Managing volunteer data can be time-consuming and complicated. From maintaining up-to-date contact and biographical information on file to tracking hours, scheduling shifts and keeping track of work preferences, there's a lot of information to keep on top of. And doing so can be crucial for volunteer retention.
But volunteer data management doesn't have to be a bottleneck. With the right CRM, your nonprofit can manage, communicate with, register and schedule volunteers all in one place–and eliminate manual data entry for good.
In today's blog post, we're diving into four ways a volunteer management platform can help your nonprofit move past manual data entry.
Applications
The first point of contact between volunteers is the application process. Forget paper forms and scanning. Instead, invest in an online process that automatically extracts and stores constituent information.
GivePulse allows nonprofits to set up and customize the onboarding and application forms so individuals and groups can sign up. Your team can then review, edit, deny or approve applications online–and all the details captured will automatically be stored in your volunteer database.
Personal Information
Are you still managing your volunteers with a spreadsheet? With a volunteer database, you can collect and track all your data in one single place: from event data and volunteer applications to hours and attendance. Traditionally, your team may have had to fill out this information manually, but with a CRM, those days are over. As volunteers apply or sign up, they'll input their information once, and your system will automatically map it as a new constituent (or add it to an existing entry).
With GivePulse's database solution, you can find what you need at the click of a button– from contact information to volunteer's shift preference.
Scheduling
Effective scheduling is a must, whether you're managing a small team of ten or a pool of hundreds of volunteers. To schedule shifts, you'll need to determine how many volunteers you need and who is available. Once you have a draft schedule to work with, you'll need to communicate with each volunteer to make sure they're available and reschedule as needed. Sound laborious? It doesn't have to be.
With a volunteer management platform like GivePulse, you can automate the work of scheduling one-time and ongoing volunteers. Set up orientation dates, one-time events, or ongoing opportunities and post them in a calendar or list so individuals can sign up, or use our scheduling tools to assign shifts to volunteers.
Then, simply use a desktop, kiosk or mobile device to sign-in individuals, clock in or out volunteers, and automatically track hours–no more filling out timesheets after every event!
Reporting
Along with tracking as you go, you should be running regular reports to ensure you're meeting your goals, recruiting enough volunteers and effectively managing their time. With GivePulse, you can automate the creation, review and export of reports to determine the status and activity of your volunteers, eliminating the need to crunch the numbers manually.
Conclusion
A nonprofit volunteer management platform can eliminate manual entry associated with tracking volunteer hours, inputting volunteer information and analyzing impact. By automating volunteer data entry and management, you can cut down on the time it takes to input data. This will free up your team's time to focus on more critical tasks–like building solid relationships with your supporters. As well as saving time, this will ensure that your nonprofit data collection is accurate and up-to-date.
Investing in a quality nonprofit CRM is an effective way to streamline your operations, save time and resources and improve engagement with your volunteers.
Schedule a demo with GivePulse today to get started.
About GivePulse
GivePulse's mission is to enable everyone in the world to participate and engage in lifting their community to new heights. We do so by providing a platform to list, find, organize and measure the impact of service-learning, community engagement, philanthropy, corporate social responsibility and volunteerism.
Founded in 2012 in Austin, Texas, GivePulse works with 650,000+ groups, including colleges and universities, nonprofits, businesses, K-12/school districts and cities and municipalities. Together, we connect millions of people in an effort to create positive social change.
Start making a difference today by visiting www.givepulse.com.