Modern nonprofit volunteer management software and AI tools are replacing fragmented systems by reducing administrative work, connecting volunteer data with donor data, and providing a more complete view of the supporter base.

Recent changes in volunteer management have reshaped how teams evaluate tools, assess real-world functionality, and select platforms that align with organizational needs.

CRM vs Donor Management Tools

People lump “CRM” and “donor tool” together because, day to day, both sit in the same messy reality. Records, notes, segments, reports, but once you try to connect volunteering to giving, the segmentation starts to cost more time than usual.

In a lot of organizations, engagement lives in one place and fundraising lives in another. So you end up with two versions of the same supporter. The volunteer team sees hours, roles, and consistency, while on the other hand, the fundraising team sees gifts, recency, and campaign performance. When those systems do not line up, things tend to get more complicated.

A steady volunteer starts donating, and nobody catches it early. A long-time donor signs up for a shift and looks like a brand-new contact on the volunteer side. Segments get messy because all the underlying data never stays perfectly matched.

So the decision is not really “CRM or donor tool,” but whether your setup can seamlessly connect engagement and giving without your team constantly exporting, cleaning, and re-uploading lists.

Golden helps organizations bridge this gap by linking volunteer activity to the records your fundraising team already depends on; your volunteer hours, roles, and outcomes stay usable for segmentation, reporting, and follow-up, instead of having them in a separate log that nobody checks when it matters.

Must-Have Features for Nonprofits

Volunteers play a central role in nonprofit operations. Effective software reduces administrative workload, supports volunteer engagement, and produces reliable data for decision-making, and  Golden is built around those operational needs

Smooth registration and onboarding

Volunteers shouldn’t wander through 10 pages of forms. Golden lets you create branded sign-up forms and supports returning users so they don’t have to start from scratch each time.

Scheduling and self-service shifts

Manual shift lists and back-and-forth emails slow things down. Golden allows volunteers to pick shifts, swap, wait-list, and check in via mobile.

Mobile-first design

Volunteers aren’t always desk-bound. Golden’s mobile-ready platform (iOS & Android apps) means they can sign up, check in, and upload hours on the go.

Automatic communication

You need timely reminders, thank-you notes, and updates. Golden supports email, SMS, and push notifications. It cuts the manual messaging. 

Tracking, reporting & impact data

Boards and funders often expect clear reporting on volunteer activity, including hours, participation, and outcomes. Golden supports this with dashboards and CRM integration.

Integration with CRM and donor systems

For most nonprofits, keeping volunteer activity and giving history connected is not optional. It affects segmentation, reporting, and follow-up. Golden supports native links with systems like Salesforce and Blackbaud.

AI-powered donor conversion (“AI Donations”)

Here’s where things get interesting. Golden has “fundraising AI” tools that help you convert volunteers into donors by spotting engagement patterns and supporting follow-up.

If a nonprofit software fails on one of these features, you’ll spend more time fixing workflows than delivering programs. Golden ticks a lot of these boxes, allowing organizations to focus more on what matters.

Integrating Volunteer Data

When volunteer data remains spread across spreadsheets, emails, or isolated tools, the connection between volunteer engagement and donor behavior weakens, reducing operational efficiency. Golden supports integration by keeping volunteer activity connected to fundraising data.

Why Data Integration Matters

When your volunteer and donor systems are separate, you end up with duplicate contacts, missing links, and inefficient follow-up. Using Integrated data means you can answer questions like: “How many of our volunteers donated in the last year?” or “Which volunteer roles lead to strong donor conversion?” It helps reduce manual entry, ensure accuracy, and frees your team for high-value tasks.

How To Integrate Well

• Map your current tools: CRM, ERP, fundraising platform, volunteer management system, and communications automation.
• Choose a system with open APIs or native connectors (like the best-in-class, purpose-built integrations that Golden offers).
• Clean your data: duplicates, outdated contacts, inconsistent formats.
• Build workflows: for example, when a volunteer logs 20 hours, trigger a thank-you email; or when a volunteer becomes a donor, initiate a different workflow.
• Monitor and optimize: track sync issues, monitor errors, and continue to chip away at missing or duplicate data.

How Golden Does It

Golden also integrates with the most popular CRM systems, so records can flow in from a service project without uploading CSVs.

Integrated systems like Golden link volunteer engagement information with donor giving profiles to make sure your volunteer program isn’t just a stand-alone function. The integrated data you unlock through using Golden is, perhaps most critically, primed for AI applications and AI-centric approaches to your overall supporter engagement and fundraising efforts.

AI Functionality in Donor CRMs (and Volunteer Platforms)

The phrase “AI donations” might seem like a buzzword, but it’s increasingly real and practical in volunteer and donor management. 

What does “AI” mean here?

AI-driven functionality improves how organizations interpret volunteer behavior and engagement trends. Instead of relying on manual sorting or intuition, AI can help teams gain earlier visibility into which volunteers are increasing involvement, where drop-off is occurring, and when outreach is most likely to resonate.

These insights support better prioritization, more relevant follow-up, and more efficient allocation of your program staff’s time and resources. Over time, this reduces guess-based outreach and strengthens both volunteer retention and donor conversion.

Why this matters

• Volunteers are, by definition, donating energy and time to your organization – modern, AI-ready systems like Golden help you more consistently, proactively, and successfully convert volunteers to donors.
• You save hours and hours of staff time (less manual sorting, fewer guess-based follow-ups, faster time-to-insight).
• You begin to understand your volunteers better and can deploy those trends to better manage resourcesby assigning volunteers to the shifts and programs they like most. Watch your retention rates soar!
• The experience you offer to volunteers becomes more and more personalized, giving you an edge over others relying on generic mass outreach.

Top Tools in the Market

When evaluating volunteer management software, comparison should focus on operational fit rather than feature volume. The most effective tools support the full volunteer lifecycle and integrate cleanly with existing fundraising and CRM systems.

Why Golden is a strong choice

• Golden is reimagining what volunteer management software can be, with modern and mobile-native user interfaces, an API-first and AI-ready infrastructure, and an emphasis on improving volunteer-to-donor conversion. emphasis on integrating volunteer management with donor relations.
• Golden matches the maturity and complexity of your operations, providing turnkey solutions for every profile – from community organizations with a couple hundred volunteers and occasional programs, to massive large-scale networks with thousands of affiliate organizations and the need for enterprise-grade features and deep CRM connections.
• We’ve built our tools to fit seamlessly into the the whole, end-to-end volunteer lifecycle: awareness, outreach, recruitment, scheduling, tracking, and donor conversion.
• Golden is the most-awarded volunteer software and our mobile app is consistently ranked #1 on both iOS and Android.
• Getting started is easier than ever – and our pricing includes a free plan so you can test us out stress-free before upgrading to  more advanced features.

What to look for when comparing vendors

• Features: Does the tool handle recruitment, scheduling, mobile check-in, communications, and reporting?
• Integration: Is there native support for your specific CRM, fundraising, and email/marketing systems?
• Scalability and pricing: how does volume (volunteers, hours, events) affect cost?
• AI/analytics: are the insights smart and the recommendations actionable?
• Volunteer experience: Is the app or portal easy-to-use for volunteers and your boots-on-the-ground staff?
• Support and implementation: how hard is it to activate, how quickly can you get started, and how steep is the learning curve?

Smarter Volunteer Management, Stronger Mission

Modernized Volunteer Management Systems help organizations achieve more than they’d ever thought could be possible. Tools like Golden give you the bandwidth and confidence to move beyond simply coordinating volunteers and, instead, promote long-term engagement of volunteers.

When you replace spreadsheets or old, legacy tools with a modern volunteer management system, you’ll very quickly see reduced administrative burden, improved recruitment & retention, and an expanded view of how volunteer programs fit into your organization’s overall mission and strategy.

If you would like to explore how Golden can revolutionize your organization’s operations, please schedule a demo to see how automations, integrations, and artificial intelligence work together in real time. Or see it for yourself today and create an account for free!

The post Nonprofit Volunteer Management Software: How Tech & AI Are Changing the Game appeared first on Golden.

In our recent webinar, Global Lessons, Local Impact: Disaster Relief Strategies for Every Organization, Golden’s Arielle Meizen and Kelly Cristaldi sat down with Jake Wood, founder of Team Rubicon and CEO of Groundswell, to unpack what organizations of every size can learn from large-scale emergency response teams.

