Why should you embrace online volunteer management processes?

There are many strings to a Volunteer Manager’s bow. One moment, you’re thinking about recruitment and training. In the next, you’re organising rotas, sending out updates, and reporting back to the Board. It can be labour-intensive and time-consuming work, especially when you’re using manual systems such as physical application forms and spreadsheets. 

Taking an online approach to volunteer management means using a single, digital tool to organise, coordinate and oversee your programme. Imagine it: with a host of handy features at your fingertips, you’ve got everything you need to streamline and strengthen your volunteer journey. 

All thanks to a single piece of software!

Let’s be honest: every charity and non-profit is feeling the pinch. Resources are tight, with limited budgets and minimal staff numbers seeing many organisations — and Volunteer Managers — operating with a skeleton team. 

In such challenging times, online volunteer management systems are a practical and sustainable way to help Volunteer Managers work smarter, not harder. 

They do this by:

Freeing up valuable time

Time is one of your team’s most valuable assets, and an online volunteer management system will help free up lots of it. Integration and automation are major factors here. With an online system, it’s easy to navigate between different features — think recruitment, rotas, reports and expenses — and automate what were once manual processes. Remember all those hours you spent working between different systems? Now you can use them to level-up your volunteer experience.

A good online volunteer management system will also make it easier for volunteers to self-manage their day-to-day tasks. Rota scheduling is the perfect example. Instead of a Volunteer Manager sending out multiple versions of the same schedule, volunteers can log in to the online system and request their own shifts. All you need to do is click accept!

Read our whitepaper: How online volunteer management software supports Volunteer Managers

Ensuring a swift and safe onboarding process

Research shows that 84% of charities rely on word-of-mouth to recruit their volunteers. But the number of people giving their time is falling. If you really want to bring in more volunteers, a digital recruitment and onboarding process will make it quick and easy to:

1. Create niche ads for specific volunteer roles
2. Advertise and recruit directly through your website
3. Digitise and automate the application process
4. Stay on top of safeguarding and compliance requirements
5. Communicate with applicants and keep them in the loop

The best bit? As a Volunteer Manager, you can track every stage of the recruitment and onboarding process in real time — making sure that no applicant gets left behind, and that their first encounter with your organisation is a positive and professional one! 

Read our guide: How to recruit volunteers

Keeping your volunteers engaged and enthused

Relationships don’t build themselves. As any Volunteer Manager will tell you, a sustainable volunteer programme will prioritise personal relationships and create space to engage volunteers outside of their working commitment. 

Online volunteer management processes are perfect for this. Using the central messaging hub, Volunteer Managers can communicate directly with volunteers — answering questions, sharing information and celebrating milestones. You can even use it to share news and organisational updates that reinforce the impact their hard work is having.

Read more: How your organisation can rethink its retention strategy

Make informed decisions

A hub of information, online volunteer management processes also allow Volunteer Managers to store and access key data and information in a single, centralised location. 

You can use this information to track volunteer activities and impact — for example, how many hours your team has worked, or the number of people your service has reached. It’s also there to help Volunteer Managers make informed decisions around programme development, including the types of roles to recruit for, and how to streamline and improve your volunteer journey.  

Customer story: How leaning on volunteer data help to support the RSPCA

Store crucial information in a central location

As noted above, one of the advantages of an online volunteer management system is that all information is stored centrally. Your chosen solution should make it easy to log and track volunteer interactions and keep that information up-to-date. It will also help mitigate risks around data protection. With an online system in place, Volunteer Managers know they’ve got the tools they need to keep personal information safe and secure, stay on top of volunteer safeguarding, and effectively manage communications and consent. 

Google ‘Volunteer Management Solutions’ and you’ll soon find a range of viable options, each with a number of niche features. Here are some headline functionalities to look out for:

Recruitment

Keep an eye-out for recruitment software that follows the process through from template ads to website advertising, safety-checks and volunteer onboarding.

Management

A good online volunteer management system will offer a suite of tools that work across every stage of the volunteer journey, and that are intuitive and easy to use.

Retention

Make sure your volunteers feel supported with retention tools that make it easy to connect 1:1 and that allow you to track, recognise — and celebrate — volunteer milestones and achievements.  

Communication

Look for solutions that enable consistent communications (email, SMS, and community forums), spark discussions, and create connections between volunteers.

Rota management

A digital rota system will give you complete visibility over shifts and schedules, with ‘self-service’ features empowering volunteers to sign-up and take charge of their time.

Reporting and analytics

Impress your Board and celebrate success with tools that allow you to track volunteer activities and impact, pull reports and deep-dive into your data.  

Event management

Dedicated event features will help make sure you’ve got the right team for the job, and that every volunteer is kept informed on event developments.

Task management

Keep your volunteers engaged by assigning interesting tasks that you know play to their strengths, supporting the good work your organisation provides to the community.

Online volunteer management systems are there to help Volunteer Managers work smarter, not harder. If you’re looking to make the shift and digitise your volunteer programme, a member of our team is ready and waiting to help you take the next step.