Last updated March 16, 2017
Managing volunteers can be incredibly rewarding, but if you are working with large numbers of people, it is not without its frustrations. The following websites offer some great tools for making volunteer management easier and less time consuming.
www.trackitforward.com
Keeping track of volunteer hours is essential for so many reasons. Not only does it give you accurate data to report to funders, donors and supporters, it allows you to plan special acknowledgements for volunteers as they reach notable milestones.
Track It Forward is a fantastic tool that allows all your volunteers to log their hours in a single place. You can set up categories, so that you can record how many hours are being donated in different areas of your work, and you can create achievement milestones so that no contribution goes unrewarded.
The tool is free to access if you have 50 volunteers or less. For more than 50 volunteers there is a sliding subscription fee between US$10-55 per month.
www.volunteerspot.com
Volunteer Spot is a great way to allocate roles and tasks, both for one-off events or recurring activities. You simply set up the Volunteer Spot calendar with all the time-slots you need filled, and then invite people to sign-up for the spot that suits them best. It’s great way for potential volunteers to see who is doing what, and you can tell at a glance the spaces that need filling. Just remember, you’ll still have to encourage people to get involved in the usual ways. This tool simply makes the administration side easier.
www.doodle.com
Trying to get several people together for a meeting can feel like a never-ending task, with countless emails back and forth trying to agree on a suitable time. You just get the time right for one person, and it’s not suitable for another. Sound familiar?
Doodle is a great tool that allows you send out several meeting times to a group all at once. Participants click on the options that would work for them, and you can quickly see the day and time that fits best for the whole group. It is super-easy to use and it will change the way you organise meetings forever.
Do you have a online management tool we should know about? Email rosie@exult.co.nz to let us know.
Kerri Tilby-Price
Kerri is a Facilitator / Trainer with Exult and has over 20 years experience working in and for the community sector.
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