Volunteer Management and Scheduling Software
Shifts get filled by email thread and a clipboard at the door, and the hours end up in a spreadsheet someone updates in the spring. Communal lets volunteers pick their own shift, sign in when they arrive, and keeps the hours on their record, next to their membership and giving.
- Volunteers pick a shift and get a reminder before it
- A sign-in page at the shift, and hours logged outside one
- A volunteer price on program registration for members who take a shift
- Volunteer history on the same record as membership and giving
Powering 500+ community organizations
No email thread, no clipboard
Filling a shift should not take twenty emails
- Shifts are filled by reply-all, and one person keeps the list
- Hours live on a paper sign-in sheet until someone types them in
- The volunteer discount is a code somebody has to remember to send
Volunteers sign themselves up, and the hours follow them
- Volunteers pick a shift from your page and get a reminder before it
- They sign in at the shift, and the hours land on their record
- Members who take a shift pay the volunteer price at checkout
Reminders go out before the shift
Volunteer Scheduling Where People Pick Their Own Shifts
- A spot limit per shift, counted per date, or none at all
- Weekly or monthly repeats, with any dates you want to skip
- A parent signs up the whole family from one account
- Guests sign up with a name, email, and phone
- Shifts shown only to people with a given role
More on how to schedule volunteers.
Every hour on the volunteer's record
Check-In at the Shift, Hours on the Record
- A sign-in page at the shift: volunteers tap their name to start and finish
- Staff tick who attended and adjust hours on the signup list
- Time given outside a shift, logged by the volunteer and approved by staff
- Each volunteer sees their hours for the year on their account
More on volunteer hour tracking software.
Toggled at the door, kept on the record
A Signup List for Every Shift
- Attendance toggled at the door
- A waiver volunteers accept at signup, if you attach one
- Email and phone there for the day-of call
- Volunteers can drop one date of a recurring shift and say why
- Export the list for the event lead
Applied at checkout, no code
A Volunteer Price on Program Registration
- One volunteer price per program
- Members pick a shift when they register
- No code to send, and nothing to refund later
- The shift signup is made with the registration
More on automatic volunteer discounts, and on volunteer rewards programs.
Volunteer Management Software for Parks and Recreation
A parks department runs two kinds of volunteer program at once. There is the festival that needs forty people for one Saturday, and there is the trail crew that turns out every week. Communal handles both from the same schedule, and the hours from either one land on the volunteer's record.
- Event-day volunteers for park cleanups and festivals
- Recurring shifts for trail maintenance and park hosting
- Hour reports you can hand to council
- A volunteer price on program registration for the people who take a shift
More on parks and recreation software, and on the community centres that run the same programs indoors.
Automated Volunteer Reminders and Messages
Most no-shows are people who forgot, not people who changed their minds. Communal sends the confirmation when someone signs up and the reminder before the shift, so the person running the day is not sending them by hand the night before.
- A confirmation email with the shift details at signup
- A reminder 6, 12, 24, or 48 hours before the shift, once you switch reminders on
- A notice to everyone signed up when you cancel a shift or a single date
- A message to everyone on a shift or opportunity, kept with its recipient list
- Reminders and messages go by email. Communal does not send texts.
Comparing platforms? The guide to the best volunteer management software for nonprofits covers what to ask for.
Volunteer Management Software vs Spreadsheets and Sign-Up Sheets
A sign-up sheet collects the name. Everything after that, the reminder, the hours, the discount, is still somebody's evening.
| Feature | Spreadsheets and sign-up sheets | Communal |
|---|---|---|
| Shift signup | Reply-all and a phone call | Volunteers pick their own shift |
| Spot limits | Counted by hand | A limit per shift, enforced |
| Reminders | Sent when somebody remembers | Sent hours before the shift |
| Hour tracking | A paper sign-in sheet | Signed in at the shift |
| Hours outside a shift | An email someone forwards | Logged and approved |
| Attendance | Ticked on a clipboard | Toggled on the signup list |
| Volunteer discounts | A code you email out | Applied at checkout |
| Hour reports | Built in a spreadsheet | By volunteer and date range |
| Membership link | A second list of names | One record per person |
If scheduling is the main job, the guide on how to schedule volunteers covers recurring shifts, spot limits, and reminders in more detail.
How Communal Compares With Volunteer-Only Tools
Dedicated volunteer tools schedule shifts well. None of these four keeps a membership record, so your members live in a second system.
| Feature | Communal | VolunteerHub | SignUpGenius | Get Connected by Galaxy Digital | Bloomerang Volunteer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Volunteer shifts & hour tracking | IncludedShifts, hours, auto volunteer discounts | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Membership management | IncludedTiers, custom fields, segments | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| Program & class registration | Add-onWaitlists, capacity, attendance, rosters | Not offered | Included | Not offered | Not offered |
| Donations & fundraising | IncludedIncluded; donor covers fees option | Included | Included | Not listed | Not listed |
Longer write-ups: the best volunteer management software for nonprofits, and the VolunteerHub, SignUpGenius, Galaxy Digital, and Rosterfy alternatives.
Who Runs Volunteers on Communal
The person coordinating volunteers is usually a volunteer too.
Community associations and neighbourhood groups
Board members, rink crews, and the people who run the summer festival, tracked on the same records as the membership roll.
