Voluntary obligation at associations

Many associations require their members to carry out voluntary work. This helps to keep membership fees low while increasing individual engagement with the club or association’s day-to-day activities. Another bonus, of course, is that members get the opportunity to meet and interact with one another. A win-win situation! However, an association also needs to have a simple and effective solution for managing volunteers. It needs to know who is working on what and when, while also ensuring that all bases are covered. With ShiftPlanner, this is a piece of cake!

As a first step, you will need to explain to your members why voluntary work is an important and necessary condition of their membership or organizational involvement. You will also need to make sure that any rules are made known. This may include obligatory service on certain days of the year or a minimum number of hours to which they must commit. You can create exemptions for those who are unwell, temporarily abroad or otherwise unable to fulfil their obligations. And if you need to contact your members for any other reason, you can always do so via the platform.

With ShiftPlanner, volunteers are free to choose the day, time, and type of shift that suits them. These details are then saved in our system so that you can assign volunteers to the shifts that match their preferences. If they are ill, on holiday or unable to work for any reason, it’s quick and easy for them to arrange cover and alter their availability. This reduces the burden on your staff and affords plenty of flexibility to your organization. Should a member fail to commit to the minimum number of hours, then you can choose to impose sanctions as appropriate. After all, this is only fair to the other members who regularly give up their time to help.

Buying off duties

Some associations allow their members to buy off voluntary duty. However, this can lead to inequality within the association by differentiating the wealthy from the less wealthy

ShiftPlanner helps your association/organization to better manage volunteer duty and member participation. As the administrator, you can:

• See how many hours and shifts each volunteer has done.
• Exempt members from having to fulfil voluntary service.
• Contact those who have not yet fulfilled their voluntary duties
• And do many other things. Learn more tips for coordinator.

ShiftPlanner has a range of functionalities

Calendar sync

Add shifts to your own calendar automatically.

Easy access

Log in via an access token without having to remember an awkward password.

Shift swap

Swap shifts with another persons via a special link (a.k.a. a transfer token).

Sign-up requests

Send out requests for volunteers based on an individual or group selection.

Personal profiles

Customize your profile and add details, such as your address, telephone number, age, photo, etc.

Photo album

Use ShiftPlanner as an online photo album and allow your team to get to know each other better.

Address book

View contact details for all your volunteers.

Time logs

Track shifts and online activity via the platform. This data can also be exported as an Excel or CSV file.

Groups

Create private groups that can only be viewed/accessed by certain people.

Data analysis

View data and statistics, such as the number of shifts that a person does in a given period.

Locations

Work with multiple locations and offer directions automatically via Google maps.

Custom blocks

Create and customize text blocks to suit the needs of your organization.

Reminders

Send reminders to your volunteers (e.g., 1-2 days in advance of a shift).

Imports

Create or update records via an Excel or CSV import.

Export

Export personal information or shift data to an Excel or CSV file.

Free fields

You can define extra fields in order to collect data that is relevant to your organization.