Longmont POST (Parks, Open Space, and Trails) is a department of the City of Longmont, Colorado, responsible for managing the city’s outdoor recreation programs and volunteer initiatives. The department coordinates a wide range of volunteer opportunities from trail restoration and seed collection to adopt-a-park programs, rose and pollinator gardens, and the ongoing Raptor Mentors program.
With nearly 70 events per season and 8–9 ongoing volunteer programs to manage, the department needed a robust, flexible, and accessible volunteer management system (VMS) to keep operations running smoothly and volunteers engaged. After switching to GivePulse, Longmont POST saw a dramatic improvement across recruitment, engagement, and day-to-day operations.
The Challenge
Before adopting GivePulse, Longmont POST faced several significant operational hurdles:
- Disorganized program management: Multiple separate volunteer programs lacked a centralized system, leading to difficult coordination, management, tracking, and assessment.
- No Spanish-language accessibility: With nearly a quarter of Longmont's population being Spanish-speaking, Spanish accessibility was a need that wasn't being met.
- Limited reporting capabilities: Pre-built, non-customizable reports made it impossible to extract the specific data needed for field operations.
- Unfilled events: Despite having hundreds of volunteers, events, and ongoing programs, the organization consistently had low engagement.
The solution
Longmont POST adopted GivePulse as its new volunteer management platform, drawn by its built-in Spanish-language accessibility, reputation, and ease of use. The transition, while time-constrained to just one month, was smooth and well-supported.
"The GivePulse team was super supportive, and anytime I emailed with ten questions, I got a response in 30 minutes. We never worried about not meeting the deadline."
- Taylor Gifford, Volunteer Coordinator, Longmont POST
Spanish-Language Accessibility
One of the most important features for Longmont POST was GivePulse's built-in Spanish accessibility.
"This is HUGE for us because almost a quarter of Longmont's population is Spanish-speaking. For the first time, we have been able to host bilingual events. The first one was a bilingual family planting event!"
- Taylor Gifford, Volunteer Coordinator, Longmont POST
Subgroup Organization
GivePulse's subgroup functionality allowed the department to organize each of its distinct ongoing programs under a single umbrella, eliminating the cost of managing them separately. What had previously been a fragmented system became a structured, navigable hub for both staff and volunteers.
"All of these programs are separate, so we leverage subgroups to organize those ongoing programs. The organization of GivePulse has just been amazing for us. All these programs used to be so disorganized in our previous volunteer management system."
- Taylor Gifford, Volunteer Coordinator, Longmont POST
Volunteer Engagement Tools
In addition to increased organization and accessibility, Leaderboards proved to be an unexpected hit among Longmont POST volunteers. Staff noticed participants would reference their standings in real time while out in the field, creating a spirit of friendly, positive competition.
"We will be out in the field, and I'll hear someone mention they are in third place and trying to get to the top of the Leaderboard! It creates a really great sesnse of friendly competition, and it all feels really fun and positive." - Taylor Gifford, Volunteer Coordinator
- Taylor Gifford, Volunteer Coordinator, Longmont POST
Customizable Reporting
One of the most operationally impactful features has been GivePulse's flexible, filter-based reporting. Longmont POST now builds custom reports tailored to specific field scenarios, including a critical safety report used for remote watershed projects outside of cell service.
"Before those projects, we are able to easily pull together a medic roster with emergency contact information and allergy informaiton, all the things that are not so important in town but when you're 15 minutes outside cell service and 30 minutes from a hospotal, it's important to have those accessible on paper."
- Taylor Gifford, Volunteer Coordinator, Longmont POST
Onboarding Experience
Despite a short one-month window between approval and the start of the volunteer season, GivePulse's onboarding team delivered responsive, hands-on support throughout the transition.
Results
The impact of adopting GivePulse at Longmont POST was immediate and measurable:
- All events fully booked: For the first time ever, every project and ongoing volunteer opportunity is filled to capacity after adopting GivePulse.
- Waitlists created: Events were not only filled, but they began generating waitlists, a first for the department.
- Bilingual programming launched: Longmont POST hosted its first-ever bilingual volunteer events, expanding access for its Spanish-speaking community.
- 700+ active volunteers retained & engaged: Existing volunteers embraced the transition enthusiastically.
Key Takeaways
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Accessibility: Built-in Spanish language support opened programming to 25% of the local population.
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Recruitment: Events went from being underfilled to fully booked (with waitlists), a first for Longmont POST.
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Engagement: Leaderboards and a centralized volunteer hub increased participation and fostered a sense of community and progress among volunteers.
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Operations: Custom reporting and subgroup organization dramatically simplified the management of 70+ annual events across multiple programs.
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Support: Rapid customer support response times and a strong local partner network made onboarding seamless, even under tight timelines.
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. Or schedule a call with our team.