Volunteer Management Software?

ewilts asks: "I've been actively looking for volunteer management software but am consistently coming up empty. The vast majority (by far) is Windows desktop based and typically layered on top of a Windows database engine like Access or FileMaker. I'm specifically after something web-based (Linux/Apache) since there is no centralized volunteer office and the volunteers have systems including Windows 95, Macintosh, Linux, and everything in between. So far, eBase seems to be best solution, being open-source but it's Windows-centric, not web-centric. Any pointers to low-cost or free software to help manage a couple of hundred volunteers would be greatly appreciated."

Comments

Easy solution

[cybermace5]

Load up Movable Type and blog those volunteers into submission!

Also, this site may be helpful. Someone has already done a LOT of research and typing.

Specifications

[SyFryer]

I don't really understand what features a volunteer management solution would contain, but maybe some kind of highly modifiable forum / bulletin board backend would work.

slashcode / scoop / phpbb / snitz / webwizard / invision - board could help, some have mods e.t.c for timesharing and calendar scheduling.

Re:Specifications

[ewilts]

I've already got a bulletin board up and that's a very small piece of the equation. I need to be able track volunteers - names, addresses, e-mail addresses, etc. I'd like to track relationships between the volunteers - i.e. 1 address for a couple. We need to have the ability to send e-mail to any pre-defined subset of those. For example, a volunteer could in the north metro region and be a coordinator. I should be able to send e-mails to all north metro volunteers, or all coordinators, and he'd get them.

I'd like to be able to generate paper-labels for volunteers that don't have e-mail, and send out e-mails to those that do.

We need to record all the hours that a volunteer worked, and then generate reports from those.

We need to track both incoming (both financial and non-financial such as raw goods) and outgoing donations (usually finished goods).

We need a place to centralize documents such as forms, inventories, etc.

I've certainly thought about writing it myself, but it's a *lot* of work. The user interface has to be super friendly since many of the volunteers have almost no computer background - way too many AOL users to feel comfortable around :-).

Certainly if anything does need to be written, the only way I'd relaase it would be via an open license. We simply can't afford to buy or contract out because we have no excess cash. The web server we're running on and even the domain name fees are donated - by me!

A discussion forum is part of the solution, but they're pretty common. I have to migrate away from wwwboard because of the spam we're getting, but it's just a matter of time before I find a suitable replacement.

Thanks again!

Why don't you write it?

[HotNeedleOfInquiry]

The whole point of free software is to share and give something back to the community. Why do I get the feeling that so many of these requests are people simply looking for 'free as in beer' solutions?

Re:Why don't you write it?

[RevAaron]

Why do I get the feeling that so many of these requests are people simply looking for 'free as in beer' solutions?

Because for a lot of people, that is the chief benefit of Free/Open Source software. The vast majority of folks do not choose software based mostly on an abstract idea of morality, but on some other factors, depending on the situation. When it's a group with little money, a package which costs no money to use seems pretty logical. For others, a package which provides the most efficient working environment as possible (no matter how Free, Open, or expensive it is) is the most important thing.

The whole point of free software is to share and give something back to the community.

What makes the post's organization not part of the community? Why are they outside of it, not deserving to benefit from the sharing?

I don't know about you, but I largely write my open software because I enjoy a) programming and b) using the end product. I don't do it because I expect someone else to write some software for me down the line in return. Likewise, there are plenty of folks who don't know how to code- or cannot/willnot learn- or simply don't have the time. The rather suboptimal software development systems which are the norm on the available popular platforms today do not encourage people new to programming to take it up to try making a few tweaks or a small script here or there.

What kind of "Free Software" attitude is:
"You say you want a program that does x, y, and z? Write it your self! Sure, a couple such packages exist already, but you gotta pay to play, buddy!"

Re:Heavens...

[candiman]

Get off your high horse. The general fact about volunteer organisations is they are under-resourced and over-worked at the best of times. The poster is looking for an existing solution. They (probably) do not have the time or the resources to go about developing their own solution.

If you want to claim that it's not that hard then go and work for a volunteer org for a few months.

One more option to consider is to

[Utopia]

setup a terminal services server hosting eDocs and let people who need as access to the server to connect to it over terminal services.
There are terminal services clients available for Mac and windows
Also read this article for details about making Terminal Services secure if you decide to go by this route.

Blah, blah, blah.

[JMZero]

Get off your high horse.

No. Screw off. I like my horse.

The poster is looking for an existing solution

You think? I had no idea that's what he might be doing.

If you want to claim that it's not that hard then go and work for a volunteer org for a few months.

Volunteer work is hard - I've done my share. This isn't about some "I don't like volunteers" thing. Hell. I was just making a couple points:

1. There is not always going to be a free solution already made perfectly to solve your problem. If you can't find anything on Google, good chance it's because it's not there.

2. Often, a more generic tool makes a good solution to a problem. If I was personally advising the poster, I'd tell him to get a generic web database tool.

I could probably make such a system

[orkysoft]

But then, it would cost ya ;-)

(No, seriously, I don't think I can afford to do that for karma. (That's why I post to Slashdot already.))

