There are a few keys to volunteer management that we have learned over the years.  Being a volunteer management platform for some of the largest non-profits, we have seen a lot of challenges.  Some challenges were to retain volunteers, while others were to clean up "stale" volunteers.  Either way, these are challenges your non-profit will likely encounter or at least question over the course of your mission.  We have created configurable solutions to almost all problems our clients have.  Duplie loves volunteers, and volunteers love Duplie!  With a 95% client retention rate and growing 300% year over year - Duplie is one of the best options for managing volunteers.  We take pride in our clients AND their volunteers.  Some of the decisions we make on our platform only benefit the volunteer, not the non-profit.  But we are okay with that.  We value both our non-profits and volunteers equally and treat both with care and respect.  We set out to create a platform that volunteers and non-profits would love to use.  And we are well on our way.  It's all about our clients and simplicity!

Making it easy

One of the main things to remember when your organization uses volunteers, is you need to make it easy for them!  Volunteers are amazing.  They are willing to donate their time to help a cause.  Your cause.  So it's important to not get them involved in "your processes".  That's how Duplie helps.  We've designed a cutting-edge volunteer management system for nonprofits, that allows you to easily manage your volunteers.  The same online system gives your volunteers an easy and intuitive interface to make changes as they need.  We make it easy for volunteers to find opportunities that they want and also make it easy to cancel.  Many organizations have volunteers of all ages, and some are not "internet savvy", so it's also important to keep a manual process in place.  This process is enhanced by making it easy for the volunteer coordinator to cancel and assign volunteers.  Keeping volunteer coordinators in the loop is equally important so you have all your bases covered.  Having multiple views that show you openings, or even daily notifications are beneficial to keep things running smooth.  So we've also added that functionality to our system.  You can setup a time to receive notifications for when you have roles that aren't filled.  

Aside from making sign-ups and cancellations easy, it's also important to give your volunteers the information they need about their volunteer duties.  Adding helpful functions like linking to Google Maps for directions, and adding the opportunity to their Google calendar are some other ways Duplie helps.

Rewarding Volunteers

Volunteers aren't greedy, but it's awesome if you can give back, and reward them.  So adding achievements or recognition awards is a great way to show them you appreciate their help.  You can add custom achievements, birthday celebrations (and more) in Duplie to show them how much you care.  These might be little things, but they add up.  And keeping your volunteers happy and impressed with you goes a long ways!

Stay Connected (Email AND SMS)

With any volunteer management system, staying connected with your volunteers can help to retain them.  With Duplie you can setup custom groups to email, and they can configure their permissions to restrict emails they don't want.  SMS/Text is a leading communication tool to stay connected.  If your volunteer management solution doesn't allow SMS, you need to look at other products (like Duplie! :).  Duplie also has the ability to receive SMS/Texts from your volunteers.  You can then respond to the volunteer via SMS all from within Duplie.  Pretty neat right?