Every nonprofit need amazing volunteers, and they need even more amazing volunteer coordinators. These heroes ensure that the right people are recruited and placed in the programs that best match their skills and interests. Coordinators also spread the word about upcoming opportunities, train new volunteers and build a positive and collaborative environment so that volunteers keep coming back. In short, volunteer coordinators are completely indispensable.
A coordinator’s importance can’t be overstated, because even one bad experience can sour a volunteer’s opinion of your nonprofit. You can’t afford that in an industry where word-of-mouth is so influential. You must do all you can to eliminate needless hurdles in a coordinator’s job so they can be as effective as possible in taking your nonprofit to the next level. Automating operational workflows is the perfect way to show your support.
1. Match volunteers quickly
Imagine that you receive excellent applications from ten different volunteers. Now comes the challenge of finding dates and programs that fit their schedules and interests and coordinating with those program managers. If too much time is taken between submitting the application and being notified of the next opportunity, volunteers may start to feel like they’re not needed and find other organizations that are more respectful of their time. By creating an automated approval workflow, program managers can weigh in quickly using a mobile app and approve assignments within hours.
2. Replicate Your Perfected Processes
There are probably some volunteer-related events you have done so often, everything seems to flow on its own. But does it really? What if one of your key managers doesn’t show up one day? Does everyone else know what to do? By automating an entire process, you not only ensure accuracy every time an event is run, but you also can help your volunteer coordinator spend more time perfecting processes rather than running them.
3. Don’t miss out on volunteer training
The last thing you want on an important fact-finding project about crime in low-income neighborhoods is a volunteer incorrectly recording data collected from affected families. Set up an automated training workflow to ensure that all new volunteers are comprehensively prepared for each job.
4. Crowdsource stories for recruitment campaigns
Your volunteers hear stories on the ground that the corporate office may not be privy to. As a result, they have personal stories that can connect with those who are on the fence about volunteering their time. Your coordination team can enable volunteers to contribute their stories through a Kissflow-hosted form on the web, which can be shared during recruitment campaigns.
Volunteer coordinators have a lot of hats to wear, a lot of context switching to do and a lot of work to complete! Get rid of all the manual roadblocks in their path and turn them into a superhero through automated workflows. It’ll make your nonprofit a great place for people to volunteer and create real, important change in the world.
Effective volunteer coordination and Kissflow Workflow go hand in hand. So don’t wait – sign up for a 14-day free trial of Kissflow today! We even have special rates for nonprofits!
