An introduction to Volunteer Management Systems

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Group of people collaborating around a laptop — (John Schnobrich)

By Ashley Staines, CEO & Founder

The author
Before I talk about volunteer management systems, I thought it would be worth briefly introducing myself. My name is Ash, I am the founder of Volunteero which is one of many volunteer management systems on the market. Before I started the company, I was a volunteer. I felt that my experience as a volunteer left something to be desired, so I set out to solve the problem.

We’ve spent thousands of hours in conversation with voluntary organisations and volunteers which puts us in a solid position to advise on this topic.

I’ll cover the below topics. If you have any questions I would be more than happy to help.

1. What is a Volunteer Management System?
2. What can a VMS offer?
3. What do you need in a VMS?
4. Choosing the right VMS
5. How to put forward a business case to management?

1.What is a Volunteer Management System?

The NCVO defines a volunteer management system as software that helps you to recruit, train, engage and retain your volunteers in one centralised space. I find this a pretty solid and succinct definition but generally the VMS sector is broken down further into databases and platforms. Here is a layman's definition of both as it pertains to volunteer management.

Group of volunteers planting a tree — (Anna Shvets)

A database is internal only. It helps you collect, store and organise data on your volunteers. A platform includes everything that a database would but provides an interface for your volunteers.

This is an important distinction as a database requires a lot of work to maintain while the other has greater levels of automation.

2. What can a VMS offer?

There is a myriad of things that a VMS can offer your organisation so let’s stick to the most important ones.

Centralise and digitalise
Having all of your data in one digital location comes with a whole host of benefits. Paper-based records can be lost or damaged, they’re time-consuming to search, there is a lack of consistency in the data and they are impossible to compile reports on. Similar issues arise when using lots of spreadsheets. Centralising everything into one place and democratising information allows you to open up doors to understanding your volunteer base more closely.

Save time
Having records in one place and easily searchable is a time saver but a VMS can go further. Some platforms have an interface for volunteers, allowing them to report time, write comments, flag issues and log expenses. Some platforms also automate stages of the onboarding process ie. reference collection or can offer a digital rota that is live, completely changing how volunteer coordinators spend their time at work (less administrative work and more growth activities).

Improve the volunteer experience
Give them a great experience and volunteers will do more, stay longer and tell their friends and family about you. Providing a wonderful experience to them cannot be underestimated. Although a VMS cannot do it all… it can help out a lot in providing this.

Another thing that we cannot ignore... GenZ and Millenials expect ease of access. If you have a word doc application form that applicants need to download and either scan / post in to the organisation, you’re excluding a large cohort of future volunteers at the offset.

3. What do you need in a VMS?

By the way, you already have a VMS, it may well be paper-based or on spreadsheets, but you have one. Any new VMS needs to improve on your current state.

Start with a pain audit. As in “Where does it hurt the most”? Compile a list of questions and ask them to all staff involved in aspects of volunteer management. Examples might include:

What are the main pain points in your role managing volunteers?
What are the pain points volunteers are raising?
How much time does each painful process take per week?
What is the impact of these pain points?

Your selected VMS will have to minimise or eradicate as many of these pains as possible.

Compile a list of things you’d like a system to do. It is worth segmenting these by “must have” and “nice to have”. Prioritise this list starting with those that have the potential for the most positive impact. Then outline what the Future State might look like. This should be both qualitative (for example increased security and better working life for staff) and quantitative (X number of hours saved, £X saved, volunteers stay X amount longer).

Stock image of a group of people brainstorming in a meeting — (Jason Goodman)

4. Choosing the right VMS

I can see what you are thinking… Hit Google, ask for demos from the top 5.

We’d recommend taking a step back that will save you time in the process (by the way we are in that top 5 so we must mean what we are saying!)

Create a list yourself, ask people you know and trust and perform your own research.

During this basic high-level research you can knock a bunch off straight away e.g. must have an app.

Compile a list of potentially suitable providers.

Create a grid and use your list of requirements to compare and contrast, spreadsheets are good for this.

We’ve got a helpful spreadsheet pre-made here: Volunteer Manager System Example RFI

Simply open it and create a copy for your own version.

Then, and only then, should you reach out to the solutions that seem the best fit.

Pro tip - Price is important but it isn’t everything. When going through the process try to think of value first. For example, if the system is £1000 cheaper but you will spend £2000 extra on staff hours per year, then choosing the lower price is actually detrimental.

Mug with 'What good shall I do this day?' written on it — (Nathan Lemon)

5. How to put forward a business case to management?

Great news! You have done the hard work in steps 3 and 4. Now it is about selling this idea internally. At the risk of sounding patronising, we are going to give you a basic guide to creating a super compelling document to get senior buy-in.

Executive summary

1. Assume this part is all someone will read
2. 3-5 headline points
3. Why it makes financial sense in two numbers e.g. it costs X but we save 10X

Pain audit - Share this succinctly here, it shows how pain is across the team and volunteers
Calculation Breakdown - Shows the work you have put in and is handy for the finance team
Supplier assessment - Show your matrix and gives them confidence in your suggestion

Don’t be scared to use the carrot AND the stick.

Carrots might include time-saving, happier staff, and improved impact
Sticks might include GDPR, safeguarding and potentially losing volunteers

Launch in at www.volunteero.org