3 Reasons To Incorporate Volunteers With Your Tech

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Volunteers are often the unsung heroes of the nonprofit sector.


The Third Sector Today originally talked about a volunteer’s importance, and how incorporating them into your tech strategy can pay dividends.


Americans volunteered 7.9 billion hours in 2011, and according to the Independent Sector, each one of those hours are worth approximately $22.14, saving nonprofits untold amounts of money.


Despite their value, incorporating volunteers into a nonprofit’s technology strategy is often overlooked, which could be a detrimental mistake. Your technology connects all areas of your nonprofit, merging its elements in one cohesive until.

1. Incorporated volunteers are happy volunteers

   Volunteers like to feel included and important to the decision-making process. Frequently ask for their feedback on your tech systems. Could it run more efficiently? How is it helping their jobs?
   
   
   By engaging your volunteers on a deeper level, they will be more likely to sign up for future opportunities and help your nonprofit succeed.




2. Tech helps you understand your volunteers

   When your volunteer force is not performing as optimally as they could be, your nonprofit will start feel the effect. Not fully understanding who your volunteers are, where they come from, and what makes them tick could be a major factor in why their performance is declining. Remember, these are, for the most part, free employees who are dedicated to executing your nonprofit’s mission.
   
   
   Incorporating your volunteers in a program like VolunteerConnect will provide you with data to help you better understand who your volunteers are and how you can get the most from them.




3. Better tech means better volunteers

   Your volunteers are the people who are most likely to interact with your tech footprint the most. They are most likely to follow your social media and use your website. Contemporary volunteers are eager to use tech to signup and search for opportunities, do not make it difficult than it has to be for the casual volunteers.
   
   
   Make sure your site is intuitive and easy to execute actions on. By doing so, you are assuring a visitor’s trust with your nonprofit, giving them a reason to come back.



If you’re interested in reading more about volunteers and tech, check out the original article by Corbit Harrison on Third Sector Today.