Online SignUp Blog by SignUp.com

A New Home for the VolunteerSpot Blog

Check out the latest news and content at SignUp.com

The VolunteerSpot blog has moved and is still alive and well! We continue to add new helpful tips and ideas every month with the goal of making life a little easier for all you awesome (volunteer, PTA/PTO, teacher, faith group, league, workplace, neighborhood, and community) Organizers out there.

 

SignUp.com’s Idea Center

We invite you to search our VolunteerSpot blog archive for past posts that may be of interest, and for fresh, up-to-date content, head over to the SignUp Idea Center. Here you’ll find fun ideas, best practices, smart planning tips, and free downloadable graphics, PLUS printable and fillable checklists, letters, coloring pages, appreciation certificates, thank you notes, and much more. 

We’ve got you covered when it comes to volunteer management (for nonprofit organizations, schools, teams, whatever your cause!), fundraising, holidays and other seasonal events, family reunions, picnics, potlucks… you get the point!

Whatever your interest, Start Planning Now at SignUp!

Easter Egg Hunt Sign-up Sheet

Free, Online Sign-ups for Easter Egg Hunts and Potlucks

Coordinating an Easter Egg Hunt this spring? Ditch the paper sign-up sheet, reply-all emails and last minute phone calls and get organized in a snap with free, online sign-ups from VolunteerSpot!

No matter what your church or group needs help with at your hunt:

• Filling eggs
• Hiding eggs
• Dyeing eggs with the kids
• Bringing food for a luncheon
• Setting and cleaning up
• Taking pictures
• You name it

VolunteerSpot's free online sign-ups with reminders are your answer! It's super easy for organizers and committee chairs to set up their sign-ups in minutes and invite church members via email or social media to fill the spots. Start planning now

Participants can sign up anywhere, at anytime, on any device - no passwords required! Plus they'll love the ability to sync to their online calendar and receive automated email reminders prior to the event. No more no-shows!

    Related: How to Host the Best Easter Egg Hunt

And if you're group is collecting contributions to help pull the entire event off, VolunteerSpot still has you covered! Free, online contributions sign-ups give groups a fast, easy and secure way to collect money online and get more people pitching in. Learn more here

 

Related:

10 Spring Bulletin Board Ideas

4 Messy Spring Carnival Booths

Spring Sports Scheduling & Sign-ups

 

 

 

New Feature: Participant Check-in

Virtual Check-in for Volunteers & Participants

Put VolunteerSpot to work for you onsite at your next event with our brand NEW feature: Participant Check-in! Right from the convenience of your mobile device or computer, you can turn your online sign-up into a virtual check-in sheet, verifying volunteers and participants as they arrive and even asking them to validate volunteer hours after-the-fact.

Great for large events like charity races, carnivals, festivals and service days - and day-to-day check-in needs like at the library or school office, Participant Check-in lets organizers:

• Manually check in participants and volunteers on event day from multiple mobile devices or computers
• Sign up Walkups (optional)
• Virtually allow participants to self check in on their shift day
• Follow up with participants to validate they attended an activity or event to capture their hours for reporting purposes

Get this Premium feature today, click here!

 

Also see:

How to Customize Your Sign-up

Creating and Managing a Contact List

School Volunteer Interest Form

Parent Volunteer Survey | Back to School

Don't dread back to school sign-ups any more! Forget sifting through hundreds of paper volunteer surveys and compiling spreadsheet after spreadsheet to sort through who's interested in helping with fundraisers over volunteering in the library or cafeteria. VolunteerSpot has you covered with free volunteer interest sign-ups that help you quickly compile all your school parent volunteer info online, in one place, with easy, free reporting features to boot!

School parents can view the volunteer interest sign-up from anywhere at anytime on any device - with a couple clicks and taps, they've shared their contact info and email and what areas of school volunteering they're interested in.