From recruiting volunteers to building emotional resilience to activating corporate partnerships, the discussion was full of actionable insights for anyone involved in disaster relief or community support work.

Read on to learn the seven biggest takeaways from our conversation!

1. Disaster Relief Begins Before the Disaster Happens

One of the strongest themes: your most important work happens in blue sky days—not gray sky days.

Jake shared that when Team Rubicon launched its first response in Haiti in 2010, the hardest part wasn’t the crisis itself—it was that organizations were too overwhelmed to onboard new volunteers in the moment.

His advice?

Prepare before you need the help.

What you can do today:

• Build and maintain updated volunteer rosters
• Pre-qualify volunteers with required training
• Keep “just-in-time” online learning available
• Host light-touch activities (open houses, social gatherings, short trainings) to help volunteers feel connected
• Establish clear processes, so during a disaster, volunteers plug in—not slow you down

Disaster relief that works is grounded in readiness, not reaction.

2. Make Volunteering Feel Safe — Emotionally, Logistically, and Socially

Responding to a crisis is emotionally demanding. Volunteers may see loss, destruction, or human tragedy—and even seasoned responders can be shaken. Team Rubicon’s approach is rooted in culture and community, including:

• End-of-day “campfire culture” to decompress
• Peer support systems
• Access to mental health professionals after major deployments
• Strong social connection before anyone ever steps into the field

As Jake noted, “Culture guides decisions in the absence of orders.” When volunteers feel supported, they perform better and stay longer.

3. Create Easy Entry Points for New Volunteers

Not everyone can deploy for a week, nor are they ready for high-stakes environments. And that’s okay. Arielle encouraged disaster relief teams to meet volunteers where they are, offering:

• Short, simple roles that require limited training
• Micro-learning modules instead of long, upfront requirements
• Virtual volunteer opportunities (such as digital assessments or data validation)
• Local preparedness activities instead of high-profile deployments

This approach both widens your volunteer pipeline and reduces risk—because volunteers can “crawl, walk, run” into deeper service.

4. Don’t Chase the Disaster—Build Local Strength

Many people get inspired by dramatic news footage from high-profile disasters, but disaster relief is most effective when responders are local.

Team Rubicon redirects spontaneous volunteer energy into local training and nearby deployments. While some people drop off when the assignment isn’t glamorous, those who stay become highly committed contributors.

This shift helps volunteers:

• See the value of everyday preparedness
• Build long-term relationships within their region
• Understand how disaster relief is structured

And yes—some people drop off when the work becomes less “glamorous.” But the ones who stay often become your most reliable responders.

5. Volunteers Want to Be Part of a Story

A powerful insight: Volunteers don’t just want tasks—they want purpose.

Jake emphasized how storytelling fuels recruitment and retention. At Team Rubicon, every volunteer understands the “final chapter” they’re helping write.

Kelly echoed this from her animal welfare work: volunteers engage deeply when they see themselves as the hero in a narrative that leads to real transformation.

When you weave volunteers into your organization’s story, they are more inclined to participate. When we neglect to include them, we’re more likely to see them engage less when we need them most.

6. Corporate Partnerships Are Built on Mutual Value—Say It Out Loud

One way to really amp up support for your cause? Corporate partnerships. Corporate partnership programs can dramatically expand disaster relief capacity—from airline support to supply chain resources to co-marketing. It can be the key to expanding aid your organization is delivering to areas and people impacted by disaster.

Corporate partnerships can look beyond traditional economic value. It can be co-marketing efforts where each brand partners together to elevate each other in the media. It can be leveraging employee volunteers to make an impact for local disasters. There’s so many ways to leverage corporate partnerships that mutually benefit each other.

How to start:

• Tell a compelling story companies want to be part of
• Provide clear ways their support translates to community benefit
• Offer co-marketing opportunities that build visibility
• Focus on long-term partnership, not one-off donations

7. Your Biggest Cost Isn’t Disaster Response—It’s Everything Before It

Most funders want to give after a disaster hits, which can often put a strain on already lean teams and overwhelm systems and processes. But as Jake explained, the real expense lies in training, preparedness, and volunteer management.

The more effectively you communicate this, the better you can secure support for the work that actually makes response possible.

One way to do this is to educate and inform your supporters early on in the process. This can be in the form of sending out annual or quarterly reports, bring attention to campaigns and projects you’re actively working on, or even simply being clear and direct in your asks for financial donations.

Disaster relief is complex, emotional, unpredictable work. But with preparation, strong culture, thoughtful volunteer pathways, and strategic partnerships, organizations of any size can build a powerful, resilient disaster response program.

Whether you’re a volunteer manager, nonprofit leader, community organizer, or disaster relief professional, these insights offer an actionable blueprint to help your organization thrive in times of need!

Want to hear the full discussion? Watch the webinar on-demand and access every story, strategy, and lesson shared.

The post Global Lessons, Local Impact: What Every Organization Can Learn About Disaster Relief appeared first on Golden.

The truth is, most nonprofits still run fundraising like it’s 2005: big email blasts, seasonal campaigns, maybe a phone bank if they can rally enough volunteers. But that’s exhausting. It’s hit-or-miss. And to be fair, it’s hard to get personal when you’ve got thousands of people on your list.

AI for nonprofits is starting to crack that problem. AI donation tools can sift through years of donor history, figure out who’s likely to give again, and even suggest the perfect time to ask. Platforms like Golden’s donation AI don’t just do the math; they connect donor insights with volunteer engagement, so you’re not treating your supporters like two separate lists.

Data-Driven Donor Targeting

Every donor leaves a breadcrumb trail, past donations, volunteer shifts, events they showed up for, and even social media interactions. The hard part has always been making sense of it without drowning in spreadsheets.

AI fundraising tools handle that grunt work. They don’t just group donors by amount or date; they find patterns that aren’t obvious at a glance. For instance, maybe you’ve got 200 donors who only give after a certain annual event. Or maybe there’s a group that stopped donating, but still shows up to volunteer. Those are the people worth reaching out to, because they already care.

Golden’s system goes further by tying donor insights directly to its Salesforce volunteer management and Microsoft volunteer management integrations. You might notice, for example, that someone who logged 50 volunteer hours last year is overdue for an update. That’s an opening to thank them, share a win, and, gently, ask for support.

Predictive Analytics in Fundraising

Here’s where AI stops looking backward and starts guessing what’s next. Predictive analytics sounds complicated, but in practice, it’s just data pointing toward probability.

If a nonprofit knows that a big slice of its audience tends to give in November and December, predictive AI might flag mid-October as the time to start nudging those donors. That’s not just convenient, it can mean catching the early givers before their inbox is flooded with other appeals.

The benefits stack up:

• More accurate timing for campaigns
  
• Fewer wasted marketing dollars
  
• Better planning for volunteer and staff workloads
  

And yes, you can do this without AI… but it’s messy. You’ll spend weeks pulling reports and crossing your fingers you didn’t miss a trend. AI skips that. And when it’s baked into a tool like Golden, the predictions aren’t floating in isolation; they connect to things like Blackbaud volunteer software or corporate volunteer management software, so your fundraising calendar and volunteer availability actually talk to each other.

Real-World Success Stories

Numbers tell the story better than theory, so here’s what’s been happening out in the wild:

• A local animal shelter ran a donor reactivation campaign based on AI insights. They focused on their top 15% of past donors. Six months later, their total donations were up 35%.
  
• An educational nonprofit used AI to predict its peak giving window, launched a scholarship campaign at just the right time, and saw a 22% bump in average gift size.
  
• A community food bank pulled a list of lapsed donors most likely to return, sent a highly specific update, and brought in $50,000 in one quarter.
  

I think most people don’t realize how small tweaks, like timing or message personalization, can completely change the outcome. AI just makes those tweaks obvious.

Tools and Platforms to Consider

Not every AI fundraising tool is going to be the right fit. It depends on your budget, your donor base, and what you’re already using.

Here are a few worth looking at:

• Golden – AI-powered donor targeting, volunteer management, and hour tracking all in one.
  
• Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud – Strong CRM with volunteer for Salesforce features.
  
• Microsoft Volunteer Management – Microsoft hour tracking tools are built for organizations already on Microsoft systems.
  
• Blackbaud CRM – Combines Blackbaud hour tracking with donor insights.
  

If you want the big-picture view of AI in the nonprofit space, publications like Stanford Social Innovation Review have solid case studies and thought pieces.

