Simplify your volunteer data management

2020 brought crazy challenges. But this year, you know what to expect, and what needs to change to keep your organization running. And we can help make at least a few things easier for you! Like getting organized and using a volunteer data management system that streamlines your processes. It’ll save you time and sanity in this new year. You might be thinking, “I don’t have enough volunteers to need something organizational,” but no matter whether your nonprofit has 5 volunteers or 5,000, getting organized and setting up automatic data collection is a huge benefit.

Why should I use a volunteer data management system?  

Have you ever applied for a grant? Written up end-of-year impact reports for donors? Then you’ve probably wished you had all your volunteer data in one place, and thought about how nice it would be if you didn’t have to calculate all of the impact statements yourself. 

Tracking and organizing volunteer data is important, and having a system that does it for you can save you hours every week. Plus, when a student or community volunteer reaches out for their hours, or you need data in the moment, you don’t want to be guessing and estimating hours. It’s helpful to have an automatic verification system built in.

Having a system that enables volunteers to see and track their own impact also helps tie them to your organization. Not only are they seeing their impact every time they volunteer with your organization, but seeing how many hours they’ve poured into their community boosts their perception of their personal impact. It also makes it really easy to recognize and appreciate your superstars! 

From a planning perspective too, you can use aggregated data to see shifts in volunteer trends at your organization. You might notice that you have a lot of volunteers drop off at a certain time of year, and a boom at others. This can help determine the best time to plan big events or get major work done on a project. 

The bottom line is: you might think you don’t have enough data to track and analyze, but you do. Promise 😉 

Use volunteer data management for: 

• Grant applications 
• End of year donor reports 
• Impact reporting 
• Hours verification for volunteers 
• Volunteer impact tracking 
• Event planning
  

What are the benefits of volunteer data management? 

Even if you have a process that works, using POINT’s volunteer management system saves nonprofit admins 5-10 hours each week. Using a system that streamlines and automates data collection and volunteer information instead of pen and paper or Excel is like going from a clunky old jalopy to a brand new luxury car—they both can get you where you need to go, but one is a much more enjoyable ride. 

• Training new hires: 
  We know there can sadly be high turnover in nonprofits, so when you’re bringing on new hires every so often, having a streamlined volunteer data management system makes that a lot easier. As much as your spreadsheets make sense to you, they’re not always going to be intuitive or easy to understand for other folks. 

• Access your data anywhere:
  POINT’s system isn’t software you download, it’s cloud-based tech meaning you don’t have to be at the office or on a special computer to find what you need. So, you never have to worry about losing data or accidentally deleting your volunteer information. And, it doesn’t take up room on your computer, or get slower as you add data. 
  
• Volunteer engagement:
  When volunteers can clearly see the hours they’ve spent supporting your organization and have a central place to see your events and opportunities, it makes them more engaged and excited about their work with you.
  
• Reporting to the board/donors/stakeholders: 
  When it’s time to report on volunteer activity, you could spend time calculating it all out and writing it into a report, OR you could just export the report from your volunteer management system. Here’s a some of the data that’s automatically captured on POINT: 

Why technology is important for nonprofits

Our world has completely digitized, but nonprofits have been left behind in the tech revolution. POINT wants to fix that, because we know that in order to reach younger volunteers, nonprofits need to be tech savvy. Technology helps new people find your organization and get involved either as volunteers or donors. People discover new ways to get involved in their communities through Googling or using things like POINT’s volunteer app. When you use POINT’s volunteer management dashboard to streamline your data, you also have the ability to post volunteer events that are shown to thousands of people through our app. 

POINT allows you to find new volunteers, easily show them their individual impact, plus manage all of your volunteers and use automatic data analysis to make smarter decisions for your nonprofit. 

Benefits of nonprofit technology

• Using technology boosts nonprofit reach and efficiency
• Streamlining volunteer data reduces the negative effects of volunteer coordinator turnover 
• Automating volunteer data management simplifies reporting
• Using digital systems saves time and people-power that can be redirected to other needs

What’s the best free volunteer management platform?

We don’t think we’re biased – POINT is the best free volunteer data management platform. We’ve got everything you need in one intuitive online platform. 

POINT’s free management features

Statistics and Reporting – See total volunteer hours, number of volunteers, their economic impact, your average volunteer age, and even how often your volunteers are engaged with you during a certain time period. 

Private Events – Use POINT to engage current volunteers by offering private volunteer events for them to sign up for. Don’t worry, they get push notifications reminding them to show up and you get all of the engagement data and statistics.

Group Management – View specific statistics for volunteer groups, easily manage group volunteering, and make private events for specific groups (like “High School Service Club,” or business/church groups that often volunteer together). 

Basic Donation Tracking – When volunteers donate to your organization through POINT, you can easily see how many volunteers turned into donors. Your donation link on your POINT profile helps you source small personal donations from the thousands of volunteers on POINT. 

Volunteer portal – Your current (and future!) volunteers use POINT’s volunteer system to sign up for your events. Share your organization profile link which lists all your upcoming public events, so you can send just one link to all potential volunteers. Here‘s an example.

Unlimited admins – Invite your team to join POINT’s dashboard to post events and monitor statistics. You can add as many admin accounts as you need, all for free. 

Why we built a free volunteer management program: 

Our mission is to provide local nonprofits with robust, time-saving technology to recruit and manage the people-power you need for free. For real. Our platform also helps you coordinate with other nonprofits or community organizations (like schools, churches, or businesses) to co-host volunteer events, making it easier for everyone, and giving you the opportunity to connect with new volunteers and keep them coming back. 

Nonprofits do some of the most important work in our communities, and helping YOU is always our number one goal. We’re here for whatever you need. 

At POINT, we believe:

1. Local communities can work together on one platform.
2. Nonprofit software shouldn’t break the bank.
3. We’re more than a platform–we’re your partners. 

Interested? Check out POINT here, get started with a personalized demo, or join a webinar. 

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