For most of us connected with nonprofits, we all understand that nearly all of the good work that is accomplished by an NFP is impossible without the dedicated efforts of volunteers.  Being able to list just exactly what that good work is, or what any one individual volunteer has accomplished, is a bit more difficult.

Oftentimes, the need is so great, and the tasks that are performed by a volunteer so numerous, that many nonprofits simply don’t bother to keep up with specific work that is being accomplished by individual volunteers.  Since these are often unpaid positions, many NFPs even skip tracking the actual hours that are worked by volunteers.

Benefits of Tracking Completed Tasks and Hours Worked by Volunteers

If your NFP hasn’t been tracking the hours worked and individual tasks that are completed by volunteers, you are likely missing out on a number of benefits. For example, it can be difficult to plan out how many volunteers you need to complete specific tasks and projects unless you have some historical data on which to base your projections. Without this data, you may recruit too few or too many volunteers for specific projects, and work may be left undone on this or other projects.

Measure Productivity and Increase Efficiency

In addition to helping with your planning, you can increase your ability to manage your volunteers, and increase efficiency when you have some software or management system in place that tracks their hours worked and tasks accomplished.  For example, Google Docs and several project management apps allow you to see at a glance how productive a given volunteer has been in the past, and this can help you when you decide what types of projects you will allow a volunteer to work on in the future.

Tracking your volunteers’ work also helps you to increase accountability as many management tools allow you to send automatic reminders to volunteers to complete tasks by a certain time and date.

Reduce Burnout and Increase Fairness

Using some sort of tracking software will also help you to spread your work out more evenly and help to reduce and prevent burnout in your pool of volunteers. By reducing individual workloads so that it is more fair and easier for everyone, you improve your chances of retaining existing volunteers and turning these volunteers into advocates that will theoretically be more willing to recruit others to donate or help your NFP in some capacity.

Boost Volunteer Enthusiasm and Increase Retention

It also increases their self-esteem and energy and makes them more likely to continue to want to volunteer with your NFP.

As many NFPs struggle to recruit and retain enough volunteers to get the work done, tracking work hours and tasks completed by volunteers is a relatively easy way to motivate your volunteers to do more and encourage them to continue volunteering and advocating for your nonprofit.