Volunteer management software is essential for making sure all the moving parts of your volunteer program operate smoothly.

The right software will help you navigate the steps of the volunteer management cycle with ease, allowing you to make the most of your volunteer program.

While there are many different volunteer management software options available for nonprofit organizations, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution that works for every nonprofit. Different sized nonprofits often deal with different logistical issues in regards to volunteer management. 

It is important for you to consider the cost and the features offered by different solutions and to see how these factors fit within the size and scale of your organization.

A software solution that is perfect for a small organization with fewer than 10 volunteers may struggle to provide the tools that a large nonprofit organization needs to thrive. Likewise, some solutions tailored toward a large nonprofit enterprise may be too costly for a smaller organization to use.

If you are looking for guidance about the best volunteer management software to use for your nonprofit, this guide will help.

Here is a breakdown of the top volunteer management software solutions your organization can use based on the total number of staff involved in your organization:

Solo or fewer than 3 staff members

If your nonprofit organization is a solo operation or it has three or fewer staff members, these are the top digital and software solutions:

• Civic Champs
• Sign up Genius
• Track It Forward
• Google Sheets
• Little Green Light

Here are the top three we recommend for operations of this size:

Civic Champs

For organizations with fewer than 10 active volunteers and minimal staff members, Civic Champs software is one of the most affordable comprehensive volunteer management software options at only $588/year ($49/month).

Even though this software is affordable for smaller nonprofit organizations, it does not sacrifice quality or features. Users can still harness the full power of the Civic Champs platform including an interactive dashboard, geofencing and automatic hour tracking, micro-donation features, event scheduling, and calendars.

SignUpGenius

SignUpGenius makes it easy for nonprofits to cover shifts and other tasks with their quick and easy volunteer sign up platform. Volunteers can sign up for whatever shift they would like, add comments to help improve communication, and notify other volunteers if they need to swap shifts.

SignUpGenius pricing starts at $8.99/month for their silver package which is ideal for smaller nonprofit organizations. Although this price tier cuts out a lot of useful features, it still provides premium theme designs and allows volunteer coordinators to send 5,000 emails and 150 texts per month

Google Sheets

While this may seem like a surprising option, Google Sheets can be incredibly useful for nonprofits that are solo operations.

Google Sheets is free, and it provides tools that you can use to manually organize volunteer shifts and input volunteer hours. If your nonprofit is small enough that you only need one staff member to run the show, chances are you will only have a small handful of volunteers and events, which will make manually entry through Google Sheets a feasible option.

Small (3-10 staff members)

For nonprofit organizations that are a bit larger, there are volunteer management software options that have more features.

Here are some of the top software solutions for nonprofits with three to ten staff members:

• Civic Champs
• Volgistics
• TrackItForward
• Cervis
• Volunteer Local

We highly recommend Civic Champs for nonprofits of this size, given that our software allows for as many admins as you need without any additional cost. Plus starting at only $49/month Civic Champs includes premium features including digital waivers and questionnaires, convenient mobile admin tools, customizable dashboards, volunteer donation campaigns, and in-app messaging, and volunteer feedback

Track It Forward

Track It Forward has several tiers available for nonprofits of various sizes. Their Basic Tracking plan, while limited in features, is perfect for smaller nonprofit organizations. 

For $12/month when paid annually, Track It Forward can accommodate nonprofits with fewer than ten staff members while providing volunteer hour tracking, volunteer milestone reports, and detailed event calendars.

Track It Forward also offers Premium Tracking and Advanced Tracking for $30/month and $45/month respectively. 

Cervis

Cervis is great for smaller nonprofits that require a strong, well-organized volunteer program. Cervis helps these coordinators save time and money through online volunteer sign-ups, automated email and text communication features, and online background checks. Strong in the shift scheduling department there may be limitations on customization options, data analysis on volunteers, and user-friendly dashboards.  

While Cervis has a basic plan for $25/month, nonprofits with closer to ten staff members would best benefit from their standard plan at $120/month which includes extra features like volunteer tracking and reporting, and group management. 

Volunteer Local

Volunteer Local is a simple and intuitive solution that helps nonprofits recruit volunteers, collect and report volunteer data, and improve communication between volunteers and volunteer coordinators. Volunteer Local is known for excellent customer support, social media sharing, and features that allow volunteers to service themselves. Some users feel that reporting and analytics with Volunteer Local are limited.

Their Grow Plan allows for up to ten admin users, making it a good software solution for nonprofits with ten or fewer staff members. This plan allows for 1,000 SMS messages, hour tracking with check in and check out tools, volunteer data importing, and admin job assignments at $2,400/year. 

Mid-sized (10-30 staff members)

When your nonprofit has dozens of staff members, it is likely that you will need several dozen volunteers to help events and fundraising efforts run smoothly.

