FAQs
What are volunteer management systems?
Volunteer management systems make recruitment, engagement, and retention easier for event organizers. Good volunteer management softwear offers online sign-up forms, mass messaging capabilities, and stores volunteer information to make it easy to keep volunteers.
What system would you use to keep track of volunteers?
Come Volunteer's volunteer managment system offers robust features, including tracking volunteer hours, creating jobs and shifts, mass email messaging, and more. Its even easy to work with your team in the software with multiple user accounts and permission controls.
How to create a volunteer management system?
Start by identifying your priorities: which tasks need the most volunteers and which tasks are critical for your event's success. You'll naturally have a range of jobs for volunteers. People like doing different things, so offering different ways to participate draws more volunteers.
Once you've made your list of volunteer jobs and volunteer quantities, the next step is
recruiting. Start with your network. Then, connect with other's people's networks. Events
can also recruit volunteers from sponsors as part of their sponsorship program. Or, if you
partner with nonprofits, you can ask them to help with volunteer recruiting.
As you're marketing your volunteer opportunities, consider
what sets you apart and what you offer volunteers. Maybe
you're making a big difference in people's lives. Maybe you're
a well-known, prestigious event. Maybe you offer valuable
experience that can helps resumes and school applications.
Once you start getting volunteers signing up, keep them
engaged -- schedule trainings or whatever else you need to
get volunteers starting to contribute as soon as possible. If
your volunteers are disengaged, they may stop showing up.
Find ways to make volunteering fun -- if you're putting
together an event, you've already got a head start. Add perks
like catered meals, a nice dinner, or even a volunteer party to
celebrate your volunteers' contributions. Be sure to share some quick facts about the
meaningful impact your volunteers have had.
How do you manage volunteer work?
You need to manage day-of volunteer work and long-term volunteer work. The day-of volunteer work includes the jobs you need done, volunteer quantities, and getting volunteers onsite.
When you think about long-term volunteer
management, you're considering the whole lifecycle
from recruitment to retention. Your volunteer
experience starts on your sign-up form.
Craft compelling descriptions for each volunteer job to
help people get excited. Use a simple form so people
don't abandon their form and you have a higher
complete rate. You can even ask volunteers to make a
donation after they've signed up to help.
Next, ensure proactive and clear communication about trainings and other important
details. And, create a positive experience a positive experience volunteering when they
come for their shift.
Lastly, debrief with volunteers about what their experience was like -- what went well and
what could be improved in the future. And, encourage volunteers to sign up to help again.