Team Management
Volunteer Management Software: What a Small Organization Needs
Volunteer management software is a broad name for several kinds of tools. Some handle sign-ups and shift schedules, some record volunteer hours, some help you keep in touch with your volunteers, and some support work in the field, such as door-to-door outreach. A small organization rarely needs all of them. The right choice depends on the work your volunteers actually do each month, and on the part of that work that most often goes wrong.
For example, a food pantry that fills the same weekly shifts mainly needs a reliable sign-up and scheduling tool. A church or neighborhood group that sends volunteers to knock on doors needs a field app that tells each person which doors to visit and records what happened at each one. This guide explains each kind, how to choose, and the practices that matter as much as any tool.
We make Beacon, a door-to-door canvassing app, so please read the section on field work with that in mind. For the wider subject of building and keeping a team that works in the field, see our guide to field team management.
The four kinds of volunteer management software
Most products sold under this name focus on one or two of the jobs below, so start by asking which job a product was built for.
Scheduling and sign-ups
Scheduling tools let volunteers see open shifts and sign up for them, usually through a link or a simple online form. Good ones send reminders and show the coordinator which slots are still empty. This is the most common need for groups with recurring shifts, such as a pantry, a resale shop, a front desk or a Sunday welcome team.
Hours tracking
Hours tracking records how much time each volunteer gave. Some organizations need these totals for a funder, a board report or a partner program, and some volunteers need them for a school or club. If nobody asks you for hours, this is the category you can most easily leave for later.
Communication
Communication tools help you reach volunteers as a group or one at a time, by email, text message or a shared group chat. Most small groups already have email, so the real decision is usually whether you also want texting for short reminders. If you text volunteers, text only the people who have agreed to receive texts from you, and keep a record of when they agreed.
Field work
Field tools support volunteers who go out into a neighborhood, most often to knock on doors. They give each volunteer a walk list (the list of households to visit), keep volunteers in separate areas so that two people do not cover the same street, and record the result of each visit. Churches, nonprofits, neighborhood associations and campaigns all use this kind of tool.
How to choose the right tools for a small organization
A small organization usually does better with one or two tools that fit its work than with a large system that tries to do everything.
- Write down what volunteers do in a typical month. List each activity, how many people it takes and how often it happens. For example, a church might have weekly greeters, a monthly community meal and two neighborhood outreach Saturdays each spring.
- Find the step that fails most often. It might be no-shows, double-booked shifts, lost paper forms or not knowing which doors were visited. Choose software for that problem first.
- Start with what you already have. A shared spreadsheet, an online form and email are enough for many small programs. Add a dedicated tool when the free approach is costing your coordinator real time every week.
- Try it with a small group first. Run one shift or outreach day with a few dependable volunteers before asking everyone to use it.
- Check that you can take your data with you. Make sure you can export your records to a CSV (spreadsheet) file, so the information stays with your organization.
- Check how the cost changes as you grow. Some tools charge by the volunteer, and others by the number of records or by the features you use. Work out what the bill would be with twice as many volunteers as you have today.
How to organize volunteers
Software helps most when these basics are already in place.
- Keep one volunteer list. Record each person's name, contact details, the work they would like to do and when they are usually free.
- Write a short description for each role. Two or three sentences on what the job involves, how long it takes and whom to ask for help are enough.
- Give each activity a coordinator. Volunteers should always know whom to contact when they are running late or have a question.
- Hold a short orientation. Fifteen minutes before a first shift is often enough. For door-to-door work, our post on training new canvassers in their first week covers what to teach and in what order.
How to manage volunteers effectively
Volunteers give time they could spend elsewhere, so effective management starts with respect for that time. Start and end each shift when you said you would. Have materials, lists and instructions ready before people arrive, and give each person a specific task instead of asking them to wait while you sort things out.
After the shift, tell volunteers what their work accomplished, such as how many households they reached or how many families signed up for the meal. Thank people by name, and notice who keeps coming back so that you can offer them more responsibility. Our article on volunteer management for political campaigns goes further into recruiting, training and keeping a field team, and most of its advice applies to nonprofits and churches as well.
