The 15 Best Software Solutions to Manage Volunteers

Using the right software to manage volunteers effectively can make a world of difference. With tools designed to ease scheduling and improve communication and overall organization, the best volunteer management software makes all your operations run more smoothly.

In this guide, you’ll learn the essential features these tools offer, review the top software available and get tips on selecting the perfect solution for your needs.

Integrating volunteer management plans with modern technology can help your nonprofit to boost productivity and focus more on its mission.

What Is Volunteer Management Software?

Volunteer management software is specialized software that assists nonprofits in optimizing volunteer recruitment, scheduling and engagement.

Unlike general management software, which is tailored for broad business processes like billing, inventory and payroll, software to manage volunteers focuses specifically on the needs of nonprofits that rely on volunteer efforts.

For example, while a typical CRM system might track sales and customer interactions, volunteer software tracks volunteer hours, schedules and engagement activities.

You can use volunteer software to:

• Streamline your administrative tasks.
• Improve communication with volunteers.
• Manage scheduling with greater efficiency.

Why Do You Need Volunteer Management Software?

Implementing volunteer management software can dramatically upgrade how you operate and interact with your volunteers so their efforts are impactful.

Organization benefits

Software to manage volunteers streamlines administrative tasks, making it easier to manage large amounts of data and complex logistics.

One vital aspect is onboarding volunteers. Maintaining organized profiles is critical for a smooth integration process. This new volunteer checklist covers all the necessary steps to onboard new volunteers seamlessly.

Volunteer software promotes communication with volunteers by providing platforms for updates and feedback. This benefit keeps everyone informed and engaged.

Then, there’s successful event execution for your ongoing projects.

You can use volunteer software to schedule and plan your events so you can coordinate your volunteer activities more accurately and efficiently.

Volunteer benefits

For volunteers, this software simplifies access to scheduling and roles. This benefit makes it easier for them to see where and when you need them.

Better communication channels guarantee that volunteers receive timely updates and can easily connect with coordinators and each other. This benefit fosters a collaborative environment. Systematic feedback and recognition functionalities boost volunteer engagement by acknowledging their contributions and providing clear paths for development and involvement. Their approaches help retain volunteers and attract new ones who are assured of a rewarding experience.

Must-Have Features of Volunteer Management Software

Here’s each essential feature, why it matters and how it translates into better volunteer management practices.

Volunteer Recruitment

Volunteer recruitment features include tools for posting volunteer opportunities and managing applications online.

Effective volunteer recruitment goes beyond filling positions. It requires attracting the right individuals who align with the organization’s mission.

The right volunteer management software also helps you prepare interviews where you can ask meaningful volunteer interview questions. This approach smoothens your volunteer onboarding process so you can select suitable volunteers for your nonprofit organization.

For example, a nonprofit focused on environmental conservation can use these features to quickly fill positions for a community clean-up event. This way, they have enough hands on deck for various tasks such as waste sorting and public outreach.

Volunteer Profiles

This feature allows you to create and manage detailed profiles for each volunteer, including personal information, skills and availability. This approach optimizes the allocation of tasks and roles.

Accessing detailed profiles streamlines the matching of volunteer skills with your organization’s needs. This approach improves productivity and volunteer satisfaction.

A literacy nonprofit organization can use volunteer profiles to match tutors with learners so that volunteers with teaching experience are paired with learners who need the most support.

Volunteer Scheduling

Volunteer management software with scheduling features enables easy planning of shifts, events and roles.

Scheduling helps you verify that all volunteering activities are covered. This feature facilitates smooth event executions and ongoing volunteer engagements to prevent scheduling conflicts.

For example, during a large fundraiser, you can use volunteer scheduling software to manage shifts of hundreds of volunteers, ensuring that all stations are crewed throughout the event without overlap or under-staffing.

Volunteer Tracking

Tracking features allow organizations to log volunteer hours and contributions systematically.

Tracking volunteer hours and contributions helps you acknowledge their efforts and understand the impact of their work. With this feature, you can recognize and reward your volunteers appropriately. You can also report and strategically plan for future events when you know which volunteers drive the most impact.