Next Steps for Implementation

Getting started doesn’t mean you need to overhaul everything tomorrow.

1. Get your data in order. AI is only as good as what you feed it.
   
2. Pick tools that play well with what you have. Golden, for example, integrates with both Salesforce and Microsoft systems.
   
3. Train your people. The tech’s powerful, but someone still needs to interpret the results.
   
4. Test and tweak. Run small campaigns, learn from them, and adjust.
   

AI Gives Nonprofits the Time Advantage

AI donation tools aren’t magic, but they are making it easier for nonprofits to work smarter instead of harder. The real win is that they free up time, time you can spend actually connecting with people instead of digging through spreadsheets.And honestly, the nonprofits that figure this out now are going to have a real edge. Whether it’s using fundraiser AI to spot your best prospects or pulling predictive reports that guide your whole campaign calendar, the technology is ready. The question is whether you’re ready to use it.

The post The Role of AI in Increasing Nonprofit Donations appeared first on Golden.

Donors have already demonstrated a financial and emotional commitment to your cause. They understand your mission, trust your organization, and are statistically more likely to invest their time if invited thoughtfully. In fact, according to recent studies, approximately 67% of donors were also nonprofit volunteers, underscoring a powerful overlap between financial and time-based contributions.

Many organizations treat donor and volunteer communications separately, creating missed opportunities for stronger engagement. By weaving together your donor marketing and volunteer communication strategies, nonprofits can unlock a dual-role supporter base that amplifies impact while deepening donor loyalty.

Let’s explore four innovative, data-backed strategies to bridge this gap.

1. Add Interactive Content to the Strategy

To encourage deeper engagement, move beyond passive donor communication and create interactive content that invites participation. Rather than simply informing your donors, interactive content allows them to experience your volunteer opportunities firsthand. Here are a few ideas to consider:

• Volunteer role quizzes: Add a quiz to your newsletter or donor-facing communications, like “Which Volunteer Role Matches Your Skills?” Afterward, use Golden’s volunteer management software to automate role suggestions based on the results.
  
• Impact trackers: Display a live volunteer-hour tracker on your website, letting donors visually see progress towards shared goals. This fosters a sense of community and shared responsibility.
  
• Virtual volunteer-a-thons: Host livestreams where volunteers share real-time experiences (e.g., packing meals or mentoring). This not only showcases volunteer work but also makes the experience more relatable and engaging.

The key benefit of these interactive tools isn’t just engagement—they provide a clear path for users to get more involved. For example, after someone takes a quiz to find out how they can contribute, don’t just show them a result; prompt them with the next step:

“Based on your results, your strength in storytelling could help us enhance our outreach. Would you like to learn more? Join our upcoming virtual info session.”

Similarly, during live events or webinars, incorporate real-time polls to segment participants effectively. For example, you might provide a survey with the options “I’m ready to volunteer now” and “I’m interested, but would like more information first.” These responses can be fed directly into your CRM, enabling tailored follow-up strategies based on participants’ readiness levels. 

2. Gamify the Experience for Donors

Gamification is a powerful psychological motivator that taps into competition, achievement, and community. Turning volunteerism into a challenge or game increases motivation, drives retention, and transforms passive supporters into active participants. Here’s how to implement gamification into your efforts:

• Create an impact points system. Develop a points-based system where volunteers earn “impact points” for actions like logging volunteer hours or referring new volunteers. These points can be redeemed for meaningful rewards, such as a shoutout on social media, a digital badge, or a behind-the-scenes tour of your operations.
  
• Introduce recognition challenges and badges. Celebrate volunteer-related milestones publicly to fuel motivation and retention. Whether it’s a “100-Hour Hero” badge or recognition in your newsletter for those who refer three new donor volunteers, visible appreciation reinforces their value to the mission.
  
• Add team challenges. Form volunteer teams to foster collaboration and healthy competition. Let teams track collective hours via a real-time dashboard, compete for team-based rewards (e.g., a virtual coffee chat with your founder), celebrate shared progress, and motivate one another.

To maintain interest in gamification campaigns, it’s important to keep the momentum strong. Use your newsletter or social channels to keep excitement high and publicly acknowledge achievements. When people see others making an impact and getting recognized, they’re more likely to step up themselves.

3. Provide Personalized Marketing Funnels

Tailored messaging resonates deeper than generic appeals for donors, and the same is true for volunteers. To convert donors into volunteers, you need to understand and reflect their individual characteristics at every step of the journey. Keep these personalization tactics in mind:

• Trigger relevant follow-ups: After a donation, send an email thanking the donor for the contribution and highlighting what the contribution could have looked like when converted to volunteer hours.
• Publish dynamic social ads: Retarget donors with ads for volunteer roles matching their interests (e.g., animal lovers see shelter care opportunities).
• Offer role suggestions: Use donor history (e.g., event attendance) to recommend relevant roles on a project-by-project or event-by-event basis. You could even reach out personally with a custom email if you find a great volunteer opportunity for a donor.

To keep your marketing efforts on track, consider trying a behavior-based drip email campaign. For instance, a donor-to-volunteer funnel marketing campaign might look like this:

1. Day 1: “Thank you” email with impact report
2. Day 2: Invitation to take a 30-second quiz (“How would you like to contribute?”)
3. Day 5: Story-based email featuring a donor-turned-volunteer
4. Day 10: Personalized volunteering opportunity based on quiz results
5. Day 14: Reminder with new testimonials and a quick action CTA

4. Create Human-First Content

Donors already care about your mission—what they often lack is a visceral understanding of the human impact of volunteering. With that in mind, you need a way to convey the impact of volunteering—and ultimately, people are moved by stories, not statistics. In fact, stories are 22 times more memorable than facts. Let’s say your nonprofit provides scholarships for underprivileged high school students. Here’s how they might tell volunteering stories:

• Beneficiary testimonials: Share a video of a scholarship recipient speaking about the scholarship’s impact on their life and invite donors to mentor students like them.
• Donor spotlights: Ask a donor-turned-volunteer to provide insights on their volunteering journey. Then, publish a blog post titled, “Why I Became a Volunteer After 5 Years as a Donor” and promote it to your donors.
• Volunteer recognition: Post “Volunteer of the Month” features on Instagram with hashtags like #DonorsWhoDoMore.

While storytelling should take the main focus, data is still important to contextualize impact. Use impact equivalencies in appeals. For instance, an example for a food kitchen might be: “Your $100 donation buys 50 meals. Volunteering 4 hours distributes 200 meals.”

Getting Started

Transitioning donors into volunteers doesn’t require building a new audience; instead, you must deepen the relationship with the one you already have. First, audit your donor communications and branding for missed volunteer opportunities. Then, pilot one tactic (e.g., a gamified challenge) within 30 days and measure results.

The post 4 Marketing Tips to Convert Donors into Volunteers appeared first on Golden.

The question is: how do you ensure that your event achieves its full potential? Let’s explore key strategies to improve your nonprofit’s event planning and make every moment count.

Learn from Your Past Events

Each event your organization plans and executes provides you with a learning opportunity to improve for the next one. Gather your existing data and leverage your organization’s insights from previous fundraisers to boost your future results.

Start by examining key metrics, such as:

• Attendance: Compare the number of event registrations with the number of guests who attended the event.
• Attendee demographics: Categorize attendees by gender, race, and other relevant or prominent groups.
• Total donations: Track the amount raised through your online donation form, onsite, or other avenues, like a live auction or raffle.
• Average donation: Calculate the average online donation amount, including any auctions or raffles.
• Ticket sales: Determine how many tickets were sold to individuals, groups, or discounted for sponsors to attribute revenue accordingly.
• Sponsorship revenue: Identify the amount sponsors contributed relative to ticket sales to understand the value of sponsorships.
• Marketing engagement: Consider how well your nonprofit built event awareness ahead of time, what live coverage looked like during your event, and the types of updates sent out following your event.

Additionally, dive deeper into the success of your past events and collect specific feedback from your supporters:

• Attendees: Ask how easy it was to register and check in, and ask them to evaluate their overall event experience to streamline your future efforts.
• Donors: Assess your existing donation form to ensure it meets donors’ expectations of easy, seamless giving.
• Volunteers: Ensure your fundraising platform provides user-friendly tools that create a positive volunteer experience and boost retention.
• Sponsors: Understand how your organization can collaborate with sponsors to best satisfy their needs, whether through more promotional opportunities or incorporating sponsorship perks.

