Volunteers are invaluable to nonprofits, providing essential manpower and skills without the overhead costs of full-time employees. However, managing volunteers effectively remains one of the biggest challenges due to training needs, alignment of skills with tasks, and retention issues. 

Strategy: Creating a robust volunteer management system is key. This involves: 

• Structured Recruitment: Clearly define volunteer roles and recruit individuals whose skills and interests align with these roles. 
• Effective Training: Implement comprehensive training programs that not only orient volunteers to their roles but also build a deeper connection with the organization’s mission. Extensia’s simple volunteer workflows can help reduce time and complexity for your volunteers. 
• Retention Programs: Develop retention strategies such as recognition programs, feedback mechanisms, and career development opportunities for volunteers. In addition, making volunteer tasks simple goes a long way with adoption and execution. Volunteers appreciate standardized workflows and simple steps so they can remain focused on furthering the cause. With Extensia’s volunteer management features, volunteers can sign up for volunteer opportunities, check in to events, and record their times. This also assists with data that is required to support grant application data requests.