It’s one thing to attract volunteers; it’s another to engage and retain them. Many organisations fall short in terms of the latter, as they have disparate systems for managing volunteers and try to customise CRMs to do something they weren’t designed to do. This is exactly how volunteer management software provider Rosterfy came into being.
Co-founders Bennett Merriman, Chris Grant and Shannan Gove ran a separate business focused on engaging young students in Australia to prepare them for work after earning their degree. With a growing database of volunteers and staff, the team quickly identified the need for a tech solution to help replace manual processes with automations to enable them to scale sustainably. They decided to build their own platform, and that solution ended up being what Rosterfy is today, focusing on being the world’s best in terms of managing a large-scale workforce in a central platform.
In an upcoming webinar, Rosterfy will be discussing how nonprofit organisations can do volunteer management more effectively. Third Sector interviewed Shannan Gove to share some insights with us in advance.
How can nonprofits create visibility for their volunteer programs to attract more volunteers?
Everyone wants to find more volunteers. Tactically speaking, three things come to mind:
1. Use SEEK Volunteer. We recently launched Australia’s first and only two-way integration with SEEK Volunteer, the largest platform in terms of volunteer applications in the country. If you want to find more volunteers, use our two-way integration to post opportunities live on SEEK. After integrating Rosterfy with SEEK Volunteer, Sydney Children’s Hospitals Foundation saw volunteer conversion rates jump to 80–100%, a remarkable 166% increase from previous levels. More details on how it works are on the Rosterfy website.
2. Have public opportunities pages in place. Don’t force volunteers to go through a lengthy recruitment process if the role, location or any detail about everything they’re getting involved with is not clear. Before they apply, allow them to have a public opportunities page that Rosterfy provides to filter and find the ideal role that they want to be involved in.
3. Engage corporates or community groups. A lot of organisations don’t do this because it’s too hard to do But what we’ve invested a lot of time and energy into as a platform is about engaging corporates at scale to get their employees volunteering and providing them with their own part of the system to track and manage their own employees and engagements with organisations and charities.
How does automation impact volunteer applications?
People aren’t tracking data on how many applications they’re not responding to and how many have just gone cold. This is a massive challenge in the space of volunteer management. Often, if we ask that question, organisations don’t have the answer.
You need to have a way to automate the onboarding process of all your volunteers for all your different roles. Before Rosterfy, there were lots of manual processes involved for volunteers to go through each step of the journey, and it was taking about six weeks for a new volunteer from application through being an actual volunteer. That process is now down to two days because of our platform.
For instance, with the British Heart Foundation, one of the largest charities in the UK, a volunteer previously needed to go through 42 steps because of all the manual intervention needed at each process. By implementing Rosterfy, they’re now down to 21.
One key point around automation is the time to response. I see volunteering as fundraising. You feel good about it in the moment you apply and want to be able to engage and find opportunities as soon as possible. It shouldn’t be taking 6-7 weeks to onboard.
Another key is the time to impact. A lot of organisations are missing out on applications coming through because it’s falling into manual processes, and maybe someone’s too busy to give volunteers a call. You need to reduce the manual work involved for administrators and volunteers to help your organisation.
What is the importance of creating a positive volunteer experience?
That’s critical because it’s a competition for people’s time now, and you need to offer a great experience immediately. It’s not just about the volunteering that they do; it’s about how they feel, especially going through the recruitment process.
If you’re taking 10 days or two weeks to respond because it’s all falling into manual processes, the volunteers will quickly lose interest. Volunteers need to be in control of their own journey with your organisation. They need to be able to find roles that they care about. There are two facets to this: One, a volunteer cares about the organisation or cause and wants to help. Secondly, as an individual, that volunteer has their own motivations or skills that they want to get out of the experience as well.
The last thing you want to be doing is ticking the first box. If that person cares about you and can help, but then you’re putting them into a role where they can find no connection to, have no skill set or are not confident going into, you need to get those two parts right from the very start. And that’s why a public opportunities page is critical at the beginning of the journey, not at the end.
Reward and recognition can help engage and retain volunteers. How can nonprofits implement this?
In 2025, just doing an end-of-year BBQ isn’t enough. It needs to be more personalised, frequent and connected to milestones that volunteers go through. Think of ways to gamify rewards, such as allowing volunteers to claim vouchers or tickets for football matches or whatever connects them to your cause. Maybe help with donations on their behalf, or create items for certain customers as the charity might serve. It doesn’t need to be items, though, as a lot of times, they aren’t volunteering for an exchange of items. Think about it differently.
The reason organisations don’t do more in terms of reward and recognition is that it’s so manual. That’s why, again, Rosterfy invested so much time and energy into building out a fully automated reward and recognition platform that links into all the key volunteering milestones. And that platform is designed by each customer, as one customer’s reward and recognition program will be completely different from the next, because it needs to connect and relate to the volunteers that use it.
What should people look forward to in the webinar?
If organisations need to find more volunteers and want to have a great experience for their volunteers, there are lots of reasons to join the webinar. But if there’s one, it would be to understand more about our two-way integration with SEEK Volunteer. If you need to find more volunteers and increase your conversion rate of those, that’s where this integration comes into play.
Don’t miss Rosterfy’s webinar on 15 May, 11 am AEST, as they’ll be sharing volunteer conversion rate techniques nonprofits will surely love. Register for the live webinar here.
About Rosterfy
Rosterfy is the leading volunteer management software provider dedicated to helping organisations streamline their volunteer programs and maximise engagement. Trusted by nonprofits, hospitals, healthcare charities, sports organisations and major events worldwide, Rosterfy offers powerful solutions for managing volunteers efficiently.
Geraldine is currently the Content Producer for Third Sector, an Akolade channel. Throughout her career, she has written for various industries and international audiences. Her love for writing extends beyond the corporate world, as she also works as a volunteer writer at her local church. Aside from writing, she is also fond of joining fun runs and watching musicals.
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