Digital tools to streamline volunteer management

Volunteering is integral to the work of many charities and since the pandemic, the demand for volunteers in the UK has soared. It was reported in May 2020 that one in five UK adults volunteered during the first lockdown and three-quarters of a million volunteered to be NHS responders.

Volunteering is more vital than ever to local community life in the UK and charities play a pivotal role in co-ordinating many of these volunteers. Managing numerous volunteers, with different skills, availability, and communication preferences takes quite some skill.

Thankfully, juggling Word forms, Excel spreadsheets, and database add-ons is no longer necessary for Volunteer Managers – free or low-cost volunteer management software and apps are available to help. 

Tools for volunteer managers 

This range of tools will support you to capture volunteer information, schedule volunteer shifts, communicate with volunteers, and produce reports.

TIME COUNTS

A popular app with lots of functionality, Time Counts could be used for any type of volunteering. It doesn’t offer an API-led integration with any databases, but there is potential for downloading and uploading customised reports.

It offers a free version for smaller organisations, but can also be scaled up significantly. Here are some of the basic functionalities available on Time Counts:

• Advertise volunteer opportunities

• Customisable online recruitment form

• Create individual volunteer profiles

• Volunteer scheduling and tracking capabilities

• Communication via email (SMS is a paid add-on)

• Reporting including customisable reports

• App available

Price: From FREE with one admin, one sign up form, and 250 emails per month. 

VOLGISTICS

Volgistics is well-suited to small decentralised organisations as it has multi-site capability, allowing you to manage groups of volunteers at different sites. It does not have database integrations, but its bespoke reporting may allow for data uploads. it can also be scaled to suit larger organisations. Other functionalities include:

• Customisable volunteer recruitment form

• Communication via text and email

• Volunteer scheduling and tracking capabilities

• Reporting, including customisable reports

• Multi-site capability for decentralised organisations

• Web browser only

Price: From $17 per month (£12 approx), with two admins and up to 50 volunteers.

BETTER IMPACT

This software becomes its own database and online training space as it allows you to create individual profiles for your volunteers and create e-learning modules.

Better Impact also offers what it calls ‘enterprise functionality’ for multi-site organisations where volunteer management is decentralised. Functionalities include:

• Create individual volunteer profiles

• Searchable database

• E-learning modules

• Volunteer scheduling and tracking capabilities

• Reporting, including customisable reports

• ‘Enterprise functionality’ for decentralised operations

Price: From £15 per month, unlimited administrators and up to 50 volunteers. 

VOLUNTEER MARK

While the previous volunteer management systems cater mainly for longer-term volunteering opportunities, Volunteer Mark also recognises the need for short-term events volunteers. 

Up to three events can be created per month, along with three longer-term roles on the free package – ideal for smaller charities. Other functionalities include:

• Sign up forms for volunteer positions

• Manage volunteer data

• Communication via email, SMS and social media

• Volunteer scheduling and tracking capability

• Import/export volunteer data

• Events functionality

• App available

Price: Free, up to 50 volunteers, up to three volunteer positions per year, up to three events per month.

INIT LIVE

InIt Live has two versions: one for long-term volunteering and one for events staff and volunteers. This is useful for larger organisations where managing these types of volunteers falls to different teams with different processes.

It also integrates with Salesforce, so definitely worth considering for charities using Salesforce as their CRM. Other functionalities include:

• Advertise volunteer opportunities

• Create volunteer profiles

• Volunteer scheduling capability

• Reporting including customisable reports

• Integration with salesforce

• App available

• Specialist version for event staff and volunteers

Price: From £38/39 per month, up to 100 volunteers

Other options

There are lots of other options, including the possibility of creating something bespoke. FAT promotions have designed basic volunteer management software that can be customised to suit your organisation’s needs.

They worked with Snowflake Night Shelter to create customised software that supports the complicated process of volunteer scheduling. The software allows them to search for, select and contact volunteers with the right skills and availability for shifts across multiple venues.

Recognising volunteer impact

In addition to streamlining and simplifying the administration of volunteer management, one of the most compelling reasons to consider volunteer management software is the reporting capability.

Tracking volunteer numbers, hours, skills, recruitment, and attrition rates can be very time-consuming when your volunteer database doesn’t have in-built reporting. Software designed to support volunteer management in non-profits has the need for demonstrating impact baked in.

In charities where volunteering plays a major role in service delivery or fundraising, volunteers are often the heart and soul of the organisation. Many of them have been involved for longer than some of the staff and their passion for the work that they do is contagious.

Better reporting means a better ability to recognise volunteers for their service – to say thank you.