For example, a food bank can use volunteer tracking features to monitor volunteer hours. Then, it can use this data to recognize top contributors and assess volunteers’ contributions to monthly operations.

Volunteer Communication

The right software to manage volunteers includes features for sending newsletters and announcements and facilitating direct messaging. Maintaining clear and consistent communication with volunteers helps keep them informed and engaged.

For example, a disaster relief organization can use volunteer communication features to send urgent updates and instructions to volunteers during crisis response so you distribute critical information quickly.

Effective communication enables you to appreciate volunteers.

This approach motivates volunteers so they feel valued and part of your team. Communication isn’t a one-way street. By understanding how volunteers feel about your nonprofit’s mission, you can resonate with them better and improve their performance.

Conduct volunteer surveys to gather feedback and improve their volunteer experience.

Mobile App

A volunteer software with a mobile app provides a portable interface for volunteers and managers to access the software from anywhere.

This feature is beneficial for real-time updates and accessing information on the go so that volunteers and coordinators can remain flexible and responsive.

With a mobile app, volunteers can easily:

• Check in
• Update their availability
• Communicate with coordinators

Say you have a community outreach program. Volunteers can use the mobile app to adjust their schedules in real time, respond to changes and access information about their tasks from their phones.

Data and Reporting

This feature includes analytics tools that help measure the impact of volunteer activities. Analyzing data provides insights that you can use to make informed decisions to improve your strategies, prove your impact and secure funding or support.

For example, an organization dedicated to youth mentorship uses analytics tools to report volunteer engagement and mentees’ progress.

By analyzing this data, they noticed that evening sessions have higher attendance and positive feedback compared to other times. They use these insights to adjust their scheduling, focusing more resources on evening sessions, which leads to increased participation and more impactful mentorship outcomes. This data-driven approach can strengthen their funding proposals by demonstrating successful engagement strategies backed by tangible results.

Our Top 15 Picks of Software to Manage Volunteers

Get Connected by GalaxyDigital

Get Connected’s standout features are the streamlined event and group management capabilities and the robust volunteer profiles, which foster increased engagement and facilitate the development of long-term relationships with volunteers.

Its key features include:

• Volunteer profile
• Volunteer tracking
• Volunteer scheduling
• Mobile volunteer app

Pricing: Demo available on request. GalaxyDigital typically offers tiered pricing to accommodate various types and sizes of users, from small nonprofits to large institutions.

ivolunteer.com

ivolunteer.com stands out with its commitment to privacy and data integrity, combined with its ability to handle small-scale events and large-scale volunteer operations.

Some of its features include:

• A verification process for volunteers through confirmation emails
• Re-usable and customizable sign-up sheets
• Volunteer tracking
• Data and reporting

Pricing: A free plan is available. Paid plans start at $20/month with up to 50 participants, unlimited customizations and volunteer tracking.

Volgistics

Volgistics combines customization, advanced security measures and tools that promote efficiency and compliance, to make volunteer management easier.

Volgistics’s features include:

• Volunteer self-scheduling
• Unlimited, customizable reporting
• Integration with your existing website
• Unlimited online volunteer application forms

Pricing: Starts at $17/month.

Volunteer Impact by Better Impact

This volunteer management system offers responsive, free support through various channels, including online chat, phone and email. It includes extensive online training resources.

Here are some of Volunteer Impact’s features:

• Volunteer scheduling
• Volunteer portal and app
• Customizable volunteer profiles
• Volunteer training and onboarding

Pricing: Starts at $35/month.

SignUp.com

SignUp.com supports volunteer sign-ups from any device at any time to improve accessibility and convenience. Features include:

• Volunteer invitations via email or social media
• Automated waitlist notifications
• Mobile-friendly sign-up pages
• Customizable sign-ups

Pricing: A free plan is available. Paid plans start at $8.34/month, including unlimited text reminders and waitlist notifications.

