If you’re a volunteer coordinator, you know firsthand how difficult it can be to recruit, schedule, communicate with, and retain volunteers.

Volunteer management software is designed to help you with all these tasks and more. We’re partial to Civic Champs as a feature-rich and powerful solution for managing volunteers, but there are several solutions in this space, including Volgistics. With nearly 5,000 customers it’s well-known, but having been around since the 1980s, it lacks modern features and has a dated user interface. 

If you’re researching volunteer management software options, or if you are a current Volgistics customer exploring alternatives, this article’s for you. We’ll cover the key features of both platforms, as well as their strengths and weaknesses. You’ll come away a more informed buyer, with a clear understanding of which product is a better fit for your nonprofit. 

About Civic Champs

At Civic Champs, we're on a mission to transform volunteer management and empower nonprofits nationwide. Since our founding as a B Corp in 2019, we're dedicated to providing mobile and web-based management systems that strengthen relationships, streamline operations, and automate key processes. 

We offer a comprehensive suite of features designed to support your success, including:

• Volunteer management tools for detailed profiles and communication
• Recruitment support for onboarding and categorization
• Scheduling solutions for events and registration
• Coordination features for making event check-in and check-out a breeze
• Reporting capabilities for data-driven insights

Key Features

• Comprehensive Volunteer Profiles. Easily access and manage volunteer information, including personal and emergency contact details, reflection and questionnaire responses, digitized waivers, and detailed notes.
• Efficient Volunteer Onboarding and Grouping. Streamline the onboarding process by adding volunteers to your organization, categorizing them effectively, and gathering necessary information such as questionnaires, waivers, and credentials.
• Seamless Event Creation and Management. Create and manage events with ease, including participant, location, shift, role, and onboarding information. Send registration links for volunteers to sign up online and view event details to track volunteer registration and requirements.
• Flexible Volunteer Check-In and Check-Out. Use multiple convenient options for volunteers to check in and out of events, including setting up a kiosk with a computer or tablet or using the Civic Champs mobile app.
• Volunteer Communication and Engagement. Keep volunteers informed and engaged through messaging features, ensuring they stay up-to-date with the latest information and opportunities.
• Volunteer Activity Tracking. Track and monitor volunteer activities, hours, and donations to gain a clear understanding of their contributions and impact on your organization.
• Data-Driven Insights and Reporting. Access meaningful insights by filtering data from various tables, including volunteer, activity log, event, group, registration, admin, role, and questionnaire. Export data to support grant-writing efforts and calculate return on investment (ROI).
• Customizable Volunteer Grouping. Create custom groups based on specific criteria, such as skills, interests, or availability, to effectively manage and engage volunteers based on your organization's needs.
• Mobile App for Volunteers. Provide volunteers with a dedicated mobile app to easily access event information, sign up for shifts, and manage their profiles, enhancing their overall experience and engagement with your organization.

What Civic Champs Customers Say

Customer reviews on Capterra (4.7/5 stars) mention the following benefits and limitations:

Benefits

• Exceptional customer service, with responsive and attentive support staff
• User-friendly interface that simplifies event creation and volunteer management
• Efficient tracking of volunteer hours and donations, saving time and effort
• Comprehensive reporting capabilities, providing easy access to essential data
• Smooth transition from manual methods to an electronic system
• Competitive pricing compared to other volunteer management solutions
• Effective communication tools, including messaging features to keep volunteers engaged
• Streamlined volunteer recruitment and registration process
• Customizable features to meet the specific needs of the organization

Limitations

• Older smartphones may experience issues with the mobile app
• Limited integration options for the donation feature, specifically a lack of PayPal support
• Minor improvements needed for exporting reports and app functionality

About Volgistics

Volgistics provides volunteer management solutions to organizations worldwide. They aim to help volunteer leaders achieve their missions through technology.

Volgistics evolved from Red Ridge Software Company, the maker of the desktop software program VolunteerWorks. Through the 1980s and 1990s, the software evolved until Volgistics was launched in 2004. 

Volgistics’ core features include: background screening, a volunteer portal and kiosk, group tracking, and document storage.

Key Features

• Volunteer Profiles. Manage and store detailed records of volunteer information for easy access and organization.
• Scheduling. Plan and coordinate volunteer opportunities and shifts to ensure adequate coverage and efficient management of resources.
• Recruiting. Utilize online application forms to streamline the process of bringing on new volunteers and collecting necessary information.
• Reporting. Generate customizable reports of volunteer hours and information to track and analyze data for various purposes.
• Volunteer Portal. Provide volunteers with access to a mobile app where they can manage their personal information and schedule themselves for available opportunities.
• Sign-In Kiosk. Track volunteer hours using a time clock system for accurate record-keeping and reporting.
• Communication. Maintain contact with volunteers through email and text messaging features to keep them informed and engaged.
• Document Management. Collect, store, and organize important volunteer forms and documentation for easy access and record-keeping.
• Multi-Site Capabilities. Oversee and manage volunteer programs across multiple locations, assigning managers to individual sites for better coordination and control.
• Requirement Tracking. Establish and monitor volunteer requirements, due dates, and completions using built-in checklist features to ensure compliance and accountability.