How to Create a Volunteer Interest Form with VolunteerSpot:

• Register a free account with VolunteerSpot
• Create a "no-date" Sign-up sheet
• Add ToDo's of what you need help with during the school year and when,  i.e. Fall Carnival Oct. 2015, Teacher Appreciation Week May 2016, etc.
• Invite parents to sign up or post links to your Volunteer Interest form on the school website, social media channels or in back to school eNewsletter

School leaders, room parents and teachers can customize their sign-up themes, aggregate school parent info into Contact Lists in their accounts, post sign-up links on the school website and social feeds, and so much more. Get Started

 

NEW Feature: Contact List

Import Participant Emails in a Snap!

Now it's even easier to import and store email and contact info for all the participants across your VolunteerSpot Sign-ups! 

Coordinating events, organizing volunteers and managing participants for all the GOOD work you do in your community means keeping track of LOTS of people and information. Now it's even easier to add new contacts to your VolunteerSpot account, no matter what Sign-up they are associated with. 

Add contacts individually, like here:

Or import from common formats like .csv spreadsheets or from your Gmail, DirectorySpot or TeamSnap accounts:

*DirectorySpot is the leading provider of custom online and mobile directory solutions for your school, group, or member directory. Access parent, student, and teacher information, as well as class lists and your calendar, quickly and easily from your computer or mobile device. The app is customized with your colors and logo and is simple to use and set up. Learn more here

Organizers can quickly access their various Contact Lists via the My Tools feature, and can even assign participants and volunteers to a Sign-up right from their lists. Try it out

Also see:

VolunteerSpot New Features & Updates

NEW: Customize Your Sign-Ups

Scheduling Repeating & Recurring Volunteer Spots

 

Charity Race Sign-Ups

Organizing Walkathon, Fun Run & 5K Volunteers

Training for a 5k? Try training to organize one! From managing tactical event details to recruiting and organizing volunteers and sponsors, coordinating an outdoor race or athletic fundraiser can really take the wind out of you. Stress less and save time finding all the help you need with free online sign-ups from VolunteerSpot!

24/7 access from a computer or mobile device makes signing up to help with this year's 5K or Fun Run a breeze, not to mention eCalendar syncing and automated email reminders! Volunteers and helpers will thank you for making it so easy to get involved. 

Charity Race Sign-Up (Mobile View)

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Charity Race Sign-Up (Desktop View)

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In addition to intuitive and quick scheduling tools, volunteer coordinators have access to:

• Adding a custom background theme to a sign-up
• Collecting extra information from volunteers (i.e. t-shirt size)
• Having volunteers sign a permission or waiver
• Adding an event map and extra documents to the sign-up
• Inviting volunteers to the sign-up via email, social media, website
• Messaging volunteers by date or status signed-up
• And much more!

Try a free demo today or get started - you'll be glad you did!

 

Also see:

7 Tips for Planning a Successful Walkathon

Charity Walks: Easy Ways to Thank Volunteers

New Feature | Customize Your Sign-Up

Sign-Up Themes

Announcing our most popular NEW feature . . . THEMES!

VolunteerSpot's new feature let's you customize any and all of your sign-ups with beautiful, themed backgrounds and the ability to upload an image or logo too! It's super easy  >>

1. Choose a theme when you first set up your sign-up in the Planning Wizard or use the Settings menu on a current sign-up to access Themes.

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2. Choose from a variety of sign-up themes including sports, school, seasons and more! Over 1,600 variations available between themes and images.

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3. Apply and preview how your theme will look.

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4. Upload your school or organization logo to display at the top left of your sign-up, or choose an image from the media library to add your sign-up. 

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5. Your beautiful theme displays as a full background for parents and participants signing up!

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Add flare and customization to your sign-ups today! Get started

Volunteer Appreciation Lunch Sign-Up

Coordinating Volunteer Appreciation Events | National Volunteer Week

Planning a special event for National Volunteer Week? Whether for a party or luncheon, free online sign-ups will save you (and your volunteers) time in getting coordinated for delicious fun!

