Volunteering is the backbone of any nonprofit organization. As a nonprofit leader, your success largely depends on your ability to recruit, onboard, and retain volunteers. The more effectively you engage and manage volunteers, the more successful your organization will be.
But volunteer management is no easy task. Juggling multiple responsibilities, dwindling budgets and an evolving team of volunteers puts a lot of pressure on nonprofit leaders. On top of that, to fully leverage the value of volunteers, nonprofits need to dedicate adequate time and resources to establish a volunteer management strategy.
Here’s the good news: streamlining your volunteer recruitment, onboarding, and continued retention efforts is possible. Read on to discover the top three volunteer management challenges nonprofits face and practical solutions to help you navigate these waters like a pro.
Common Challenges in Volunteer Management
1. Attracting and Retaining Volunteers
Attracting volunteers takes considerable time and resources, which are often in short supply for nonprofit leaders. The volunteer tracking process can sometimes feel like navigating a maze, creating a gap between organizations and their valuable volunteers. Time-consuming and confusing application processes often discourage people from completing the onboarding process.
Effective communication is also a hurdle. Engaging with your volunteers keeps them coming back — but implementing a consistent communication strategy requires time and effort that many nonprofit leaders don’t have. This can result in a high turnover rate, as volunteers may lose interest or feel disconnected from the organization.
Solution: Make recruitment and onboarding easier for your supporters and for you (or your team). Implement online application forms, group volunteers by expressed interests, and leverage efficient scheduling tools. Streamlining onboarding and communication with an efficient volunteer management system will ensure volunteers feel supported and engaged from the moment they sign up. With innovative volunteer management technology, your team can access volunteer applications and waivers on the go from your device, removing the need to lug around paper file folders!
And if your volunteer management technology includes communication features with automation and personalization, by sending out post-volunteer shift surveys, you will gain valuable feedback and keep a pulse on what is going on. Addressing these obstacles will increase loyalty and retain the volunteers you need to drive your mission forward. Additionally, continue to stay in touch with your volunteers by adding personalization to your newsletters and email campaigns.
2. Finding Time to Implement a Volunteer Management Strategy
Managing volunteers feels impossible when you’re already wearing multiple hats. Strapped for time and resources, creating a volunteer management strategy that meets the needs of your organization and your fantastic volunteers can be challenging — to say the least.
Solution: Embrace time-saving tech tools. Implementing an all-in-one volunteer management system that’s part of your larger nonprofit software will bring efficiency to the forefront, save valuable time for your team, and gracefully support every step of the volunteer lifecycle. By doing so, you can focus on the strategic aspects of your nonprofit and steer clear of administrative burdens.
3. Messy Spreadsheets and Disorganized Data
Ah, the chaos that ensues from manual paperwork, disorganized applications, and scheduling hiccups. If this sounds like your nonprofit, you’re not alone.
Relying on manual data entry housed in multiple locations is not only time-consuming but also increases the risk of errors. Each time data is manually added, downloaded from one system, manipulated, and uploaded into another, it increases the risk of error tenfold. Without an integrated system, where data automatically flows between functionalities, it’s easy for important details to get siloed and for communication to break down. This can lead to a lot of frustration and inefficiencies that ultimately impact the success of your volunteer management process. On top of that, the abundance of manual tasks can take a toll on your team’s focus and productivity.
Solution: A centralized approach. As a nonprofit leader, it’s your job to bring order to the chaos by centralizing all administrative paperwork, scheduling, and tracking volunteer hours through an effective volunteer management system. Instead of struggling with scattered, out-of-date spreadsheets across multiple systems, your team can easily track volunteer applications, schedule events, and analyze data all in one place.
Key Features of an Effective Volunteer Management System
Implementing a volunteer management solution can be a game-changer for your nonprofit. Finding the right volunteer management system will save you and your team valuable time and ensure you fill your ranks with dedicated supporters. Here are some key features to look for:
- Digital Volunteer Applications: An effective management system should enable potential volunteers to apply, complete waiver forms, and add availability through a user-friendly online portal.
- Volunteer Scheduling & Calendar Management: Easy setup for the community engagement manager to provide volunteer access for self sign up for volunteer shifts. Additionally, the ability for creating a team or group point person to handle details of volunteer groups.
- Centralized Database: Accessibility is key. A centralized system will allow your team to securely store information, quickly find profiles, simplify the matching process, and reach volunteer program efficiency.
- Automated Communications & Tools: Streamlined communication will keep your volunteers informed and engaged. Automated emails, message alerts, and volunteer hours tracking ensure that you retain volunteers and instill loyalty.
Selecting a volunteer management system with these valuable features provides an effortless onboarding solution for volunteers, allowing you to remain laser-focused on your mission.
Streamline Your Volunteer Management With Giveffect
At Giveffect, we do the heavy lifting for you. Our volunteer management system provides your nonprofit with better volunteer scheduling software, automated hours tracking, volunteer management, and a 360-degree view of your supporters (volunteers and donors) to identify opportunities for your engaged volunteers to become donors as well—all in one place.
But volunteer management is just one piece of the puzzle! Our dynamic, all-in-one nonprofit software seamlessly connects your fundraising, volunteering, and program data on one CRM platform. Have questions? We’re here to help! Contact us today for a live demo.