Managing volunteers is a vital but often challenging task for nonprofit organizations. From recruitment and retention to scheduling, hour tracking, and communication, volunteer coordinators have their work cut out for them.

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This is where volunteer management software comes in, offering a range of tools to streamline and simplify these processes. We believe our platform, Civic Champs, is a great solution for managing volunteers, but there are a number of solutions in this space, including Volunteer Hub. Since its founding in 1996, Volunteer Hub’s customers have logged over 5 billion volunteer hours. However, its pricing structure with a low base price and many features offered as add-ons can be confusing for nonprofits comparing products in the space.

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If you're currently using Volunteer Hub or are in the process of researching volunteer management software, this article will provide you with a comprehensive comparison between Civic Champs and Volunteer Hub. We cover the key features, strengths, and limitations of both platforms to help you make an informed decision about which one best suits your nonprofit's needs.

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About Civic Champs

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

We provide a complete set of tools to help you succeed, such as:

• 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 (4.8/5 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
• Detailed reports that give you easy access to important 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 Volunteer Hub

Since 1996, VolunteerHub has been helping nonprofits better recruit, engage, and manage volunteer constituents. VolunteerHub offers a wide range of features designed to meet the diverse needs of nonprofits. These features include volunteer registration, which allows volunteers to easily sign up for opportunities online; scheduling, which enables organizations to create and manage volunteer shifts and events; communication tools to keep volunteers informed and engaged; a kiosk system for easy on-site check-in and hour tracking; and reporting capabilities to help organizations gain insights into their volunteer program's performance and impact.

Key Features

• Volunteer Recruitment. Enhance recruitment through branded event landing pages, email and text communications, and self-registration from any device.
• Volunteer Scheduling. Create events, view registrants, manage waitlists, and allow volunteers to register and sign up from anywhere with an internet connection.
• Volunteer Hour Tracking. Automate volunteer tracking and easily monitor activity and hours for each volunteer and event.
• Volunteer Database. Maintain a comprehensive database of volunteer contact information, skills, availability, and more, accessible from any device.
• Volunteer Fundraising. Tap into your volunteer database to find new donors, request donations during sign-up, and accept payments directly through the platform.
• Volunteer Liability Waivers. Manage volunteer liability waivers to ensure compliance and reduce risk.
• Rewards and Recognition. Add friendly competition and incentives through reward and recognition features.
• Reporting. Generate detailed reports with preloaded, standard reports to gain insights into volunteer activities, hours, and impact.

What Volunteer Hub Customers Say

Customer reviews on Capterra (4.3/5 stars) highlight the following strengths and limitations of Volunteer Hub:

Strengths

• Ease of use and simple design 
• Useful report functionality 
• Points system for volunteer recognition 
• Centralized storage for waivers and volunteer information 
• Event sign-up and group communication features

Limitations

• Some useful functions are prohibitively expensive, especially for nonprofits
• Lacks a mobile app, which many volunteers request 
• Needs more flexible scheduling options for start and stop times 
• Not ideal for at-home volunteers to log their hours 
• Reporting features leave much to be desired 
• The user interface could be cleaner and more intuitive
• Initial setup can be time-consuming for administrators

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Pricing and Value Comparison

Civic Champs and Volunteer Hub both list pricing on their website, and both products are priced based on the number of volunteers. For a nonprofit with 1,000 volunteers, Civic Champs base price is $174 / month. This includes unlimited admins, volunteer invitations, a mobile app and kiosk for check-ins, hour tracking, messaging, digital waivers, reflections, and questionnaires, event management, and scheduling, downloadable CSV files for reporting, grouping, role management, and Little Green Light integration. Add-ons like data import, text credits, and Blackbaud integration are also available. 

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In contrast, Volunteer Hub's pricing is $143 per month for a similar-sized organization, but many features are listed as optional and may incur additional fees. These optional features include advanced liability waivers, cloud file storage, advanced security permissions, group/team manager roles, data import/export, configurable forms, multi-event editor, volunteer recognition, volunteer fundraising, single sign-on, background check integrations, and various CRM integrations.

When is Volunteer Hub the right fit for your nonprofit?

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

• You are looking for a points system to help with volunteer recognition. This is one of Volunteer Hub’s differentiating features.
• You offer lots of volunteer events and each event registration page needs a different and unique design. Volunteer Hub landing pages can be customized to fit a variety of unique requirements, although this process can be time-consuming.
• Your organization uses specific CRM systems that integrate with Volunteer Hub, such as Luminate CRM, Altru, or eTapestry.

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.
• Your staff needs time-sensitive customer service. Civic Champs is rated highly by customers both for quality of customer service as well as timeliness of response.
• You have a large population of infrequent volunteers. Civic Champs only charges for active volunteers, so these infrequent volunteers won’t count against your subscription.
• Your volunteers donate money along with their time. Civic Champs includes an award-winning microdonation feature in its base price, while volunteer fundraising is an add-on for Volunteer Hub.
• Your nonprofit uses group or team manager roles for permissions and security. This functionality isn’t part of the Volunteer Hub base price.

Wrapping up

If you are early in selecting a volunteer management platform, you’ve got a lot to consider. This article covers the major differences between Civic Champs and Volunteer Hub, but if you are still doing research, you should check out these other articles:

• Our comprehensive list of the best volunteer management solutions
• Our companion article on the best volunteer management apps

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! 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.