This information will help your nonprofit better understand its strengths and areas for improvement as you strategize how to define success for your next event.

Set SMART Goals

Confidently make key decisions about your nonprofit’s event by setting clear, achievable goals. Craft your goals through the SMART framework to easily visualize and understand them:

• Specific: Choose concrete fundraising objectives that aren’t too general.
• Measurable: Set key performance indicators that you’ll use to track your progress.
• Achievable: Ensure your goal makes sense based on your nonprofit’s past performance.
• Relevant: Pick a goal that will promote your fundraising success.
• Timely: Create a timeline for completing the tasks associated with your goal.

By working all these parts together, you can create a reasonable goal that you can realistically reach with your current resources. For example, if you’re planning a school’s annual fall fair, your framework may look like the following:

• Specific: Raise $10,000 to support new classroom technology supplies.
• Measurable: Track funds raised through the event’s online fundraising platform.
• Achievable: Reflect on previous fundraisers to create a realistic target.
• Relevant: Determine how this goal will support your organization’s mission. Funds will directly benefit students and support their education.
• Timely: Set an event date close to when students return to school for the fall semester.

When you put all these elements together, your school’s SMART goal would be: Host an annual fall fair to raise $10,000 in the first week of school to support new classroom technology through community engagement and sponsorships.

Aside from making the planning process easier, a well-conceived goal also empowers your organization to measure your success after the event. It provides you with benchmarks to see where you made the most impact and which parts of your event were less successful, helping you improve operations for future events.

Create a Post-Event Plan

Even after the curtains close on your event, your work doesn’t stop. To truly maximize your results, it’s essential to have a solid plan for tackling post-event tasks efficiently.

Here’s a quick checklist to help you wrap up your event and set the stage for future success:

• Event cleanup: Assign a team to tear down tables and gather any collateral, such as banners and signage, to store for your next event.
• Shows of gratitude: Write personal thank-you notes to donors and express appreciation to volunteers, donors, and sponsors to emphasize their valuable contributions.
• Post-event surveys: Collect feedback from event attendees to help plan your future fundraising efforts. Ask questions about their registration and giving experience to identify areas for improvement.
• Long-term stewardship: Build lasting relationships with volunteers, donors, sponsors, and other supporters by following up via an email, letter, or phone call.

With the right strategies immediately following your event, you can leave all attendees and participants feeling good about their contributions and inspire greater engagement in your mission.

Leverage the Best Software Solutions

Make it easier for your team to execute a well-thought-out event with robust fundraising software solutions designed to keep your event planning on track. Here are a few types of software solutions nonprofits should consider using to help with event planning:

• Event management software: Simplifies the planning process by handling registrations, ticketing, table management, and more.
• Fundraising software: Streamlines donation processes, tracks donation pledges, and engages donors to make it attainable to reach your SMART goals.
• Marketing tools: Enhance your event’s reach by automating email campaigns, text-2-give communication, and other supporter outreach to target your audience effectively.
• Volunteer management software: Organize volunteer sign-ups and communicate important event details, including any relevant training ahead of time.

You may also consider solutions specific to your event to boost your revenue. For example, working with the best-in-class auction software will maximize your silent auction revenue with interactive tools like suggested sort or recommended items features that encourage higher bidding.

Enhance Your Nonprofit Event Planning Process

Implement these key strategies for a better-informed event planning process, equipping your organization with the tools you need to host an impactful event. Don’t be afraid of tapping into the power of all-in-one fundraising platforms to meet your event needs at any time of the year, ensuring greater efficiency and results in all your future initiatives.

About OneCause

Over 15 years ago, OneCause set out to revolutionize charitable fundraising. Our founders themselves were gala attendees who thought there had to be an easier way to give. From there an idea and company was created to serve one need: help nonprofits raise more and reach more through technology.

We’re driven to continue improving the giving experience. Donors are looking for a connection; and our technology empowers organizations to put their mission at the forefront.

The post Leveraging The Best Technology To Improve Nonprofit Event Planning appeared first on Golden.

Studies have shown that the average volunteer commits 52 hours a year to volunteerism, and each hour costs $33.49. That means, if you lose one volunteer, it could cost your nonprofit upwards of $1,741! 

With a cost that high for organizers, it’s critical that you’re building a volunteer program that supports, highlights, and celebrates your volunteers so they keep returning. 

But don’t like that number shock you! There are ways to ensure that your volunteers not only thrive, but want to recruit their network to get involved too. 

In this blog, we’ll break down how to boost volunteer participation – and keep them coming back! 

Offer a Variety of Volunteer Opportunity Types

Flexibility is key when creating and offering opportunities for volunteers. When you begin to map the types of programs and opportunities your nonprofit will recruit volunteers for, be mindful by offering a variety of different types. Look beyond the traditional scope of in-person opportunities that require extensive requirements – such as time, resources, and skills. 

Instead explore opportunities like virtual, which can be completed anywhere and on their schedule, or short-term programs that can be completed in a day. Today’s volunteers are busy individuals that are balancing their work and home life and desire to participate in volunteer opportunities that can seamlessly fit into their schedules. 

Be Clear About the Commitment 

When you’re defining your volunteer opportunities, you should clearly state the expected commitment from the volunteer. Will this be a two-hour commitment or three months? You should clarify this at the beginning of the registration process so that your volunteers can make an informed decision. 

Pro Tip: It’s incredibly important to track volunteer hours. This will enable your organization to identify their volunteer impact and can be included on grant applications.

Encourage Micro Actions

Go beyond the traditional ways of engaging volunteers and offer micro actions – task-based activities that can be completed anywhere. Micro actions allows your volunteers to engage however and whenever they want giving them a low entry-point to participate with your cause. This could be: 

• Signing a petition
• Engaging with a social media post
• Picking up trash and logging it in an app
• Completing a survey
• Sharing with a friend
• Handing out flyers
• Goods-based donations

Unlike traditional methods which can require a time commitment, conducted in-person, or have specific requirements, micro actions encourage volunteers to make a positive impact in a shorter amount of time, based on their schedule, and is an easy way to engage repeatedly with a cause. 

Pro Tip: Use a volunteer management platform, like Golden, that can help you promote and track micro actions completed by volunteers.

Offer Onboarding, Support, and Training

Once you recruit volunteers, the job doesn’t stop there! Part of a volunteer’s journey with your organization is offering onboarding and ongoing support and training. When you provide a holistic, informed, and supported experience, a volunteer is more likely to want to participate again. 

Inclusive Onboarding

Before a volunteer participates for the first time, you’ll want to ensure that they’re properly onboarded to your organization. This informative session should be a reasonable time commitment and cover important information about your mission, requirements to participate, paperwork completion, safety information, a tour of the facility, and introduction to key team members. 

Pro Tip: Try and combine your onboarding process with their first shift, that way a volunteer can seamlessly transition into their 

Support and Training

Continuing to provide ongoing support and training to your volunteers not only makes for an enjoyable experience, but a safe one as well! Provide your volunteers with training anytime something new occurs for their program, safety measures change, or new features are introduced. This will give them the confidence to continue returning to assist your nonprofit.

Highlight Their Impact

We all know the importance of highlighting donors in newsletters, social media posts, and reports, but have you considered highlighting a volunteer’s story or impact? When you provide a stage for a volunteer’s story, you not only bring a more authentic story to your mission, but provide a chance for that volunteer to feel appreciated. 

Ask repeat volunteers to sit down for an informal interview where they can share their story. Bonus points if you record this interview that can then be shared on your website, social media, or YouTube channel. Don’t fear! Videos don’t require top-of-the-line production equipment. Your cell phone has more than enough capacities for recording a interview to share with others. 

When sharing volunteer impacts in board reports, it’s important to highlight data points, but also to craft storylines as well. Partnering data points with volunteer stories can really make the impact shine and showcase the importance of utilizing volunteers for pushing your mission forward. 

Recruit Through Current Volunteers

As you look to grow your volunteer recruitment, we often default to posting online, on forums, and posting flyers in our local coffee shop. Much like how asking a stranger for a donation, you’ll be turned down, the same goes for asking a stranger to volunteer with little to no connection to your cause. However, when a current volunteer asks or recruits within their network, you’re more likely to hear a responding, “yes”! 

