Being able to efficiently and effectively manage and track volunteer hours, scheduling and activities is often a challenge for many nonprofits, both large and small. Luckily, there are all kinds of new and improved volunteer tracking technologies out there that can make volunteer management simple, for both you and your volunteers.
Here are four of our favorite volunteer management apps that nonprofits, schools, and faith-based organizations are using and raving about across the country.
Track it Forward
Track it Forward and its accompanying app allows you to track volunteer hours right from your phone. Essentially, the app enables you to track and log volunteer hours on-the-go, making it ideal for school parent-teacher organizations and associations (PTOs and PTAs), humane societies, museums, employer volunteer programs, nonprofits, government grantees, and many other types of volunteer organizations. Managers can also easily create custom reports based on the volunteer hours logged.
Track it Forward is free for volunteers to use and organizations can manage up to 25 volunteers for free, or up to 1,000 volunteers for $15/month. Logged time shows up immediately on the Track it Forward app and the system can also be integrated into your nonprofit’s website.
SignUp
Imagine planning without the frustrating ‘reply-all’ email chains, clipboards to pass around or spreadsheets to juggle.
SignUp is another great example of a free mobile option. Formerly known as VolunteerSpot, SignUp provides free online signup sheets and volunteer scheduling. The system even sends volunteers reminders before the scheduled event date.
SignUp is similar to Track it Forward in that it’s touted as being great for scheduling volunteers and tracking hours, as well as coordinating class helpers, PTO or PTA events, church ushers, food delivery networks and much more for nonprofits, school, and faith-based organizations.
VolunteerMatch
VolunteerMatch assists not only with volunteer sign-ups for your event, but it also introduces them to your nonprofit and brings in more volunteers. Volunteers search their current location and their chosen volunteer activity or cause, and voila! Volunteers are matched with the right nonprofit event or activity to fit their interests.
Since 1998, VolunteerMatch has connected more than 12 million volunteers with nonprofits across the country. As a nonprofit starting an account or an event page, it’s free to join and tap into the basic tools, or you can upgrade for $9.95/month to get full access to all its capabilities. For a less volunteer-specific but similar matching tool, we suggest checking out MeetUp.
Doodle
Doodle is another great option for syncing volunteer schedules and claims to make scheduling 2x faster. Based on experience, I’d say they’re probably right!
Doodle calendar also syncs with Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, and iCal – so there’s no need to swap back and forth between calendars and tools. Its mobile capability enables you and your volunteers to use Doodle on the go. By going mobile, volunteers can respond to a meeting poll when it’s most convenient for them, while nonprofit managers can initiate polls and see all polls at a glance from anywhere, anytime.
In addition to the mobile Web app, Doodle also offers a native app for iPads and iPhones. All the features, including Doodle Mobile, are free – unless you want to get fancy with branding and themes, which comes in the premium package for $69/year.
These are just a few of the latest tech favorites for nonprofit volunteer management, but there are a variety of tools and apps out there that fit all kinds of unique needs. For more ideas and options for volunteer management software, we’ve found that Capterra offers a pretty robust list of alternatives that you may want to check out as well.
Whether it’s scheduling volunteers, producing reports or even attracting new volunteers to your cause, it’s likely you’re not the only one in need of some technical support. Get out there and find the right volunteer tracking app for your organizations’ needs.
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