Swapped my volunteer signup sheet for an online poll, what a difference

I run a small community food pantry over on 5th Street and for two years I used a paper signup sheet taped to the door for the Saturday shift. Every week it was the same mess, people crossing out names, double booking, or just forgetting they signed up. Last month one of the regulars, Mark, told me to try a free online poll thing instead. He said it took him two minutes to set up for his church group. I figured it would be a hassle but gave it a shot. Now people get a text reminder and the slots fill up about 3 days faster. We actually had to add a second shift this week because too many folks wanted to help. Has anyone else moved their volunteer coordination off paper? What did you use?

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1 Comment

val17217d ago

Did your regulars take to the new system right away or did you have a few people grumble about it? I’m asking because my church group tried something similar last year and the older volunteers flat out refused to use it. We ended up keeping the paper sheet for them and the online poll for everyone else, which kind of defeats the purpose. Just curious if you ran into that same wall or if your crowd was more open to it. The text reminders alone sound like a game changer though, I bet that’s what’s filling the slots faster.