Offer incentives to your volunteers to invite their friends and family to volunteer at your next event. If they work for a corporation or local business, ask about organizing a volunteering day with their coworkers. Your current volunteers are the best resource for finding, recruiting, and growing your volunteer program in an organic and authentic way. Let your faithful volunteers share their story of hope and passion in order to recruit others. 

Make it Easy to Volunteer 

For most organizers, the default for signing up for opportunities was good old fashion paper sign-ups sheets. However, it can be difficult organizing volunteers, especially for multi-day events, managing their preferred times, and ensuring all documentation is obtained prior to arriving to the event.

When you use a volunteer management platform that enables you to create, post, and manage volunteers through online registration pages, you can easily track all the important details so nothing gets lost!

Likewise, volunteers can find opportunities that align with their requirements – such as time, skill level, and more – as well as upload background checks, motor vehicle reports, and other documentation required to participate all before arriving. Talk about a time savings!

Pro Tip: Use a volunteer management platform that also offers a mobile app! Make it easier for volunteers to find, sign up, and get excited about participating with your organization. 

The post How to Boost Volunteer Participation (and Keep Them Coming Back) appeared first on Golden.

Effective communication is central to any engagement strategy. While it can be tempting to send message after message in the hopes that your volunteers will respond to one of them, your engagement efforts will be more effective if you prioritize quality over quantity.

In this guide, we’ll discuss four ways to make the most of your organization’s volunteer communications, including how to:

1. 1. Segment Your Volunteers
   2. Leverage Multiple Communication Channels
   3. Balance Automation With Personalization
   4. Ask Volunteers for Feedback

These strategies are a good starting point for any type of volunteer-fueled organization, whether you’re recruiting them to manage your school PTA’s fundraisers, take care of rescue pets at your animal shelter, or help run special events at your museum. Let’s dive in!

1. Segment Your Volunteers

Segmentation is the process of dividing your organization’s supporters into outreach groups based on shared characteristics. This way, you can tailor your marketing messages to resonate with each segment.

When segmenting all of the supporters in your nonprofit’s database, you might create a general “Volunteer” segment to distinguish them from donors and other individuals involved with your organization. However, if you want to hone your volunteer outreach, you should further categorize your volunteers based on their involvement with your organization.

Some specific volunteer segments to note in your database include:

• First-time volunteers
• Event volunteers
• Remote or virtual volunteers
• Volunteers who serve on a recurring basis (weekly, monthly, annually, etc.)
• Volunteers who hold leadership positions (for example, serving as mentors or chairing volunteer committees)
• Volunteers who are also donors
• Volunteers whose employers offer corporate volunteer programs such as volunteer grants or company-wide service days
• Volunteers at risk of lapsing (i.e., those who haven’t meaningfully engaged with your organization in more than 12 months)

Each of these groups has different needs and preferences when it comes to the content and timing of your communications. For instance, volunteers who hold leadership positions likely need frequent updates on your organization’s various initiatives and priorities, while event volunteers may only want to hear from you when an event is coming up. Identifying these characteristics allows you to send targeted communications that each segment finds useful.

2. Leverage Multiple Communication Channels

To effectively accommodate all of your volunteer segments’ preferences, you’ll need to communicate through several marketing channels. While you shouldn’t go overboard with repetitive messages, a multi-channel strategy expands your reach and makes it more likely that volunteers will hear what you have to say to them.

Make sure to incorporate these communication channels into your volunteer outreach:

• Your organization’s website. Create a volunteer hub or portal that volunteers can navigate to from your main site and find everything they need to know about upcoming opportunities, participation guidelines, recent successes, and more.
• Email. Research shows that the average professional receives a whopping 121 emails per day. To stand out in your volunteers’ crowded inboxes, write compelling subject lines and concise email copy that they’ll be more likely to open and read.

• Text messages. Texting allows you to get in touch with volunteers quickly, so it’s effective for last-minute updates and other brief reminders. Ensure volunteers are familiar with your organization’s SMS number so they don’t misconstrue your texts as spam.
• Print communications. While digital messages are fast and convenient, offline channels still have a place in your volunteer communication strategy! For example, an eye-catching flyer can encourage volunteers to sign up for an opportunity when they visit your facility, and handwritten thank-you notes show you truly appreciate their support.

According to NXUnite’s nonprofit marketing guide, your organization should track relevant performance metrics from each of your communication channels, such as email open rates and traffic to your online volunteer portal. That way, you can understand which communications resonate most with your volunteers and put more time and effort into those channels going forward.

3. Balance Automation With Personalization

With a multi-channel communication strategy, your organization will likely end up sending dozens of messages to volunteers each week. So, it’s important to find ways to streamline content creation and message delivery to ensure your team isn’t overwhelmed.

Doubleknot recommends leveraging email and SMS marketing tools with automation capabilities so you can schedule messages in advance, quickly transfer segmented contact lists from your supporter database, and eliminate the need for manual data tracking. Content generation solutions powered by AI can also help you develop website copy and email templates more quickly.

However, if you incorporate these solutions into your volunteer communications, don’t let personalization fall by the wayside! Configure your marketing tools to insert each volunteer’s name into the greetings of emails and text messages, as that small gesture can humanize your organization and help deepen your relationship with them. Additionally, rather than copying and pasting AI-generated messages, edit the outputs to align with your organization’s unique writing style and effectively address your target audience.

4. Ask Volunteers for Feedback

Besides personalized communications, another way to show that your organization values its volunteers is to ask for their feedback on their experiences. Send out surveys to your volunteers a few times a year to gather their input on a regular basis. These surveys should take five minutes or less to complete and include a variety of questions, such as:

• How did you find out about our organization and its volunteer program?
• On a scale of one to five, how satisfied are you with your overall volunteering experience?
• What has been your favorite part of volunteering with our organization?
• If you could change one thing about our volunteer program, what would it be and why?
• How do you prefer to learn about volunteer opportunities, news, and updates (e.g., through the volunteer portal, text messages, emails, or another method)?
• How frequently would you like to receive volunteering-related communications from us?

Track your survey responses and analyze them to identify your volunteer program’s strengths and areas for improvement according to your volunteers. As you implement their suggestions, communicate about the changes you’ve made to show that your volunteers’ voices have been heard.

Every organization that relies on volunteers is different, so you’ll need to adapt these strategies to align with the size and preferences of your volunteer base, as well as your engagement needs. Segmenting your volunteers and asking them for feedback can help you understand your audience better. Once you get the lay of the land, you can implement a multi-channel communication strategy that effectively balances automation with personalization to achieve your organization’s goals for volunteer satisfaction and retention.

The post 4 Strategies to Improve Your Org’s Volunteer Communications appeared first on Golden.

Surveys are challenging because the volunteer experience is so multifaceted. According to Jurgen Willem’s Volunteer Satisfaction Model (2013), there are five different levels of volunteer satisfaction, from joy in completing a task to more aspirational goals. Measuring that type of complex satisfaction is tricky, but it is every volunteer manager’s aim.

It is intelligent to default to best practices for survey questions and also utilize tools, like . Here are some top tips to ease your survey development process, including how to utilize tools like volunteer software solutions to simplify processes.

What are Volunteer Surveys?

Volunteer surveys aim to derive useful data for a volunteer manager to better advance organizational goals. They could be fulfilling any of the following objectives:

• Collecting basic data. Volunteer managers may send a questionnaire or survey to new prospects to collect their contact information, availability and relevant details from curriculum vitae.
• Task-matching survey. These questions focus on interests and passions so that volunteer managers can better match available jobs to their volunteer pool. It can also help volunteer managers design new roles that are in demand within their available work pool.
• Market research. Sometimes, organizations will utilize a pool of volunteers to help establish demographics and brand feedback for their marketing team. These types of surveys are often considered “engagement” surveys, as they provide a forum for volunteers to express their opinions on general program strategy.
• Satisfaction survey. Volunteer managers will send a list of questions about the satisfaction of an experience either directly after an event or at certain intervals of time (monthly, quarterly, annually, etc.). These are critical tools to improve volunteer experience.

5 Benefits of Volunteer Surveys

Volunteer surveys can benefit organizations in multiple ways. Here are just a few examples.

