What is volunteer management software?

Volunteer Management Software like Assemble leverages technology to improve efficiencies, saving time for volunteer managers. The benefits of a volunteer management software include:

Reduced Admin

Volunteer Management Software provides volunteer managers a single home to store volunteer data and manage the many associated tasks with volunteering. Everything from looking up a contact, through to recruitment, onboarding, scheduling, event planning and communication are in one place with ready-to-go features, so no need for application forms, spreadsheets, email marketing tools or rotas; everything you need is logged and tracked within a VMS.

Increased Productivity

Volunteer Management Software can help to improve productivity with automated workflows. Repeatable tasks, such as recruitment will typically include a series of actions for an applicant to complete on their journey to becoming a volunteer. Automating this process with customisable steps and communications at each milestone, can reduce the manual work involved, bringing other benefits to volunteer teams, including processing larger volumes of applicants, speeding up recruitment and suffering lower drop-off rates.

Improving Efficiencies

Assemble is an intuitive software, with easy to navigate functionality. We’ve simplified tasks - such as creating recruitment opportunities and scheduling volunteer shifts - so that Managers can produce beautiful and engaging adverts and rotas with no coding or designer required. Volunteers are also able to self-serve and amend their own personal profiles, sign-up for events, training, or shifts and record activities all in one place for a more efficient and organised way to work.

Volunteer Engagement

Volunteer engagement is key to a successful ongoing volunteer experience. Volunteer motivations will vary but feeling part of the team, regular updates and communications and knowing what is expected, all play a part in keeping volunteers feeling in the loop. Within a VMS, you should be able to make these things happen. You can use Assemble to recruit and onboard volunteers, perform training, post news, recognise success, communicate and so much more.

Collaboration

Volunteer Management Software enables volunteer teams to collaborate with ease. Users can pick up where others left off and see precisely what's happening thanks to auditable trails. This keeps daily tasks, such as recruitment, scheduling and events moving forward with transparency and accountability.

Volunteer management software featuresMore than just a CRM - A full set of comprehensive volunteer management features - to store data, engage volunteers and create impact. See more on how Assemble is more than a CRM

1. One comprehensive solution - A single, process-driven mobile and web application to support organisations along every step of the volunteer journey whilst preventing app overload.
2. Increase productivity - Save time, streamline process, be more efficient and focus on what matters most. 
3. Automate recruitment - Create custom workflows and add tailored communications to keep the recruitment cycle moving forward. Send updates on volunteer progress and requests for information, such as references.
4. Effortless scheduling - Plan volunteer shifts with ease. Create beautiful looking rota’s with this interactive and intuitive scheduling feature. View team availability and identify shortfalls at a glance and keep everyone updated with notifications.
5. Enchanced communication - Use internal and group messaging features and notifications. Stay in touch with regular news updates or send badges of recognition. Create your own ‘team’ micro site and so much more.
6. Collaboration tools - Work closely with your team via auditable workflows and keep important tasks and actions progressing. Collaborate on rotas, empower volunteers to record activities or update profiles so everyone can stay in the loop.
7. Track and report - Create rich reports, monitor your KPI’s and measure your volunteer impact in just a few simple steps. Create visually appealing data with intuitive actions.
8. Volunteer retention - Keep volunteers motivated with features toempower and engage volunteers. Post the latest volunteer opportunities and share the impact volunteers are demonstrating with their contributions.
9. GDPR compliant - Keep volunteer data secure and in line with privacy elements expressed in the EU General Data Protection Regulations. Learn more about GDPR and compliance.
10. Security - Assemble provides a safe and secure home for your data. Assemble takes a rigorous approach to security and compliance and is certified to ISO 27001:13, the international standard for Information Security Management.
11. Intutive user experience - Empower volunteers and avoid frustration with easy to navigate software. Build opportunity adverts and rotas easily without the need for specialist IT professionals or designers.

Volunteer management software is used by charities, nonprofit organisations, local authorities, emergency services, healthcare providers, sporting events, or any other project that relies on the support of volunteers.

Assemble is currently in use by charities, such as Barnardo’s, Parkinsons and RSPCA, many NHS trusts, galleries and local authorities. Assemble is also part of the DutySheet family, who provide volunteer management software to all police forces in England and Wales, including the Metropolitan Police. 

End users include volunteers, volunteer managers, volunteer coordinators or anyone leading a team of volunteers. However, we often work with IT managers, Digital Leads or those responsible for the wider digital landscape of an organisation to ensure that Assemble is set up in the best possible way to meets an organisation's objectives.  We work closely on training and sharing best practice learnings for maximum adoption and volunteer experience. At Assemble this is usually done in collaboration with our experienced customer success team to achieve maximum impact.

Before finding a Volunteer Management Software, or getting started on a digital transformation, check out our guide, which helps identify some fundamentals and things to consider before buying a new volunteer management system. 
 
There are often many requirements when considering a volunteer management software, so it’s important to identify the problems that need to be solved and establish a wish list of features that could help you do this. The good news is that many of these are common in the voluntary sector, and the solutions will already exist on Assemble.  

Our partnerships with some of the UK’s largest charities and nonprofits have contributed to the fine tuning of our extensive and well-established feature set. Our main aim is to simplify and support each step of the volunteer journey by providing repeatable, process-driven functionality and measure volunteer impact. 

Assemble is the market leading volunteer management software for charities and nonprofits. Its comprehensive, process-driven features make everything from keeping your data organised to recruitment and scheduling easier. Assemble enables teams to keep daily tasks moving forward with reliability and consistency and offers comprehensive, intuitive workflows, and rich reporting features to track data and share insights. 

With a host of powerful features integral to volunteer management, Assemble is also built with flexibility in mind. We understand not every organisation is alike, so Assemble is easy to configure - whether you need simple or complex workflows, custom fields or branding, or API integrations- everything is possible. 

Finally, we are champions when it comes to security and compliance. As well as a supplier to government, Assemble holds an ISO 27001:2013 certification. This internationally recognised information security standard certificate - assessed by BSI – ensures the appropriate controls and policies are in place to safeguard data.