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A Consumers Guide to Software for Volunteer Management
An overview of popular tools for helping your nonprofit or library to manage volunteers
May 20, 2011
This article is courtesy of Idealware, which provides candid information to help nonprofits choose effective software. For more articles and reviews, go to www.idealware.org.
Volunteer-based organizations have to keep track of a lot of data—for example, contact info, schedules, time sheets and job sites—and the right software can help, freeing time for managing volunteers. There are a number of products out there, but it’s surprisingly hard to find information about them.
We hope this report remedies that. We designed it to serve as an introduction to volunteer management software: what’s out there, what to expect and how the different solutions compare.
We began our research by talking to different consultants, experts and volunteer managers about what they want from volunteer management software, and the systems with which they’re familiar. Then, reinforced by Internet research and information from volunteer management email discussion lists, we defined a list of the three standalone volunteer management systems and the three consolidated constituent management systems most frequently mentioned. The vendors demonstrated the systems for us, and we spent some hands-on time exploring the software to better understand each system’s strengths and weaknesses. In addition to these six systems, we’ve included 21 other systems to consider, located in the Also Consider sections at the bottom of each review.
This report sums up what we learned. It covers the basic features and functions that might be desirable in a volunteer management package, and then discusses the pros and cons of standalone volunteer management systems vs. systems that track volunteers alongside donors or other constituents. Finally, it compares the strengths and weaknesses of the leading software packages. Whether you’re upgrading your existing system or just starting out, use this report to guide you.
Editor’s note: Read the downloadable comparison guide attached below to determine which volunteer management software may be best for your organization’s needs. There are also a number of volunteer management programs or add-on modules available to nonprofits and libraries via the donation and discount programs through TechSoup. Some of these tools are mentioned in the guide while others are not.
Learn more about each program:
- VolunteerMatters
- DonorPerfect
- GiftWorks (a volunteer management add-on is available for purchase directly through GiftWorks)
- ScheduleAnywhere
- Staff Manager
- Visual Staff Scheduler Pro
- ClickTime
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About the Authors:
Kyle is a senior at Indiana State University, where he studies Communication. He decided to travel up to Maine to spend his last semester in a research internship, helping Idealware with social media research and support of their day-to-day work. Prior to joining Idealware, Kyle split his time between managing the student radio station, researching video game communication, and working on local elections.
Chris is a longtime writer and journalist. Prior to joining Idealware, he worked as a newspaper, magazine, and public radio journalist and managing editor, as senior copywriter at an advertising agency, as a corporate marketing and communications specialist, and as a technical writer. He also wrote a travel book about bicycling in New England.
As Senior Researcher at Idealware, Jay is responsible for researching software choices through demos, interviews and surveys, and using that information to create easy-to-use resources. He brings to his role 15 years of experience in information technology management in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors. Prior to Idealware, Jay was an IT executive at the Atlantic Philanthropies, where he led several major software selection and implementation projects. Jay has a strong interest in technological change and its impact on organizations and society.
As Idealware’s Executive Director, Laura directs Idealware’s research and writing to provide candid reports and articles about nonprofit software. Prior to Idealware, Laura founded Alder Consulting, where she helped nonprofits create Internet strategies, select appropriate software, and then build sophisticated websites on a limited budget. She has also selected software, designed interfaces and conducted user research for multi-million dollar software and website implementations with such companies as Accenture and iXL. Laura is a frequent speaker and writer on nonprofit technology topics.
Copyright © 2011 CompuMentor. This work is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License.
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