Maintaining an accurate volunteer hours log of volunteer hours can be time-consuming.
Doing so can also require significant administrative resources if done manually, which probably explains why nonprofits tend to put this activity on the back burner. When an important board meeting or grant application pops up, everyone then scrambles to pull together the necessary information.
Sound familiar?
Tracking all of those hours can be exhausting, and if you have multiple volunteer events taking place at once it can be nearly impossible. In short, maintaining accurate volunteer hour records can be a major pain point for nonprofits large and small.
In this post, we’ll offer tips for tracking volunteer hours – whether that be manually or via a more automated solution like VolunteerHub.
Manual Hour Tracking
While a manual volunteer hours log process can be frustrating, some organizations simply don’t have the budget for an automated system. If this sounds like your organization, it’s important to at least have consistency in your record-keeping. For smaller organizations, we’ve developed this free template, which can be customized to include your nonprofit’s logo or name. Print it, post it, and go.
Make sure to post the document in a highly visible location and ask volunteers to sign in as they arrive. You may also want to consider displaying the sheet in a binder to prevent the paper from blowing away or being misplaced. Encourage volunteers to sign out as they leave. After the event is over, keep the documents in a safe place and have an administrative assistant key in the data into a spreadsheet for further analysis.
Track Volunteer Hours Automatically
VolunteerHub includes an automatic hour-tracking feature that simplifies the entire process.
VolunteerHub was designed for mobile devices, so it’s easy to use in the field at your event. Our OnSite App automatically tracks volunteer hours based on check-in, check-out, and event duration data. The information is then stored securely in your VolunteerHub database for easy access and reporting. If a volunteer stays past the original event end time, you can adjust his or her records manually.
VolunteerHub’s automatic hour tracking feature bypasses the need for paper documents and also saves you time and stress. If your nonprofit organization hosts frequent volunteer events, automated tracking can save you hours of administrative work each month.
Try VolunteerHub
Need a better hours log and volunteer database solution? Learn more about how we’ve helped countless nonprofits become more efficient.