Use VolunteerSpot's intuitive scheduling and communication tools to quickly set up what needs to be brought for the lunch and where you need participants; invite them to sign up 24/7 from their computer or smartphone, and rely on eCalendar syncing and automated reminders to keep everyone on track! Get started

See how easy it is to set-up your Appreciation Luncheon sign-up in this quick video:

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And don't miss these great Appreciation Potluck ideas:

Potluck Sign-Ups & Planning Tips

8 Creative Potluck Food Card Ideas

5 Steps to Potluck Perfection

6 Potluck Favorites Folks Love

Super Fun Potluck Themes

Brunch / Lunch Recipes on Pinterest

 

Scheduling Repeating Volunteer Jobs

VolunteerSpot New Features | Repeating Spots

Does your organization require volunteers weekly at the same day and time? Is your school looking to coordinate a recurring volunteer schedule for library and office help? It's so easy to coordinate and communicate ongoing volunteer needs with VolunteerSpot's free online signups and the brand new Repeating Spots feature!

In minutes, you can quickly schedule recurring needs and volunteer calendars for the:

• School office
• School library
• Food bank
• Church services
• Nonprofit outreach
• Class helpers
• And more!

It's so simple - simply register your free VolunteerSpot account to get started, launch your sign-up and when creating your spots (ToDos and ToBrings) click the Repeating Pattern button. In the following window you can set the frequency and duration of your recurring volunteer needs. Save and you're done!

Check out more new features rolling out with the best online volunteer scheduling software including online waivers and the ability for multiple organizers to publish sign-ups to Group Pages! Click here to see new features

New Campus Plan Features Makes Organizing Even Easier!

Posting Sign-ups to Group Pages

Just in time for the New Year, VolunteerSpot is making it easier than ever for your school  to get organized! Our brand new update now lets ANY organizer in your Campus Plan add Sign-ups to your Group Pages (without adding them as an Assistant Organizer) - whoop!

This help article describes how easy it is, click >> How can another organizer post a sign-up to my Group Page?

Group Pages allow organizations & schools with lots of sign-ups, i.e. for the Spring Carnival, specific grade activities, Booster Club events, you name it, post them all in one location for parents and volunteers to access and sign up. To get started, simply create your school's new Group Pages, and give other Organizers permission to add their Sign-ups to it. You can then open your Group Page to change the sort order of the activities listed. Learn more

 

Also see:

Campus Plan from VolunteerSpot

New Feature: Quick List Builder

Auto-fill Feature Makes It Easy to Schedule Spots

 

 

Giving Tree Signup | New Feature Makes It Easy!

 VolunteerSpot's Quick Item Entry Saves Time

Using VolunteerSpot for all your GOOD work this holiday season is a given, but now it's even easier to save time and stress less coodinating the signups and holiday help you so need.

VolunteerSpot's brand new Quick Item Entry feature helps organizers build lists in minutes of all the items and things they need donated or contributed: Quickly organize:

• Thanksgiving potlucks
• Food Bank Donations
• Giving Tree/Adopt-a-Family Projects
• Winter Class Party Supplies
• Holiday Community Meals
• Teacher Group Gift Basket Donations

Watch our quick how-to video below and click to set up your signup now!

Invite volunteers, family members and participants to sign up to help with a quick email invitation - or post a shareable signup link to your webpage, social accounts. Rely on mobile access, eCalendar sync and automated reminders to keep everyone on track! Get started now

 

Also see:

8 Things to Know Before Donating to a Food Bank

Holidays & Winter Signup Sheets

8 Holiday Decorating Hacks

 VolunteerSpot Makes it Easy to Give & Gather 

 

Five healthy snacks sure to satisfy their sweet tooth

School is out, summer is in session and the kids are ready to reach out for those chips and ice cream. As a mother, a common challenge is encouraging your children to choose spinach over sweets, but here are some treats that will let your little ones have their cake and eat it too (healthy cake, that is).

 Natural-Fruit Snow Cones via Five Heart at Home

Temperatures are rising and what goes better with summer than a delicious snow cone to cool you down? Typically, snow cones are smothered with fattening artificial syrup, but replace the artificial with the real thing to quench your child’s sweet taste buds. Also check out how you can make your own ice cream to put your snow cone on top at Real Simple.