A screenshot from the Volgistics sample data portal, showing the screen used to manage volunteers

What Volgistics Customers Say

Customer reviews on Capterra (4.6/5 stars) mention the following strengths and limitations:

Strengths

• A suitable solution for small organizations, offering a range of features at a reasonable investment.
• The month-to-month subscription option, allows nonprofits to try the software without making a long-term commitment.
• Scheduling features are easy to use and set up.
• The tagging feature is helpful for organizations.
• The ability to print mailing labels makes it easier to send out invitations to a large volunteer pool.

Limitations

• User interface is outdated and unintuitive.
• Inability to manage multiple jobs in multiple locations, requiring workarounds or making certain tasks impossible.
• Lack of direct phone support, which could slow down problem resolution.
• Software can be hard to learn, and the implementation process may be daunting.
• Does not integrate with Google Analytics, which could limit data analysis capabilities.
• Lack of integration with donor management systems makes it harder to connect these two critical nonprofit stakeholders.
• The platform sends messages for admins to an inbox within their system, requiring administrators to log in and review that inbox to view registrations, which could be inconvenient.

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Pricing and Value Comparison

Most volunteer management software is priced based on the number of volunteers managed through the software, and both Volgistics and Civic Champs use this pricing model. Volgistics is known for being priced at the bottom end of the range for this category, so if you do a head-to-head comparison you’ll likely find their list price is lower. But there are a few things to consider when evaluating pricing for Civic Champs and Volgistics:

• With Civic Champs you pay only for active volunteers. This means it could be significantly less expensive for a nonprofit with a large pool of volunteers who join events infrequently.
• Volgistics charges a fee for additional administrators. If your nonprofit has a large number of staff who need to access reports, scheduling, or other administrative features, they’ll each need a license. Those additional licenses can make Volgistics the more expensive solution.
• Integrations with donor management and CRM solutions, as well as other partnerships, can save your staff hundreds of hours over the course of a year, making Civic Champs a better return on investment (ROI).
• Volunteers can be some of your best donors, and the Civic Champs volunteer microdonation feature can more than offset any cost difference. It could even offset the entire cost of the software!
  

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  Using Civic Champ's award-winning micro-donations feature, your organization can automate small donation asks of your volunteers at the right time with the right message.
  
  

When is Volgistics the right fit for your nonprofit?

Volgistics could be a good fit for your volunteer management software system if any of the following fit your nonprofit:

• Price is your primary consideration. For extremely small nonprofits, or nonprofits that are just getting started, Volgistics’ price point and month-to-month payment options make them worth consideration.
• You communicate with volunteers mainly through physical mail. Volgistics incorporates mailing label functionality, making these sorts of bulk mail efforts easy.
• Your staff and volunteers are computer-savvy. Since users report frustrations with user interface issues, volunteer coordinators with expertise in using complex software will be able to effectively leverage Volgistics.

When is Civic Champs the right fit for your nonprofit?

If any of the following describe your nonprofit, Civic Champs is likely to be a great fit:

• Ease of use is critical. If your volunteers tend to be older or less tech-savvy, Civic Champs’ intuitive, modern interface will delight them and make it easy for them to focus on their volunteer work rather than the software.
• Your volunteers love their mobile devices. Civic Champs’ companion mobile app is rated very highly for ease of use among volunteer software apps, and the microdonations feature helps turn volunteers into donors.
• You need integrations with donor management, CRM, and other solutions. Civic Champs’ integrations with Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge and Little Green Light, among other partners, help get your nonprofit’s software systems working in harmony.
• Your staff needs time-sensitive customer service. Civic Champs is rated highly by customers both for quality of customer service as well as timeliness or response.
• This is your first volunteer management software selection. If you’re coming from a manual tracking system, or you’ve been using spreadsheets or Google Sheets to log volunteer hours, Civic Champs has an easy transition path to get started with a software solution and start seeing benefits immediately.

Wrapping up

If you’re just starting to evaluate volunteer management software, you’ve got a lot to consider. We hope this article helped you decide between Civic Champs and Volgistics, but if you are still doing research, you might find our comprehensive list of the best volunteer management solutions, and our companion article on the best volunteer management apps useful.

If you’ve decided that Civic Champs might be a fit and would like to learn more, the best place to start is to take a look at our features to make sure we have your needs covered, and then watch our video demo to learn more. 

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As CEO of Civic Champs, I lead our team of passionate change leaders to create technology solutions to create a seamless and rewarding volunteering experience for both volunteers and service organizations.