Building a volunteer database is one of the most valuable activities for nonprofit organizations. In addition to contributing donated time, volunteers also make excellent donors. However, before you can convert volunteers to donors, you need a reliable database of volunteer information.
Not sure how to get started? Let’s take a look at a few options.
Start with a Spreadsheet
Keying information into a spreadsheet is a good start. However, as your organization continues to grow, this method quickly becomes unmanageable. With files housed on your hard drive, you’ll need to create regular backup versions, which are not easily accessible on event day or when you’re traveling.
By their nature, manual systems are not automated, which means a considerable amount of administrative work will be placed on your volunteer coordinator. When a volunteer’s address changes, your team will have to perform a manual search, update the record, save it, and then take a new backup.
A spreadsheet-based system may work for your organization in the beginning, but as you add more volunteers, you will likely outgrow it.
Put Your Volunteers to Work
Once you’ve outgrown a spreadsheet, it’s important to select a volunteer management system that places the administrative work on your volunteers.
For example, VolunteerHub’s self-registration approach allows volunteers to input their information directly into your database. Each time volunteers log into their accounts, they are ensuring that your database is accurate. Volunteers are prompted regularly to confirm their information, eliminating the need for calendar reminders or manual volunteer tickler systems. This saves untold man-hours and builds capacity.
Upload Huge Lists to VolunteerHub
Some organizations prefer to take a top-down approach when migrating from spreadsheets to a volunteer system.
With VolunteerHub’s Data Import/Export App, your organization can get volunteer information to the cloud even faster. Simply format your volunteer list to our specifications, and VolunteerHub does the rest.
Convert Volunteers to Donors
Once your volunteers are registered in VolunteerHub, you can use the system to build a 360-degree view of each constituent. By integrating your CRM with VolunteerHub (learn more about our integration with Blackbaud’s Suite of CRMs), you can gain comprehensive access to a person’s history of financial and volunteer contributions.