Mid-sized nonprofits with 10-30 staff members would benefit from using any of these volunteer management software solutions:

• Civic Champs
• Volunteer Hub
• Volgistics
• Galaxy Digital
• Better Impact

Civic Champs software is well-suited for mid-sized nonprofits. Features like digital waivers, onboarding and questionnaires, volunteer groups, multiple admins, and filtering on dashboards makes a volunteer coordinator’s job far easier while bolstering the capacity of the volunteer program. Manage 520 - 740 for only $124/ month or 1030 - 1450 volunteers for only $174/month. 

In addition to Civic Champs, these software solutions are good options for mid-sized nonprofit organizations:

Volunteer Hub

Volunteer Hub has an Enterprise Plan that helps nonprofits manage over 2,500 volunteers. For nonprofits that only need to manage up to 2,500 volunteers, they offer a Pro Plan for a set up fee and $289/month when billed annually.

Volunteer Hub can be easily integrated into existing CRMs, and it has unique features like waiver tracking as well as volunteer rewards and recognition features. With Volunteer Hub, users can track volunteer hours, utilize dynamic event scheduling, and take advantage of instant communication features.

Galaxy Digital

This volunteer management software helps automate engagement and improve the volunteer management experience for nonprofit volunteer coordinators. With this software, volunteers can e-sign documents, schedule themselves for shifts, and report their volunteer hours.

Galaxy Digital can help coordinators manage hundreds of volunteers without hassle, making it ideal for mid-sized nonprofits.

Volgistics

Volgistics is a robust solution that helps nonprofits to help nonprofits recruit, track and coordinate volunteers. This software solution also has a volunteer portal and sign-in kiosk helping volunteers submit their schedule preferences and self schedule online. Some users say that Volgistics can be difficult to set up and report that the platform can sometimes be hard to navigate. 

This software can handle thousands of volunteers depending on which plan a nonprofit chooses to use. Their pricing is influenced by three factors: number of volunteers, number of archived volunteers, and number of operators. 

Large (30+ staff members)

If your organization has over 30 dedicated staff members, you will need a powerful volunteer management software that can organize thousands of volunteers. Manual options or software solutions with limited features will no longer be viable for your organization at this level.

We recommend the following software solutions for volunteer management for large nonprofit organizations:

• Rosterfy
• Better Impact
• Salesforce - Custom Build

Rosterfy

Rosterfy can help you simplify your workflow so that you can reduce the amount of admin you need, automate your communication and hour tracking, and maximize the impact of your events. Users have found Rosterfy to be easy for admins and for users while being highly customizable. 

Rosterfy can manage over 100,000 volunteers, so it is an efficient solution for large nonprofits with thousands of volunteers and dozens of staff. Rosterfy integrates with a variety of CRMs, and it serves as a one-stop-shop for everything from volunteer recruitment, onboarding, and training to volunteer retainment, scheduling, and communication.

Better Impact

Better Impact’s volunteer management software for nonprofits can help volunteer coordinators manage thousands of volunteers thanks to unique scheduling tools, detailed hour tracking, advanced volunteer profile creation and management, and communication features. Users find Better Impact to be easy to set up with intuitive hour tracking and reports. Better Impact serves nonprofits and government agencies with up to 150,000 volunteers across five continents. Some users wish it was easier to export volunteer feedback reports but have also emphasized that customer service is generally excellent. 
Their Enterprise Edition and Enterprise Edition Plus allows for over 30 admin accounts and over 6,000 volunteer profiles.

Salesforce

If your nonprofit organization has more than 30 staff members, you may want to harness the features and powerful resources of the world’s top CRM platform. You can use a custom build to create a volunteer management app with the features you need to organize and manage thousands of volunteers and countless staff members. Salesforce is the all in one CRM where you can manage donors, volunteers, grant administration, and more. That being said, given its huge amount of capabilities setting things up to function in the way you need can be overwhelming and present challenges. As one user said “the learning curve is as endless as the potential”, Salesforce is a mighty tool with seemingly infinite possibilities but it isn’t often described as intuitive. 

Salesforce has tools to help nonprofits of any size manage their volunteer programs.

Next steps

The options above are our picks for several tiers of nonprofit based on size of nonprofit staff, but we know there are a lot of factors that can (and should!) influence your final volunteer management software decision. you will want to consider more than just the size of your nonprofit when choosing a software solution.
Browse these software solutions and see which ones offer the features you need at a price point your nonprofit can afford, and schedule a demo to see if that solution will be right for your organization. Want to investigate more options? Read our updated article on the best volunteer management solutions of 2023. 

Learn more about volunteer management software or start using Civic Champs today when you visit our website.

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.