Scheduling Volunteers for a non-profit

March 23, 2018 8:28 AM

We schedule multiple volunteers for two hour time slots on weekend days. The scheduling needs to be accessible from multiple platforms (phone, tablet, desktop, etc). It needs to be easy to use as we would like to not have a large energy of activation for people using the software. And of course, as a non-profit, we hope to not spend too much money.

The non-profit is a 501c3 and thus eligible for most non-profit discounts in the US. The number of volunteers is more than ten.
We have tried google calendar and apparently it didn't work.
We are currently using Keep&Share but would like to explore other options.
I would love to hear from people who are happy with their scheduling software and am not interested in suggestions of software that you have never tried before.

posted by sciencegeek to Computers & Internet (10 answers total)

One non-profit I volunteered for used Google Sheets, rather than Google Calendar. This allowed us to have multiple people editing the schedule, with instant updates. You can share to the admins with read-write access, and to the volunteers themselves with just read-access.

Obviously, this is not a calendar system, but just creates a simple spreadsheet. That was best for our purposes (scheduling people for 4-hour shifts for a very large event).
posted by jb at 8:37 AM on March 23, 2018

We use signup.com and have been very happy with it. It allows volunteers to self schedule, sends reminders, and has been easy for even our tech-challenged population to use. Also, its free.
posted by anastasiav at 8:40 AM on March 23, 2018

Sign-up genius is what is heavily used (locally) wish schools and Girl Scouts.
posted by heathrowga at 8:59 AM on March 23, 2018 [1 favorite]

I am a volunteer and our group uses Volgistics, from the volunteer end it definitely works on different platforms and it’s easy to sign up for shifts
posted by tangaroo at 9:12 AM on March 23, 2018

I volunteer for a group that also uses Volgistics, and it's been pretty intuitive. There are about 100 of us who sign up for 4-hour shifts all throughout the month.
posted by writermcwriterson at 9:22 AM on March 23, 2018

My library and several others I know in the area use Volgistics.
posted by kittydelsol at 9:52 AM on March 23, 2018

I've used signupgenius.com to coordinate Girl Scout cookie booths. 20 troops, 15 locations, 2-5 slots per store per weekend, for 7 weekend.

Web based, $10/month.
posted by neilbert at 10:17 AM on March 23, 2018

I've tried both sign-up genius and Volgistics. Volgistics is powerful, but expensive, and it takes dedication to learn the platform. before using it, consider what your staff capacity to set up and run the system is. Sign-Up Genius is easier and more intuitive, though it can't accommodate as much complexity.
posted by Miko at 10:51 AM on March 23, 2018

My organization (around 200 members, non-profit, hundreds of regular and ad-hoc volunteer hours logged each week) uses Sign-Up Genius, and it is simple enough that even the least tech-savvy members of the org (and boy, howdy are they not tech-savvy) have successfully navigated both using and creating sign-ups for a variety of different types of events and needs: regular recurring time-slot sign-ups, one-day sign-ups with non-time-based multiple slots in different categories, sign-ups for special events that incorporate aspects of both the previous two models....the list goes on, we've yet to encounter something that we can't wrangle Sign-Up Genius into doing for us.

One feature I especially like (that may or may not be available on other platforms, I dunno) is the built-in ability to request a swap with another volunteer, without having to involve the admin/creator of the sign-up. Makes last-minute schedule changes super easy for all our volunteers. Less hassle for me, yay!

It's not the prettiest platform out there, but it does the job well enough for our needs.

We started out using just the free version, but have since upgraded to the paid. I'm pretty sure we only have the "Silver" tier ($9.99/month) and it has been more than enough for us.
posted by Dorinda at 2:57 PM on March 23, 2018

You need this! https://www.volunteerschedulerpro.com/
posted by masquesoporfavor at 3:51 PM on March 23, 2018