1. Streamline data collection. Asking volunteers to complete an intake survey can ease administrative processes. Think about sending a volunteer recruitment email that automatically directs intakes to a platform like Golden to enter their pertinent information into your systems, onboard, perform any necessary background checks, and even receive basic training to get started as quickly as possible.
2. Show you what’s working – and what isn’t. You may think volunteers love a particular program or prefer in-person events to flexible online work. Sending an anonymous survey about satisfaction and preferences can clarify which programs are preferred within your volunteer opportunity list.
3. Improve productivity. Volunteers likely have ideas on how to improve your processes, especially on how to apply their particular skills. You won’t know unless you ask! Surveys demonstrate that feedback is desired and provide an open forum to discuss open-ended ideas that can lead to program improvements.
4. Show appreciation. Just sending a survey and telling folks you care about their opinions is a form of appreciation. You can never thank volunteers enough!
5. Provide great material for analytics. Collected data can be generated into demonstrative impact reports for your leadership and the broader community.

Considerations for Creating a Volunteer Survey

Before designing your volunteering survey questions, you must consider logistical components behind the proposed feedback resource. These include the following questions.

What tools will help you streamline your survey administration? 

Online survey and polling tools can help improve response time and collate data. Volunteer management platforms like Golden have these built in as program features to help you develop questions and communication mediums to reach your volunteers and volunteer prospects.

Golden can also help you use that data afterwards with integrations to the top CRM tools, like Salesforce, to improve contact management. With Golden, you can also use entry survey data for new volunteers to determine gaps in readiness, to direct volunteer prospects to onboarding tools and background checks. The data will become useful in the future to help you generate reports for time logged and to send satisfaction and engagement surveys going forward.

How will you distribute your survey? 

Your volunteer management platform or other online systems (email or social media) likely have the lowest administrative burden for your survey distribution. You might have some volunteers, however, who will need paper versions in the mail. Others might respond best to a verbal interview in person. In that case, you will want a brief question list and a staff person available directly after a service event.

What should your volunteer sample size be?

To perform accurate surveys, you need to have a high percentage of responses from a large enough group. The general rule is to survey at least 100 participants and expect at least a 10 percent return on surveys.

If your volunteer group is smaller, however, you can still survey them! Aim for a more meaningful survey experience in this case. You have the added benefit of being able to make the survey or questionnaire more intimate and meaningful.

How are you going to convince volunteers to participate? 

There are a few tricks that will ensure a higher level of participation from your survey group.

1. Make sure you convey how important it is to get the results. Let volunteers know that certain funders require the survey data, or that your board of directors will not include the project in next year’s budget if you do not receive feedback. Also, tell them that you are asking for the information to benefit them personally, to be able to make the experience more meaningful for them or other volunteers in the future.
2. Offer an incentive. Some organizations offer an entry in a prize raffle or other similar incentive to convince people to fill in their survey. Make sure that incentive is time-bound, for responses received by a certain date.
3. Ensure anonymity. People are more likely to be honest if you indicate that their answers will not be shared. Offer a box to check on the top of the survey form for that option.
4. Send it more than once. Re-send the survey to volunteers multiple times. People forget to complete extra tasks!

   

Sample Volunteering Survey Questions

We can break down some top questions for surveys by the type of survey you are sending. What data do you hope to retrieve?

Also think about whether you want the question to be open-ended (as in they respond with a short answer), or closed (offering a range of multiple-choice options for a response or a scale). With online surveys, you can offer a drop down menu for most “open-ended” questions. This will help you streamline the data collection and analytics later.

Onboarding/Intake Questions

• How did you come across our volunteer program? (Sample drop down menu options are: 1. Online search, 2. Referral, 3. Work, or 4. School, 5. Other)
• What types of volunteer opportunities are you interested in? (In a drop down menu, you can list your top opportunities.)
• When is the best time for you to volunteer? (You can link directly to a calendar app in your volunteer management software and ask them to select the best days and times.)
• How do you like to communicate? (A drop down menu might include options for 1. Phone, 2. Email, 3. Social media, 4. Mail)
• How can we improve your registration experience?

Follow-Up Questions to an Event

• Do you think you made a difference with your volunteer work? (For an open-ended question, add on “Can you share 2 or 3 sentences on How?”. For a scale response, add: 5 = It was amazing; I feel the world shifting. 4 = I had a great time and felt I made an impact. 3 = It was as good as other volunteer experiences. 2 = It didn’t have much of an impact. 1 = It was a waste of time.)
• How can we improve upon our volunteer experience? (Ask them to add 2 or 3 descriptive sentences.)
• Would you recommend the program to your peers or family? (“Yes or no” works here.)
• Can we contact you in the future? How often? (Offer a scale of 1 = Never, 2 = Every few months, 3 = Monthly, 4 = Weekly, 5 = Whenever you like!)
• How likely are you to continue volunteering with future opportunities? (High, Medium, or Low).
• How would you rate your overall experience? (5 = Excellent, 1 = Bad)
• By which means did you register with our organization? (You can offer a drop down of your top marketing channels or keep the question open-ended.)
• Was the project description accurate? (Yes or No)
• Do you know how to put volunteer work on a resume? (Yes or No, with an option “I would like more information about this.)
• How long did it take for us to contact you? (Immediately, Soon Enough, Too Long)
• How would you rate your experience with staff and other volunteers? (Very Helpful, Helpful, Neutral, Unhelpful, Very Unhelpful)

Volunteering Survey Best Practices

Make sure your survey has a clear objective and will help you collect data and/or analyze your impact in a productive way. You also need to make sure the survey actually works and adds value to your programming! Here are some tips for success.

1. Keep the survey questions related to a specific topic. Are you collecting intake information, or are you trying to assess their satisfaction? Is the point to learn about where you can improve your experience going forward? The questions should all relate back to the topic goals.
2. Remove bias. Make sure all of your questions are objective and do not lead your volunteers towards answering favorably. Bias can skew results.
3. Mix your open-ended questions with scaled questions or drop-downs. You want to include at least one open-ended question, to offer a space for volunteers to be more expansive. You might end every survey with a simple question like “Is there anything else you want to add?”.
4. Keep it very short. A survey should not take any longer than 5 to 7 minutes.
5. Ask someone to test it first. Send the survey to a staff member or trusted volunteer to test before you send it to your bulk list. It might be too long, or a question might be confusing.
6. Choose the right audience. Do not send a detailed feedback survey on the onboarding experience to seasoned volunteers. On the other hand, you probably do not want to send a “how satisfying was the event” survey to volunteers that have not worked with you for months! Tools like Golden can help you ensure your contact lists are organized by the right type of volunteer, or go even farther and automate sending the right survey for each volunteer in your pool.
7. Send your survey at an appropriate time. Satisfaction surveys need to go out directly following an event. You would not want to send an engagement survey in the middle of your busy volunteer season, either, when your volunteers might already be feeling overwhelmed. Set a calendar on your volunteer management platform to automate your surveys, to ensure they are sent at the right time, to the right people.
8. Store and analyze your results. Volunteer management systems can help you store information for longer periods of time, in compliant ways. They’ll also help you create meaningful reports, including comparative analysis from your stored data, to help you consider trends over time.
9. Thank your volunteers for participating. It might sound simple, but make sure you thank your volunteers for participating in some way. It can be as easy as adding a pop-up window that says “thanks, you’re the best” with a confetti spray. Or go out of your way to send a personal text or email letting you know you received their input and appreciate their service.

Key Takeaways from Volunteering Surveys

Recruiting, training, engaging, and retaining volunteers can be a challenge. Surveys are a fantastic tool to streamline the onboarding process and help you recruit the best volunteers for the most appropriate roles. They can also help you better understand your own processes and make room for vital organizational improvements within your volunteer management systems.

The best volunteer management software – Golden – can help you streamline the survey process from recruitment to marketing analytics well after events.   Golden can help you write questions and set up personalized schedules for each volunteer to receive surveys to their preferred communication channels.

It can also help you generate integrated reports that compare feedback data in the short term and over time. That way, you can see exactly how your programs and opportunities are improving, in both satisfaction for volunteers and in community impact.   You will gain a new level of confidence in your volunteering survey questions and administration.

The post How to Develop Volunteering Survey Questions: Top Tips appeared first on Golden.

Volunteering is a popular hobby in the United States. Americorps data show over half of Americans informally volunteered to help others between September 2020 and September 2021, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.   

Volunteers contribute significantly to your everyday life, even if it’s a small gesture. Oscar Wilde once said, “The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention. 

Here’s how volunteer work improves the community. Some volunteers may help individuals, while others do selfless acts to assist entire neighborhoods and cities. The positive impact of philanthropy is clear for both the recipient and the volunteer.  