Wiki

[aderuwe]

Use a Wiki, it should do all you need.

To answer that question

[spliff37]

I need two more informations: Firstly, what data do you need to manage exactly? Probably not salaries, so do you need to assign them to projects, track their presence, care about their reports ... software can do many things, and you won't need all of them. So the first step would be to define your requirements. Secondly, volunteers for what purpose?

Re:To answer that question

[ewilts]

Firstly, what data do you need to manage exactly?

I've defined most of those above - at least enough to get me started.

volunteers for what purpose?

The organization, Bundles Of Loveis a registered non-profit that makes and distributes clothes and supplies to neeedy babies and their families. Most of the goods get delivered to hospitals where the social workers determine need and distribute them to the families. The goods include burial garments for those babies that don't survive (you don't want to hear the stories).

Quick/Easy/Free

[ralfg33k]

Why not start a Yahoo group? It has some nifty features including a message board, chat, e-mail broadcast, calendar, surveys and bunch of other stuff, and it's free.

There's an operating system just for this: VMS

[Anonymous Coward]

ehn tea

~~~

Maybe Tutos?

[V. Mole]

Since my only knowledge of "Volunteer Management Systems" is what I just read on your eBase link, I won't make any guarantees, but it's possible that TUTOS will be reasonable match. It's a fairly generic CRM system, and while its terminology may not be an exact match for what your people use, it can do most of the stuff that eBase claims. The only thing that I noticed specific about eBase was it's Evaluate the cost-effectiveness of campaigns as you move donors and volunteers up the "ladder of engagement"; if that's simply marketing speak for "match donations to the mailout that provoked them", I suspect a little wrangling with the TUTOS projects, installations, and invoices could provide a similar report. Try asking more specifically about your needs on the TUTOS mailling list.

Of course, TUTOS is just one of the many OS CRM systems, maybe another would be better starting point. Trying googling for "Linux CRM" rather than "Volunteer Management".

Re:Maybe Tutos?

[ewilts]

This does look promising. The donation component is not at the top of the list, and Tutos might fit the blll for the rest. I had looked at Amphora and it's a lot like Tutos, but Tutos is GPL and Amphora isn't. If I need to wrangle Tutos into a volunteer management suite, it would be nice to give my work back to the community.

Thanks for the pointer!

VolunteerMatch.org

[pcarroll]

It's free for nonprofits. If you're a corporation, check out the VMC link on the home page.

Maybe try PHProjekt

[mosabua]

I am not exactly sure what you volunteer managements software does but if you need to manage them for projects, track time, contact them and so on you might want to check the web-based groupware system PHProjekt. We use it for all our time tracking at work as well as calendaring and so including public calendar on the website and more.

Hire a student..

[Bush_man10]

I'm serious about this. Canadian Engineering schools tend to have funding available to help companies and non-profit organizations to hire coop students for 4 months. Let's just do a little math here. In my school a fair wage, in the current market that is, is 15 dollars an hour. You can get into a SECPAC fund and supplement 5 dollars an hour. So for a 40 hour week for 16 weeks you will only have to pay 10 dollars an hour for a grand total of 6400 dollars.

Now I'm aware there are even more programs in place at other schools that will fund even more than this so you would probably be able to get away with paying aprox. 3000 to have a computer engineering student working on a solution customized specificaly for you. My advice is to check with your local universitys engineering program or CS program and attempt to hire an intern. They will be able to program you something really good in 4-6 months I'm sure.

Re:Hire a student..

[hellertech]

Ongoing support? After the 16 weeks are up, who supports it? I would suggest if you are going to go the route of employing someone to figure this out for you, you work within an existing opensource ap and have them customize, becasue then atleast there will be a community of support for you when the internship/workstudy project is over. 4 months is also not a whole lot of time to develop, implement and test a database....

Dear Slashdot...

[egon]

Dear Slashdot users,

I keep hearing about this site called freshmeat.net. Does anybody know what this is or where I could find it? What have your experiences been with it?

Thanks in advance!

Whether You Build Or Buy ..

[MichaelClark]

You may want to check out http://www.intranets.com - they have a cost-effective, hosted, web-based suite of inegrated apps (file management, project/tasks, user management, collaboration tools, etc.); it's likely that you can configure the features and functions to support your efforts. They have NPO pricing, too. I've installed/configured and also built web-based solutions. I always counsel NPOs to start with a requirements document first. Put down the fundamentals of what you're seeking to accomodate (the internal process or processes), and what basic functions and features this software should have. Also consider what you expect (if anything) in terms of the software's usability (like reports/charts and multiple languages, support for wireless, etc.), and what support, training, and maintenance you expect from a vendor/programmer/consultant. Pre-packaged apps are becoming even more highly configurable and extremely feature-rich, and custom-built solutions can (and often do) take on a life of their own. The one thing I've found that often frustrates orgs that need to leverage software to help manage an essential part of what they do, is that the software is not the silver bullet it's supposed to be. Share your requirements doc with all potential candidates, stick to it and hold the software vendor, reseller, consultant, and/or custom programmer accountable. Good Luck.