VolunteerMark

VolunteerMark is mobile-friendly and has excellent accessibility and ease of use for managing volunteers. It has the following features:

• Import volunteer information from spreadsheets
• Targeted volunteer assignment
• Volunteer tracking

Pricing: A free plan and a 30-day free trial are available. Paid plans start at $34/month and include unlimited scheduling positions, unlimited volunteers and a volunteer sign-in/sign-out kiosk.

POINT

POINT serves nonprofits and facilitates partnerships with businesses and schools for co-hosted events. The platform offers one system for all aspects of volunteer management, including sign-up, check-in and reporting. It also has live analytics and automatic report generation. POINT’s features include:

• Streamlined event integration
• Multi-shift volunteer sign-up
• Automated time tracking:
• Volunteer mobile app

Pricing: A free base plan is available. The pro plan starts at $120/month and includes volunteer documents, background checks and offline time tracking.

Rosterfy

Rosterfy stands out with its approach to gamification in volunteer management. This makes it an attractive platform for volunteers who enjoy interactive and rewarding experiences. The platform’s strong focus on workflow automation also reduces the administrative burden on staff.

Features include:

• User-friendly volunteer portals
• Gamified recognition system
• Workflow automation

Pricing: Demo is available on demand.

SignUpGenius

SignUpGenius excels in volunteer recruitment, providing tools that are user-friendly and effective.

Here are some of its features:

• Custom form fields
• Customizable sign-up forms
• Auto-generated email and text notifications

Pricing: There’s a free plan. The premium plan starts at $11.99/month for theme designs, email and text reminders and ad-free sign-ups.

Helper Helper

Helper Helper is ideal for organizations with layered structures, such as colleges or companies with multiple departments. It can segment volunteer opportunities and generate detailed reports to manage complex or large-scale volunteer efforts.

Its features include:

• Mobile app
• Volunteer tracking
• Data and reporting

Pricing: A demo is available on demand.

360MatchPro by Double the Donation

360MatchPro proactively markets corporate volunteer incentives so organizations can maximize support without the need for extensive manual research. Its main aim is securing additional funding through corporate volunteer grants.

360MatchPro’s features include:

• Integrations with donation forms and CRMs
• User-friendly volunteer database
• Comprehensive data coverage
• Automated email streams

Pricing: Starts at $999/year.

Bloomerang

This volunteer software has flexible customization and comprehensive functionality that supports a nonprofit’s unique needs. The platform’s focus on retaining supporters and enhancing volunteer practices helps nonprofits maintain and grow their support base.

Features include:

• Mobile app
• Volunteer reporting
• Customizable forms
• Volunteer scheduling
• Automated data transfers

Pricing: Starts at $119 per month, with scalable options depending on the number of volunteer records maintained.

VolunteerLocal

The platform’s user-friendly interface allows staff and volunteers to have a positive experience, while the integration with 360MatchPro opens up new avenues for funding through volunteer grants.

VolunteerLocal’s features include:

• Mobile app
• Volunteer scheduling
• Volunteer hour tracking
• Data management and reporting
• Automates sign-up and cancellation notifications

Pricing: A 14-day trial is available. Pricing has two categories (for single and ongoing events), starting at $600/year and $200/event.

Golden

This volunteer management software can scale to manage large groups of volunteers across multiple chapters or regions, providing a scalable solution that grows with the organization. Its global capabilities make it a good choice for organizations operating in multiple regions or countries.

Golden’s features include:

• Integrations with platforms like Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics
• Recommends location-based opportunities
• Localization of volunteer engagement

Pricing: A free plan is available. Paid plans start at $110/month.

How To Choose the Right Software for Your Organization

Selecting the ideal software to manage volunteers requires careful consideration of several key factors.

• Assess the size of your volunteer base. A larger pool of volunteers might need more robust features like bulk scheduling and advanced communications platforms.
• Budget constraints help you to find a solution that offers the necessary features without straining your financial resources.
• Consider specific needs such as mobile access for on-the-go management and the ability to integrate seamlessly with other tools used by your organization. This can include compatibility with fundraising databases or email marketing software, which can increase efficiency.

A thoughtful assessment based on your nonprofit’s particular needs and resources will help you make the right decision. By understanding these factors, you can choose software that fits your current requirements and supports future growth and development.