9 Ways Volunteers Affect Your Life

Volunteers ensure the day runs smoothly for millions worldwide, from elementary schools to senior facilities. They willingly give up their time and spend resources to help others. Elizabeth Andrew once said, “Volunteers do not necessarily have the time — they just have the heart.”

Any time of the year is fitting to volunteer, whether National Volunteer Week in mid-April or International Volunteer Day on Dec. 5. Walk around town and you’ll see volunteer work everywhere. Here are nine ways to demonstrate how volunteer work affects your daily life.

A volunteer management software can be incredibly helpful in organizing and coordinating the efforts of volunteers. With the help of such software, volunteer managers can efficiently communicate with volunteers, track their hours, assign tasks, and even offer training and support. This streamlines the volunteer management process, making it easier to keep track of who is volunteering and when, ensuring that the day runs smoothly. 

1. National Guard

Emergency response is necessary when natural disasters strike. All 50 states, the District of Columbia and the other U.S. territories have a national guard ready to dispatch when the calls for help are the loudest. Who composes most members of the force? They’re volunteers. Data show nearly 450,000 members across the Army National Guard and Air National Guard. 

National guards do tremendous work when hurricanes hit land. Last fall, Hurricane Ian devastated Florida and other states along the Atlantic Coast. In the aftermath, over 5,200 National Guard members from Florida and seven other states cleared the roads and searched for people trapped underneath debris. National Guard personnel are among the first to respond in emergencies and save lives.

2. Neighborhood Watch

It takes a village to keep communities safe. Neighbors who look out for one another create a caring community, increasing security and peace of mind for everybody. Many towns and neighborhoods have watch groups consisting of volunteers who monitor activity in the area. A member will alert others and decide the best course of action if somebody or something is acting suspiciously. 

Potential thieves are less likely to commit a crime if they see a sign saying a neighborhood watch group patrols your area. Are you interested in forming a neighborhood watch in your town? Recruiting trustworthy members is integral for keeping everybody safe. Use background checks and interviews to find the best options for your group. You’ll want people who can deter crime and create neighborly bonds with everybody. 

3. Volunteer Fire Stations

Many cities and towns have municipal services to keep the residents safe. Police and fire departments offer around-the-clock assistance. However, some people don’t live close enough to these stations for help when emergencies arise. Instead, they rely on the local volunteer fire department. 

Volunteer fire stations are most common in small towns. In fact, 95% of volunteer firefighters work in communities with fewer than 25,000 people. These communities often don’t have the infrastructure and funding for paid workers, so they rely on volunteers to do this necessary job. Volunteer firefighters combat fires, direct traffic in accidents, support the local police and conduct rescue operations when needed.

4. Animal Shelters 

Estimates show Americans adopt over 4 million dogs and cats annually. New animals arrive at shelters daily because they’re homeless or their owners decide they can’t keep them anymore. Many shelters employ a few workers but heavily rely on volunteers to care for the animals. These locations may have hundreds of cats and dogs to watch, so volunteers are essential to their functioning.

Animal shelters rely on volunteers to socialize the cats and dogs in the facility. Human interaction is necessary to maintain the animals’ well-being and prepare them for adoption. Volunteers often take time to clean the cages, feed the pets and monitor the safety of the youngest animals.  

Suppose you want to start a volunteer group. An animal shelter program would be an excellent start for targeting popular volunteer interests among your peers. Most people love animals and are willing to spend their free time helping them. One day at the shelter could lead some of your members to adopt pets. 

5. Homeless Shelters

Food, water and shelter are three necessities in life. Take one out of the equation and survival becomes much more complicated. Homeless shelters act as a safety net to care for those who need it most and have no home to go to. Members of the unhoused community may be in their place in life for numerous reasons. These shelters often rely on volunteers to ensure the current inhabitants have what they need to survive. 

People in a homeless shelter are just like you. They need three meals daily, hygienic products and a bed to sleep in. Psychologically, they need social stimulation through conversation, games and other activities. The people you help today could someday become influential stars. Famous people like Kelly Clarkson, Sylvester Stallone and Halle Berry relied on homeless shelters to survive when they were younger. 

6. Food Banks

Many are fortunate to live in a home, apartment or some form of permanent housing. However, food insecurity is still a rampant problem in the U.S. A Feeding America report reveals 53 million people relied on a food bank for supplies in 2021. 

Food insecurity stems from numerous factors. People may face chronic health conditions, unemployment, low income and inadequate health care. Many people rely on food banks to get the supplies they need. Consequently, these organizations need volunteers to donate their time. Food pantries are excellent opportunities for kids to earn volunteer hours for their school clubs.

Food pantry volunteers are essential to operations. They may accept donations at the front desk and sort through the canned goods to organize them. Inspection is critical for volunteers because they must ensure the food is safe enough for someone to eat. Food banks also need volunteers to deliver donated food to homeless shelters and facilities that feed impoverished people.  

7. Senior Living Facilities

Reaching retirement age is a special time for many older adults. They can spend their golden years traveling and having new experiences they didn’t get to do earlier. However, some people reach old age and find their health deteriorating. They may have physical or mental conditions impairing their ability to live independently. Thus, they rely on senior living facilities for care. 

Retirement centers, nursing homes and other facilities have on-site staff to assist with medical emergencies. However, they often need volunteers to help older people with smaller tasks. For example, you can help with recreational activities. Some administrators coordinate game nights, arts and crafts, concerts and other fun events. 

Some seniors may feel lonely at these facilities if they don’t have friends or people they can relate to. Volunteers can provide essential social time by keeping them company, playing board games or taking them out for a meal. You can learn a lot from older adults. They can take you back and teach you about historical events with firsthand accounts.      

8. Hospitals

The past three years have demonstrated the importance of health care workers worldwide. The pandemic stretched doctors and nurses thin, causing burnout and turnover at many hospitals. These facilities rely on volunteers to fill the gaps the usual staff can’t complete. Some emergencies may require all hands on deck, leaving shifts understaffed. 

Hospital volunteers are critical because they make daily operations easier for the nurses. They may restock the supply room, chart medical records, help with patient discharge, answer phone calls and do other small tasks not requiring a license. Volunteering at a hospital provides an excellent experience for young people considering a career in health care. Volunteers are 27% more likely to find a job than those who don’t.   

9. Libraries

Much of the world has gone digital. Some schools use online textbooks, and you may have an e-reader to read your favorite novels. However, thousands of libraries still exist nationwide and are vital to their communities. The American Library Association (ALA) estimates there are just over 9,000 public libraries in the United States.  

You might not imagine the necessity of volunteers, but many facilities need them. The tasks you complete may differ by location. Libraries typically have people do front desk work, such as registering residents for a new library card or cleaning an area for an incoming class. 

Libraries are vital in communities because they provide a safe space for learners. Children can go after school to study or read instead of being alone at home. Reading at any age promotes literacy and opens doors for learning about anything and everything. 

Recognizing the Invaluable Work of Volunteers

Volunteers make life as we know it possible. Volunteer work leads to a better society filled with selfless individuals who find something bigger than themselves. You could spend an hour or a week volunteering. Regardless, you’ll help somebody in need and feel better about yourself. 

Volunteering is a terrific way to spend a day, regardless of age. Research shows it helps your cognitive function and self-esteem as you age. A 2020 Journals of Gerontology study finds volunteer work reduces cognitive decline and can be a good strategy for older adults to prevent various forms of dementia.  

Small tasks go a long way. Imagine helping your neighbor walk their dogs because they have a physical disability or spending an hour stocking cans at a food pantry. These minor efforts won’t take long but compound when many volunteers do them. Volunteer work creates a community that cares for others when help is necessary.

The post The Effect of Volunteers on Your Daily Life appeared first on Golden.

From the corporation’s perspective, an amazing 77% of consumers are more motivated to purchase from companies that are “making the world a better place.”  This compels companies to do good. Only 20% of corporations in 2011 published a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report. In 2019, 90% of corporations published a report.

Usually, CSR for corporations involves nonprofit partnerships. These nonprofit–corporate partnerships are arrangements where the corporation and the nonprofit align in their goals and receive mutual benefits.  Benefits for nonprofits may be monetary, as in philanthropic donations and sponsorships. They may be time, talent, or treasure. Sometimes a corporation has an interest in seeing a certain change happen in the community. Boosting families out of poverty may create more consumers for their products, for instance. 

Nonprofit–corporate partnership models have existed for more than 100 years. But the combination of many factors including the COVID pandemic and modern worker values has changed the dynamics of corporate volunteering.   

