The Volunteer Link app team understood that in order to successfully attract and onboard both volunteers and nonprofit partners, they needed a comprehensive strategy that effectively promoted the value and benefits of the platform.
To attract volunteers, the app team focused on empowering individuals to make an impact in their local community. They promoted the app on social media as a way for busy people to find meaningful volunteering opportunities that fit their schedule and interests. Hashtags like #volunteerfromhome and #easyvolunteering resonated with potential users. The app highlighted that volunteers could choose from one-time or recurring projects, and that most opportunities didn’t require extensive time commitments. Review features allowed volunteers to provide and read feedback on organizations.
The Volunteer Link team also partnered with local schools, clubs, faith groups and employers to spread the word about volunteering opportunities. Many of these groups promoted the app to their members and students through email lists and bulletin board postings. By making the sign-up and project browsing experience quick and intuitive through the app, volunteers were easily able to browse opportunities and commit to projects that fit their schedule with just a few clicks.
Notifiable reminders helped keep committed volunteers on track to complete projects. Features that showed volunteer hours logged and impact made kept users engaged with the platform. Positioning volunteering as an accessible way to give back and network attracted over 35,000 volunteers to the app within the first 6 months.
To attract nonprofit partners, the Volunteer Link team focused on promoting the benefits theapp could provide to organizations.They stressed that the platform was a free , centralized place for nonprofits of all sizes to advertise their ongoing and one-time volunteer needs. This allowed nonprofits to cast a wider recruitment net to find the specific types of volunteers and skills they required.
The app’s analytics features gave nonprofits data on volunteer demographics, times volunteers were most active, and which outreach methods generated the most commitments. This helped organizations effectively recruit and schedule volunteers. Notifications kept nonprofits updated when projects were committed to or needed more signups.
The team highlighted positive volunteer placement and retention rates the platform achieved for other nonprofits. Promoted success stories and testimonials from existing partners resonated strongly with potential partners.
The Volunteer Link team conducted extensive outreach through nonprofit coalition listserv emails, chamber of commerce contacts, and nonprofit conferences to spread awareness. The simple onboarding process of creating a profile and listing volunteer needs had over 250 nonprofit partners sign up within the first 3 months.
Once volunteers and nonprofits joined the platform, the Volunteer Link team focused on providing supportive onboarding resources to ensure successful usage. Volunteers received a welcome email with a tutorial video, as well as tips for finding meaningful opportunities through browsing features and calendar and location filters. Nonprofits were guided through the process of listing volunteer needs, given best practices for writing compelling project descriptions that attracted specific skills, and shown how to effectively communicate with and thank volunteers.
The onboarding process highlighted the commitment of Volunteer Link staff to be available via phone, email and an online help center for any additional support. These robust onboarding and orientation resources helped volunteers and nonprofits feel confident utilizing features to find and provide impactful service in their community through the Volunteer Link mobile app platform. As a result, engagement and usage grew exponentially within the first year as new users saw tangible benefits.
Through targeted outreach, intuitive design, and supportive onboarding, the Volunteer Link team was able to successfully attract and onboard over 35,000 volunteers and 250 nonprofit partners within a year of launching. By understanding their distinct user groups and highlighting key benefits like accessibility, impact and community engagement, Volunteer Link established itself as a leading platform connecting individuals to their local volunteer needs and opportunities.