How to hold volunteers accountable
Accountability works best when expectations are clear from the start and follow-up is kind. Put the expectations for each role in writing, including how to cancel a shift. Confirm each shift a day or two ahead, and ask people to tell the coordinator as soon as their plans change.
When someone misses a shift, contact them privately and ask whether the time or the task still suits them. Often the cause is a schedule conflict, and a different shift solves it. For field work, accountability also means knowing what was done. Each volunteer has an assigned area, records a result at every door and finishes the shift with a clear count of the doors visited. Sharing team totals at the end of the day lets people see their own contribution without anyone being singled out.
How to get volunteers for a nonprofit or church
Most people volunteer because someone they know asked them. Personal requests from staff, members and current volunteers usually bring in more people than general announcements do.
- Ask for something specific. "Can you help with the neighborhood walk this Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon?" gets more yes answers than a general request for help.
- Ask current volunteers to bring one person. A new volunteer who arrives with a friend is more likely to come back.
- Announce at services, meetings and events, and have a sign-up sheet or link available right then, while people are interested.
- Offer a short first shift. A two-hour first commitment is easier to accept than an open-ended role.
- Follow up within a few days. People who sign up and then hear nothing for weeks often lose interest.
Organizing door-to-door volunteers in Beacon
Beacon is a door-to-door canvassing app, so it belongs in the field work category described above. Use it alongside whatever you already use for sign-ups and schedules. The steps below set up a neighborhood outreach day in Beacon.
- Divide your area into territories and assign them. A territory is a set of streets given to one volunteer or one pair. Assign each territory to a specific volunteer, and Beacon shows the coverage of each territory, so you can see how much of it has been visited.
- Give each volunteer a walk list ordered by street. Volunteers work along each street in order instead of crossing back and forth. The app works offline, so volunteers can keep recording results where the phone signal is weak.
- Record a result at every door. Volunteers record the door result, such as contacted, not home or come back later, and answer the survey questions you set up. For example, a church might ask whether the household would like information about a community meal, and a food bank might ask whether the household knows its weekly hours.
- Help volunteers stay in their own area. On every plan, a volunteer who walks outside their territory sees a warning on their own phone. On the Growth plan and above, live GPS tracking lets the coordinator see where volunteers are during the shift.
- Review the leaderboard after the shift. The leaderboard ranks volunteers by doors and by contact rate (the share of their recorded doors where they reached someone). Use it to thank people by name and to notice who may want help with their opening words.
If your volunteers would like help with what to say at the door, the AI Script Coach is available as a paid add-on from $29 a month. For more on how nonprofits use Beacon, see our page on nonprofit canvassing software.
Two separate products from our team cover other needs. CoreCNX is a CRM (a contact database) that keeps one record for each person, and door results from Beacon reach that person's record in CoreCNX. CampaignCNX+ is a texting product for messages to people who have agreed to receive texts from you. Each product has its own account, so you can start with Beacon alone.
Common questions
Does a small organization need volunteer management software at all?
A group with a few volunteers and one or two activities can often run well on a shared spreadsheet, an online form and email. Software becomes worth paying for when the coordinator spends hours each week fixing schedules, chasing results or retyping paper forms, or when many volunteers are knocking on doors on the same day.
Can one tool handle scheduling, hours and field work?
Some products combine several of these jobs, and others focus on one. Test the job that matters most to you before you choose. Many small organizations use one tool for shifts and a separate field app for door-to-door work.
How do you track volunteer hours without special software?
Use a sign-in sheet or online form that records each volunteer's name, the date, and the start and end times, and enter it into one spreadsheet each week. Total the hours by person each month. If a funder needs hours in a particular format, ask for it before you start.
How can we try Beacon?
Beacon offers a 14-day trial with Starter features, and no card is required. Set up one territory, send two volunteers out with walk lists, and review the door results and the leaderboard afterward.
Start with one neighborhood
Choose one neighborhood, divide it into territories for your most dependable volunteers, and send them out with walk lists ordered by street. After one outreach day, you will know whether a field app fits the way your organization works.