Effective volunteer management is critical for every nonprofit community. One of the common issues coordinators face is how to schedule volunteers efficiently, particularly when managing large groups. It can be an overwhelming process, but tools are available to help streamline your work. Whether you're engaging 40 or 400 volunteers, these tips will help you create a seamless, streamlined volunteer experience.
Assess Your Staffing Requirements
Before placing your volunteers, you'll need to determine the minimum number of individuals required for a particular event or activity. Use your experience of previous events or shifts to determine how many people you need to be successful, and allocate your volunteers accordingly. That way, you'll know whether you have enough staff to carry out each task ahead of time. Make sure you budget for cancellations, too - like everyone, volunteers can get sick or have a last-minute emergency.
Along with determining minimum staffing requirements, make sure you're considering the maximum number of individuals who should be allocated to one shift. Overstaffing can cause frustration and slow down work, especially if the activity takes place in a small or enclosed space.
Identify Roles and Responsibilities
Once you've determined how many volunteers you need per shift, consider which roles each should take. Assign your volunteers to stations or areas where you can leverage their strengths and abilities. You can also tap more experienced volunteers to manage shifts or train new recruits. Doing this ensures that volunteers stay engaged throughout their shift–and will continue to volunteer for your organization's cause in the future.
Streamline the Recruitment Process
Along with scheduling existing volunteers, you'll probably find that you'll need to recruit some new supporters as you grow.
By using a nonprofit CRM like GivePulse, you can design your recruitment process to support streamlined volunteer scheduling. GivePulse allows nonprofits to set up and customize application forms so individuals and groups can sign up online. Along with reviewing and approving applications online, you'll also be able to collect information about volunteer experience and availability so that you can easily schedule new volunteers.
Plus, by offering a seamless sign-up process, you're putting your best foot forward with new recruits, ensuring they have a great experience from day one.
Invest in Volunteer Management Software
Aside from streamlining the recruitment process, volunteer management software offers many features to help you schedule and manage volunteers more effectively. GivePulse's volunteer management platform provides an all-in-one system to manage, communicate, register, and schedule your one-time and ongoing volunteers with shifts, a calendar, and a database. You'll also be able to track volunteer data, like hours worked, to measure your community impact and ensure you're meeting your goals as an organization.
Along with seamless scheduling, GivePulse offers a more efficient way to communicate with your volunteers. You can automate reminders or use our tagging tools to communicate with specific individuals or groups. And our customizable templates ensure that your messaging and tone are always consistent.
Using volunteer management software to automate tasks like scheduling, communicating, and tracking will improve productivity and efficiency across your entire organization.
Get Started with GivePulse
GivePulse is packed with advanced features that allow you to schedule and manage one-time and ongoing nonprofit volunteers. Our volunteer management platform covers all aspects of volunteer engagement, from recruitment and retention to tracking and assessment.
Plus, it can be used to support broader nonprofit engagement, like membership, donations, and event attendance, making it a truly all-in-one nonprofit solution.
Schedule a demo today to see how GivePulse can transform your nonprofit operations.
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.