New tech tools like Golden have opened up possibilities for volunteer roles. They simplify management and recruitment capacity.  This makes it easier to maximize mutual benefits within corporate and nonprofit partnerships.        

The Definition of a Nonprofit–Corporate Partnership

Nonprofit partnerships with corporations have 3 components. 

1. They reflect shared values. The corporation’s CSR or charitable mission for social good in the community should reflect similar values to that of the nonprofit organization. A corporation that sells school supplies might benefit from CSR that nudges parents to choose their products. They will look for charities that match their values. These might be charities that uplift underserved children through sports sponsorships or after-school programs.
   
2. Both the corporation and the nonprofit benefit. Companies can reap tax deductions from gifts while improving their CSR metrics from working with nonprofits. Nonprofits should receive the same value of reward for their partnership. They may receive donations of money or time from corporate volunteers. The benefits should be equal and mutually beneficial for the partnership to be fair.
   
3. Equal commitment. Both parties should be committing equitable time and resources to the arrangement. One side might be more willing to provide staff time and leadership while the other provides goods and funding. However, the exchange should be equitable and demonstrate commitment by both sides. 

Volunteers can help nonprofits achieve their goals by providing specific skills or simple manpower for events like clothing drives. 

5 Reasons Corporate Partnerships are Important for Nonprofits

There are many great reasons that nonprofits should engage in corporate partnerships. Here are five. 

1. Easy unrestricted operating funding. Corporations can deduct a good amount of charitable donations to qualified nonprofits in the United States and many other countries. This improves their tax liability.  Many companies have a charitable foundation or fund to which they channel a portion of profits every year. Nonprofits with good corporate partnerships are the go-to recipients of these gifts. Better yet, the gifts are usually unrestricted. 
   
2. Sponsorship funding. On top of philanthropic funding, corporations mandate a portion of their marketing budget to support social impact efforts. This means they want their name on nonprofit events and programs. Nonprofits that have good relationships established with corporations can tap into this resource with less effort.
   
3. New donors. Many corporations offer matching funds for gifts to nonprofits from employees and other similar workplace giving programs. It is easier to attract these volunteers through nonprofit–corporate partnerships.
   
4. Improved volunteer capacity. Corporate volunteerism  is a great way for a nonprofit to improve its capacity and connect with the community. Companies can lend knowledgeable expertise and skills, or simply manpower, for community projects.
   
5. Improved marketing and branding. Having the clout of good corporate partnerships can help a nonprofit attract more community support from other corporations, donors, and potential partners. 

5 Reasons Nonprofit Partnerships are Important for Corporations

Likewise, nonprofit partnerships have particular benefits for corporations. Here are the top reasons corporations seek out these relationships. 

1. Social responsibility. Helping nonprofits links directly back to impact goals. The best nonprofit volunteer management software, Golden, seamlessly integrates with other software. Golden users can integrate data with Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, Blackbaud, and Workday to track volunteer hours and volunteer tasks completed against corporate goals.
   
2. Brand management. Linking marketing to great causes in the community that consumers care about will boost a corporation’s image, sometimes a lot.
   
3. Employee fulfillment.   Employees are happier if they know their corporate brand is giving back to the community in positive ways. They are also happier if they get to be part of events that give back. Volunteering improves mental health and even lowers blood pressure.  Happy employees produce more and stay longer! Supporting corporate volunteerism is a win-win for companies.
   
4. Employee skill building. When employees volunteer, they learn new skills and sharpen old ones while connecting with others in their community. Volunteering in this way can be a fun way to encourage team building, managerial skills practice, and leadership development. 
   
5. Tax benefits. Governments in developed countries give tax breaks to corporations for a reason. They want them to give charitable donations to nonprofits. Direct philanthropy models can be more efficient than government-sponsored social programs. That helps communities save along the value chain. Corporations with  nonprofit partnerships in place get the tax break and also receive all of the above benefits.  

Examples of Great Nonprofit–Corporate Partnerships 

March of Dimes relies on corporate partnerships for funding and support. It can attract great partners because of the value-add it lends.  It boasts 99% name recognition amongst moms in America. About 79% of mothers align with the organization’s values. One of their key nonprofit partnerships is with Pampers. The leading diaper company has a vested interest in supporting March of Dimes’ mission for maternal and infant health equity. 

The United Way is one of the most recognized nonprofits in America and relies on solid corporate partnerships to meet its goals. To attract corporate partnerships, the organization has a toolkit of tactics. One of its strategies is to offer volunteer impact measurement through Golden software, linking to various community events throughout the United States. 

Kelloggs has directly partnered with United Way for more than 90 years, helping source food for tens of thousands of children in need annually. The partnership uses volunteer management software to track exactly how many children are impacted, in which communities, and with how many volunteer hours. Those impact measurements go directly toward Kelloggs’ CSR goals. In turn, the work improves United Way’s reach.

Corporations are likely to align with nonprofit missions that support their CSR goals or match well with their target consumer base’s values. A reliable effort is helping children’s sports teams or mentorship programs.

Attracting Corporate Partnerships

Smaller organizations can be successful at attracting corporate nonprofit partnerships, as well. A key to success is using a software tool like Golden. In Golden, nonprofits can post volunteer opportunities that resonate with corporations and demonstrate a clear pathway toward meeting their CSR goals. 

Volunteer opportunities can be an inflection point for attracting new partners. Nonprofits also can use Golden to search through companies whose goals align with their missions. Then they can work on connecting and progressing to deeper relationships. 

It is also important to be explicit. Nonprofits should state that they are interested in attracting corporate partnerships to begin with! Nonprofits can create meaningful webpages and outreach materials like the March of Dimes and United Way examples. Their corporate nonprofit partnerships pages outline the mutual benefits, the terms for engagement, and different options for participation in the programs. 

With Golden, corporations can browse 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations, research what they’re about and their performance using Charity Navigator data, volunteer with them, and donate to them. CSR team leaders and champions within the company can manage team and group signups and recommend and curate opportunities to their colleagues. 

They can request “custom” versions to fit the company’s specific needs for virtual, in-person, and skills-based volunteer opportunities. Members of the corporation can even donate to nonprofits (and get tax receipts) as means to make custom reservations.  Within these partnerships, both the company and the nonprofit get automatic, real-time tracking dashboards to view the engagement, hours, and impact KPIs associated with the work the employees complete. 

Forming a Nonprofit–Corporate Partnership

It is important for everyone to be clear in their goals and expectations when pursuing nonprofit partnerships. Key steps include the following. 

1. Define goals. Each party should outline what they are hoping to achieve from the partnership. Is the goal impact metrics, a certain value of in-kind volunteer hours, or a specific sponsorship amount? How do those metrics relate back to the nonprofit mission and the corporate plan?
   
2. Pick a partnership model. What type of partnership will work best to meet shared goals? Types of partnership models include skills-based volunteering, fundraising support, and workplace giving programs.  
   
3. Create an agreement. Some corporations may want a memorandum of understanding or formal contract. For others a simple email conversation or verbal agreement suffices.
   
4. Nominate points of contact. One person from each organization should be the point person for the work.
   
5. Share a common software tool. The two parties should both have access to the same web tool to coordinate, engage, track, and scale their program together. Golden is the most award-winning corporate and nonprofit volunteering platform. Key innovative factors are that it can process donations, and it automatically updates with other tools companies and nonprofits have in place, via integrations.
   
6. Evaluate, learn, and reset. At set milestones, get together and debrief! Go over the impact metrics of volunteer programs and donations.  Learn from your results, and innovate improvements for the future. Definitely make sure there are more opportunities available, because employees will want to capture that “glow” and keep doing something good!

Streamlining Nonprofit Partnerships with Tech Tools

Nonprofit partnerships with corporations have become even more important over the past 20 years. Nonprofits are competing heavily for charitable resources. And corporations need to be socially engaged to maintain their customers and grow their businesses. 

Volunteering is a critical component of the nonprofit partnerships mix. Great software like Golden can help nonprofits and corporations alike define and meet their goals, in simpler ways. 

Corporations can shop around for the most engaging volunteer opportunities for their employees. On the other hand, with seamless integration with Salesforce management, nonprofits can see, in a snapshot, which companies their current volunteers are connected with and how. These are pathways toward creating meaningful nonprofit–corporate partnerships that can lead to greater good for all involved. 

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