of attendees, anything can happen. You have to be ready and prepared for last minute changes. Communicating with your team of volunteers can be challenging and time-consuming. Using a mobile texting or email tool will allow you to communicate updates fast and efficiently to your volunteers.
A large majority of people are attached to their phones. They are always “connected.” Text messaging is one of the most efficient and fastest ways to communicate with your team in an emergency situation. Make it easy on yourself and your organization by using the correct tools in order to get your message across expeditiously.
After your event, the communication tool allows you to immediately thank your volunteers for their participation. Sending out individual emails can take a large amount of time and effort, why not have it automated? Having an automated system can be invaluable when you have thousands of volunteers.
Seamless Transition to New Technology
An Excel spreadsheet can be tedious to use for certain types of reports. Even with filters to sort the data, they can be cumbersome to read and navigate. By using an import feature of volunteer management software, your organization can save countless hours of filtering the data. This feature creates a template which allows you to import all of your previous information into the new program.
The transition from your current way of storing volunteer data to volunteer management software will be easy for you and your volunteers. The import tool can generate an email inviting existing volunteers to register on the new site. It is stress-free and makes it easy to communicate with your team.
Showcase Events and People
Each event that your organization hosts is special. Are there a few events that your organization considers to be significant and have the most impact for your cause? Consider this, you could have a page dedicated specifically to these few events. Not only does this “spotlight” special events, but it makes it easier for volunteer coordinators to manage and promote multiple events simultaneously.
Corporate sponsorship is extremely important in the nonprofit sector. This feature allows you to create branding specifically for your corporate sponsors. It is a great reason for them to partner with your organization, if they get their very own page to navigate.
Working in the nonprofit sector, you have to use every resource to your advantage. Time is one of your most valuable assets. Why waste time and energy if there is a more efficient way to manage your volunteers? Using these nonprofit tools will allow you to have a peace of mind and be excited about your volunteer management. No more stress!
Want to see volunteer management software in action? Contact us today to learn how.
