What is the best volunteer engagement software?

Volunteer engagement software is a digital tool designed to help you connect with, support, and retain your volunteers. This in turn supports you to build stronger relationships by making it easier to communicate and manage activities, while recognising the valuable contributions that your volunteers make.  

With this piece of software, it can ensure that volunteers remain motivated and inspired about their role and overall experience with your organisation. By achieving this, it can lead to higher satisfaction and an improved retention rate – which is beneficial for all parties over the long term.

Volunteer retention software can therefore facilitate the following:

• Streamlined communication
• Improved scheduling
• Activity tracking
• Encouraging feedback
• Fostering recognition
• Centralising data

Find out more about our volunteer engagement software

Centralised communication tools

Rota management

Volunteer recognition and tracking

Onboarding and training workflows

Reporting and analytics

Integrations

Mobile accessibility

Volunteer engagement software presents a win-win scenario as it is beneficial to both you and your volunteers. Remember, if your volunteers are happy and fully engaged with their role and your organisation, that can only bring positivity and productivity. 

The tangible benefits of volunteer engagement software can be broken down into the below.

Higher retention rates

A key benefit to volunteer retention software is to the positive impact it can have on retention rates. Due to the software supporting your volunteers to remain committed and enthused, it can play a key part in ensuring a higher retention rate.

It can create a positive outlook among volunteers by:

• Ensuring clearer communication
• Emphasising volunteer recognition
• Creating a stronger sense of belonging
• Valuing feedback

Better communication and transparency

Communication and transparency are the glue that keeps volunteer programmes running smoothly. When volunteers are consistently kept in the loop – understanding the ‘what’, ‘why’ and ‘when’ – they will feel confident about the organisation that they’re providing their time for.

Volunteer engagement software ensures better communication by offering:

• A central source of truth – where all information can be found in a singular location
• Multi-channel messaging – such as email, SMS and internal messaging
• Transparent scheduling – that encourages self-service functionality e.g rotas
• A resource hub – where all up-to-date policies, training guides and risk assessments can be found

Easier coordination for events and rotas

Coordinating volunteers manually across multiple events and shifts can be chaotic -spreadsheets, last-minute calls, forgotten shifts, and constant admin overload can quickly befuddle the brain! Volunteer engagement software transforms this by streamlining and automating the entire coordination process, making it easier for both Volunteer Managers and the volunteers themselves.

This is made possible by providing:

• Centralised rota management – enabling the editing and publishing of rotas from one unified dashboard
• Self-service scheduling – where volunteers can view available shifts and sign up where they see gaps
• Real-time visibility and live updates – to times, locations or roles
• Role-based assignments – where volunteers are assigned the correct shifts based on qualifications or preferences
• Shift swap capability – where volunteers can request to swap shifts with another volunteer

Improved volunteer satisfaction

Volunteer satisfaction is critical for building a thriving, long-term volunteer programme. When volunteers feel appreciated, they’re far more likely to remain engaged, return for future opportunities, and recommend your organisation to others.

Volunteer engagement software directly supports this by removing friction, improving communication, and creating a more enjoyable and fulfilling experience from start to finish.

This is made possible by facilitating:

• Clear communication and expectations
• Greater autonomy and flexibility
• Recognition and progress tracking
• Streamlined onboarding and training
• A sense of community

Data-driven decisions

When you manage volunteers using spreadsheets, it’s practically impossible to gain a clear picture of what’s working and what’s not. Volunteer engagement software centralises your data and turns it into actionable insights, helping you make better decisions based on real evidence rather than guesswork.

With a data-centric approach, you’re able to:

• Understand volunteer engagement patterns
• Optimise event planning
• Identify resource gaps
• Demonstrate impact to stakeholders
• Streamline decision-making
• Improve volunteer experience via feedback

At Access Assemble, we acknowledge the volunteer sector challenges that Volunteer Managers experience. Above all, the main pain point experienced is time – which is very much a factor!

With our market-leading volunteer management software, we promote volunteer accountability with self-serve functionality, that allows volunteers to self-manage parts of their processes including rota and event management. This approach allows Volunteer Managers to free up valuable time, allowing them to focus on priority areas around volunteer recruitment, management and retention.

Rachel Stewart, Head of Volunteering at Dorothy House Hospice shares their positive experience:

‘Using Assemble, volunteers can easily book themselves directly onto events. Even if they call us, we can promptly register them and provide all necessary information. The system shows who is attending, and we can send automated reminders and announcements, ensuring everyone is informed about our events. I really like that about the system.’

Read the full customer story

When looking at how to increase volunteer engagement, it’s crucial to put the needs of both volunteers and Volunteer Managers at the forefront. 

With suitable volunteer engagement software, you can free up valuable time for your Volunteer Managers, while ensuring that your volunteers feel like a valued member of the team – boosting your retention rate.

Are you in the market for volunteer engagement software? Our experts would be more than happy to point you in the right direction.

Speak to a member of the team