Parks and recreation departments
Park cleanups, festivals, and trail crews, with hour totals you can put in front of council or a grant committee.
Sports clubs and leagues
Concession, gate, and setup shifts that parents cover through the season, with a discount on registration for the families who take them.
Nonprofits, cultural centres, and community gardens
Small teams where the same handful of people do the setup, the front desk, and the watering, and someone still has to report the hours.
What Volunteer Management Software Costs
Communal is $75 per month flat for up to 250 members, and that base plan includes donors, volunteers, member records, and point of sale. There is no separate module to buy.
Card-processing application fee set in your agreement, often 2%; no monthly minimums.
No contracts, prorated billing, cancel any module any time.
The volunteer price on program registration uses the Programs and Events add-on, +$50 per month.
Connected to your entire operation
Volunteers shares one database with every other module. No duplicate entry, no data silos
Powering 500+ community organizations
We love hearing from our customers and are proud to have helped 500+ organizations drive more impact and grow their communities.
We are finally able to communicate with our members, run booking software and a program payment platform all in one application. The cost to our Community is very reasonable and the team is fantastic to work with.
My experience with the software and the team has been overwhelmingly positive. We switched from another provider and the difference was night-and-day!
Revenue from membership sales and renewals increased, and we save a significant amount of staff time and paperwork. The customer service is outstanding and the team at Communal continues to add helpful features.
See Volunteer Management in Action
How community organizations fill shifts and track hours on Communal.
Volunteer Management Guides
Practical guides for scheduling shifts, tracking hours, and keeping volunteers coming back.
Best Volunteer Management Software for Nonprofits
Ten tools compared on scheduling, hour tracking, and where your volunteers live.
Read Guide →Volunteer Hour Tracking Software
How to track hours well enough for grants and recognition, and when a spreadsheet is still enough.
Read Guide →How to Schedule Volunteers
Self-serve shift signups, reminders, and fewer no-shows.
Read Guide →Volunteer Rewards Programs
A volunteer price on programs, and recognition that names what each person did.
Read Guide →Volunteer Management and Scheduling FAQ
It is a volunteer database with the schedule attached. Volunteers see what needs covering and pick a shift themselves, the software sends the confirmation and the reminder, and staff tick who turned up. The hours stay on each volunteer's record, so reports and rewards come out of the same data instead of a spreadsheet someone rebuilds each year.
You post an opportunity with its shifts, set a spot limit on each, and share the link. Volunteers pick a date, see which shifts still have room, and sign up. Members can add family members to the same signup, and guests can sign up with a name, email, and phone number for the shifts you open to guests. Everyone gets a confirmation email with the shift, place, and time.
Yes. A shift can repeat weekly on the days you pick, or monthly, with an end date and any dates you want to skip. Volunteers can sign up for one date or the whole series, and can drop a single date later.
Yes. Each shift has a spot limit, counted per date, or no limit at all. A full shift shows as full and nobody else can take it, though an admin can still add someone. There is no waitlist for volunteer shifts.
Open your sign-in page on a phone or a shared tablet at the door. Volunteers find their name on the shift list and tap to start, then tap again when they finish, and the page resets itself for the next person. Staff can also tick who attended on the signup list and adjust the hours. For time given outside a shift, see volunteer hour tracking software.
Yes, by email. Turn on shift reminders and each volunteer gets one 6, 12, 24, or 48 hours before their shift, whichever you choose. If you cancel a shift or a single date, the people signed up are told automatically. Communal does not send text messages.
Choose a volunteer opportunity or a shift as the audience and send an email. The message is kept with its recipient list, so the next coordinator can see what was sent.
One line per volunteer for the date range you set: hours from shifts, approved hours logged outside a shift, and the total, with the outside hours broken down by category on screen. The CSV export carries shift, other, and total hours. The totals come from sign-ins at the shift, attendance staff marked, and outside hours staff approved, which is what makes them safe to put in a grant application. For hours on one opportunity, filter the signup list to that opportunity and export it; each row carries the shift, date, attendance, and hours logged.
You give a program a volunteer price and link it to a volunteer opportunity. When a member registers, they can pick one of that opportunity's shifts, and taking one brings the volunteer price. It is one price per program, not a sliding scale by hours, and it uses the Programs and Events add-on. More on automatic volunteer discounts.
Yes. Parks and recreation departments schedule event-day volunteers for park cleanups and festivals, set recurring shifts for trail maintenance and park hosting, and pull hour reports to share with council or a grant application. Volunteers who take a shift can get a volunteer price on program registration. See how parks and recreation departments use Communal.
Communal is $75 per month flat for up to 250 members, and that base plan includes volunteers, donors, member records, and point of sale. There is no separate volunteer module to buy. Card-processing application fee set in your agreement, often 2%; no monthly minimums. No contracts, prorated billing, cancel any module any time. The volunteer price on program registration uses the Programs and Events add-on, +$50 per month. Full detail is on the pricing page.
Yes. Someone who gives in March and volunteers at the fall fair has one profile with both, next to their membership. The donor and volunteer management page covers how that works.
See a volunteer shift from sign-up to logged hours.
Book a demo and we will walk through one shift on Communal: the sign-up page, the reminder, the sign-in when volunteers arrive, and the hours on their record. Or start a free trial and set up your first shift.