A volunteer management system can save your coordinators time and allow them to build stronger relationships both internally and externally.
The old saying “time is money” holds true in the nonprofit world. Organizations that use a manual process for managing volunteer relationships could be losing hundreds of hours in unnecessary data-entry and stress on their staff. These hours could be better spent on building relationships and on mission-attainment. Imagine the good that volunteer coordinators could do with an extra hundred hours. They could use this time to recruit volunteers or build relationships that retain existing ones. Each hour invested in volunteer engagement can have an impact on retention rates. A volunteer management system can save an organization time resulting in ROI.
Think of the time savings of volunteer management this way:
Recruitment opportunity
100 hours saved could mean 50 additional volunteers recruited. A volunteer hour is equivalent to $24.14 and the average volunteer provides 52 hours per year of service. If you take the number of new recruits (50) * the average hours per year you get 2600 hours. Next, take the value of a volunteer hour ($24.14) * total hours (2600) to get the value of your 50 new volunteers ($62,764).
Retention opportunity
100 hours saved could mean 100 volunteers retained (an extra hour to get to know each volunteer personally). As stated above a volunteer hour is worth $24.14 and the average volunteer provides 52 hours of service each year. Retaining 100 volunteers is equivalent to $125,528.
Now that we have your attention lets talk about some additional benefits of a volunteer management system and how it can save a nonprofit time!
Volunteer Sign-up Enhancements
Creating a volunteer registration process that leads to higher sign-up conversions is worth the investment. Organizations can use a volunteer management system, like VolunteerHub, to create event-specific landing pages, enable on-site signup, and track how volunteers are interacting with their recruitment strategy. Volunteer organizations can benefit greatly from a streamlined online process that makes registration easier for supporters.
Consider the following sign-up benefits:
The number of volunteers: Allowing supporters to register for opportunities online increases the number of opportunities fulfilled.
Time to hire: An online system breaks down the walls of a manual registration process and speeds up recruitment for volunteers and coordinators.
Candidate sources: Online sign-up tools, like VolunteerHub, integrate with Google Analytic’s to provide organizations with visibility.
Quality of volunteer: Nonprofits can use a volunteer management system to create targeted opportunities to find the best candidate.
Access to talent: Volunteer management solutions, like VolunteerHub, give an organization instant access to talent who have fulfilled opportunities in the past.
Remember, increased opportunity fulfillment equals increased volunteer value for an organization.
Organized Volunteer Data
Nonprofits that utilize a lot of volunteers each year need a strategic way of managing and leveraging data. Online volunteer databases offer organizations many benefits including flexibility, technical support, and access to their program data whenever and wherever it’s needed. An online volunteer database also reduces the risk of data-entry errors. A study by AIIM found that 46% of surveyed participants stated that the removal of paper has been their biggest productivity improvement to date. The same study concluded that the average manual error rate is 1%. A 1% data error rate can cause havoc on an organizations ability to analyze real results. Last but not least, an automated volunteer database provides information about the relationship between volunteers and financial donors.
Let’s discuss that relationship in more detail!
Bridge Between Volunteers and Donors
According to a study, performed by Fidelity, two-thirds of volunteers donate money. Leveraging this relationship presents a unique opportunity for nonprofits wanting to increase the effectiveness of their fundraising strategies. Identifying the relationship between volunteers and donors is nearly impossible to do via a manual process and requires a management system that integrates with CRM in order to see and leverage the relationship quickly.
Check out this ROI scenario:
If a nonprofit uses 2500 volunteers per year and is able to covert 25% more of them to financial donors that could equate to $111,250 gained based on the average one-time online donation size ($178.00).
Communication Features
One of the biggest ways that a volunteer management system saves nonprofits time is from a communication standpoint. Effective communication can create engagement with supporters, introduce them to new opportunities, and have a positive effect on retention. Many management tools, like VolunteerHub, provide organizations with access to communication features such as text and email notifications. Leveraging automated communications to reach volunteers is yet another strategic way to save volunteer coordinators hours of time.
ROI of Investment
The return on investment from a volunteer management system is substantial. For a small investment, volunteer organizations can use volunteer management software to conserve their most critical asset…time. Volunteer management solutions are helping nonprofits build stronger relationships and invest time in strategic areas of their program. The financial investment of a volunteer management system is often less than .1% of a nonprofits total volunteer value and pays for itself when considering hours saved by a volunteer coordinator.
Here is an ROI scenario to consider regarding VolunteerHub
The average volunteer coordinator salary in the United States is $34,027 per year or $16.35 per hour. If deploying VolunteerHub saves a coordinator 8 hours per week they could invest $130.80/week worth of time into another part of the volunteer program. That translates to $6,801.60 per year in saved coordination time.
Final thoughts
Nonprofits are beginning to recognize the true value of the volunteers that provide service. Organizations around the world are looking for new ways to manage volunteers, conserve resources, and free up time. Volunteer management systems, like VolunteerHub, are providing nonprofits with the tools they need to successfully organize and manage programs. VolunteerHub has helped many organizations manage volunteers and free up hundreds of hours to advance their volunteer program and make a greater impact towards their mission.
Here are a few case studies to prove it:
Ronald McDonald House Winston-Salem – Saving hundreds of hours a year with VolunteerHub
Junior Achievement-Rocky Mountain – Increasing and sustaining their corporate partnerships with VolunteerHub
City Rescue Mission – Using VolunteerHub to free up their coordinators time to build one on one relations internally and externally.
The Food Bank of the Southern Tier: Using VolunteerHub in conjunction with The Raiser’s Edge. Saw a return on investment within 4 months.
