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Volunteers & hour tracking

Volunteers are tracked separately from members or donors — many people volunteer without paying dues or donating, and tracking their hours matters for grants, board reports, and IRS filings.

Volunteers

Three tabs

  • Volunteers — directory of every volunteer.
  • Hour Logging — time-entry interface (volunteers log their own hours, or staff log for them).
  • Projects — group volunteer hours by project (e.g. "Annual Gala", "Garden Cleanup", "Front Desk").

Volunteer profile

Click any row in the directory to open the profile:

  • Contact info (name, email, phone).
  • Total hours and YTD hours.
  • Event count (events they showed up to).
  • Recent hours log — last several entries with project, date, hours.
  • Notes section for skills, availability, restrictions ("can lift", "vegan", "available weekends only").

Logging hours

Three ways:

  1. Volunteer self-log — at the public site /volunteer/log, volunteers enter their own hours. Most accurate but requires volunteer engagement.
  2. Staff bulk-log — after an event, a coordinator enters all volunteer hours from a sign-in sheet.
  3. QR scan — at events using the Koolay Mobile Panel, volunteers can check in via QR; the duration between check-in and check-out becomes their logged hours automatically.

Statuses

  • Active — has logged hours in the last 12 months.
  • Onboarding — newly registered, hasn't logged hours yet.
  • Inactive — no hours in 12+ months.

Reports for grants

Many grants ask "how many volunteer hours did you mobilize this year?" Generate a report from Project Management Hub → Reports → Volunteer Hours:

  • Total hours.
  • Unique volunteers.
  • Hours by project.
  • Hours by month.
  • Average hours per volunteer.

Export to CSV or PDF for inclusion in grant applications.

Volunteer recruitment

Public sign-up at /volunteer collects: name, email, phone, skills, availability. New sign-ups create a "Onboarding" volunteer in your directory; you confirm and welcome them.

Common patterns

  • Tag volunteers by skill — useful when an event needs specific abilities (drivers, bilingual, kid-friendly).
  • Recognize milestones — automated email at 10, 50, 100 hours, with thank-you and recognition.
  • Convert volunteers to donors — long-time volunteers are excellent prospects for annual giving asks.