• If your organization is new to working with volunteers, consider taking an online volunteer management training course.
  • Volunteer management software can streamline and organize many aspects of a volunteer’s work while also identifying potential issues and addressing any gaps in service. A variety of methods and tools exist to help in the management of volunteers. Volunteer management platforms can offer texting, emailing, scheduling and hour tracking making communication and verification of task completion much easier. Some platforms offer e-learning opportunities for asynchronous training sessions and systems for volunteers to document what happened during the visit and/or leave notes for staff. Consider the specific needs you want the software to address before making a purchase and ensure it is a justifiable expense within your operating budget.
  • Utilization of a database that keeps all participant and volunteer information fully integrated is highly beneficial but can be expensive. Consider securing an outside funder.
  • Having a background check process in place is critical in ensuring the safety of program participants. At a minimum, meet your state’s standards, which will vary. A gold standard is the background check requirement established by AmeriCorps which consists of a National Sex Offender Public Website nationwide check, state of residence and state of service criminal history check(s) and an FBI fingerprint-based check.
  • If you offer several volunteer opportunities within your organization, keep the background check requirements across all programs consistent. This will allow volunteers to serve across programs without additional screening requirements.
  • Consider requiring all staff involved in volunteer management to participate as a volunteer at least once. This will help staff members understand the volunteer experience and identify or address potential challenges.
  • Collecting volunteer hours is an essential element in a volunteer model, especially when demonstrating the value of your model. Providing a variety of options for volunteers to log those hours can help ensure they are recorded. Some potential ways are using written time sheets, calling in or emailing hours, logging hours into an online platform or app, or the use of a QR code to lead them to a site to log hours. Having options for collection will increase the volume of data received.
  • There are many options for volunteer management tools, but determining which option to choose and when to implement use can be complicated. Consider the number of volunteers and program participants in your program, their comfort level and accessibility to technology, as well as the program’s growth potential. Use of a well-developed Excel spreadsheet and phone contact may be the best option until you establish what you need from a management tool.
  • Some of the volunteer management options used successfully by previous Community Care Corps grantees can be found when you click the Resources button on the home page.

Volunteer Management Platforms

  • CiviCRM: https://civicrm.org/
    • CiviCRM-CiviCRM is a cloud-based, open-source constituent relationship management (CRM) system developed specifically to address the needs of nonprofit, civic sector and association-based organizations. Because CiviCRM is open source, it’s highly customizable and free to use and develop. CiviCRM offers a variety of tools such as online and offline fundraising, grant tracking, event planning, donor and member management, advocacy campaigns, case management, communications and bulk email and more. CiviCRM stores all data, contact information and event history at one central place. Individuals can sign up for their membership, renew subscriptions, make donations, receive notifications and more. CiviCRM offers 40+ reporting templates to create custom reports.
  • Civic Champs: https://www.civicchamps.com/
    • On this site, volunteers can complete applications which your organization can then review. Volunteers can log hours and provide status updates using the app on their phones. Your organization can also use this platform to send text messages to volunteers. This site syncs with a variety of customer relationship management software systems.
  • Assisted Rides: https://assistedrides.com/
  • Better Impact: https://www.betterimpact.com/
  • Excel:
  • Google Sheets:
  • MS Forms:
  • SurveyMonkey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/
  • Google Forms:
  • Mon Ami: https://www.monami.io/
    • This platform allows your organization to tailor an embedded application to meet your specific needs. It provides a centralized phone number for volunteers and care recipients who do not wish to use their own phone number during interactions. Use of this app provides you with information to get a sense of how long volunteers and care recipients are interacting by phone. It is recommended that you identify a customer service representative who will be invested in you to help you get the most from the software.
  • Spedsta: https://spedsta.com/
    • A web-based transportation scheduling, dispatch and routing software that does not require a phone app.