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Fruit-Filled Popsicles via Popsugar

Another summertime treasure is the traditional sticky yet savoring popsicle. It does not go without surprise that this delicacy can also do without the artificial flavoring in replacement of your fruits of preference.

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 Greens for all ages

It is all about presentation when getting crafty with your ingredients.  This is your chance to be creative and produce a snack that’s delicious, original and give your kids no idea they're eating healthy. 

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Wow-a-melon via Kristen Benston

Watermelon lollipops give a whole new meaning to the infamous summer snack. These ingenious sweets are perfect for events when time is an issue and cannot be any easier to put together.

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Pop of Banana via the Comfort of Cooking

Get ready to get adventurous with original banana pops to cool you down this summer. This treat is easy to make and will additionally make for a great activity with the kids. 

Volunteer Management Software Review

See Why SoftwareAdvice.com & Girls on the Run - Bay Area Recommend VolunteerSpot

Mission driven programs like Girls on the Run, a youth development nonprofit that sponsors running activities and events for girls, rely heavily on volunteer support. Spreadsheets, clipboards and reply all emails don't cut it anymore when it comes to organizing hands on effort; check out this recent post from SoftwareAdvice.com on how VolunteerSpot's free online sign ups help coordinate, track and maintain a volunteer schedule for a very important organization . . .

Girls on the Run—Bay Area relies on the generosity of about 800 volunteers, who contribute a combined 30,000 hours of time annually to coach and train participating youth. Over 100 of these volunteers are recruited to assist on race days with pre-race setup, post-race breakdown, food and beverage distribution, registration assistance, face painting and passing out medals at the finish line.

Prior to 2011, four full-time staff members devoted half their work week to recruiting and scheduling volunteers in the five weeks preceding a race, which strained their limited resources. People who were interested in volunteering signed up through an online form that Girls on the Run staff had created themselves, but volunteers weren’t able to choose which tasks they wanted to undertake.

“All of our race-day volunteers signed up for the same four-hour time slot, and we assigned them tasks as they checked in on race day,” says Thomas. “This created a bit of a mob scene in the check-in tent. We'd end up with too many people in one area and not enough in another, or some volunteers wouldn’t like the job we assigned them. Others were distressed when we had to split up their group to fill the available jobs.”

The disorganized sign-up and check-in process began to jeopardize the volunteer experience—so staff decided it was time to find a better solution.

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VolunteerSpot Provides Full-Featured, Budget-Friendly Solution

The team began searching for a system that could streamline race-day volunteer coordination and allow volunteers to accomplish three things:

1. Read descriptions of the available tasks.
2. Sign up for a specific task online.
3. Register a group of volunteers, such as a high school or corporate group, to serve together.

Fortunately, the search for a better system didn’t take long. One of the organization’s committee members recommended VolunteerSpot—an online volunteer scheduling and management system—because he had previous experience using it.

Read the rest of this article over on SoftwareAdvice.com

 

Related Articles:

How to organize a 5k, fun run or charity walk

VolunteerSpotlight - GOTR in Kansas City, MO

 

NEW! Campus Plan from VolunteerSpot

Organize Your Entire School with VolunteerSpot Today!

Bring an even more powerful VolunteerSpot to your entire school with our NEW Campus Plan! Click here

VolunteerSpot has revamped the way schools network their online sign ups with the brand new CAMPUS PLAN!

Now room parents, school staff, teachers and volunteer coordinators can:

• Share Premium upgrades with ALL VolunteerSpot organizers from their school
• Customize MULTIPLE group pages with school logos and pictures
• School-wide tracking & signup progress across multiple activities

Click here now to get started!

Premium upgrades for all your school organizers means hours tracking, capturing extra info from volunteers/parents, adding assistant organizers to activities and more. VolunteerSpot's Campus Plan is THE solution for  coordinating parent volunteers - in the classroom, lunchroom, media center, for fundraisers, book fairs, bake sales, you name it - get started today!

Special $99 limited-time offer available, upgrade today! 

   

New VolunteerSpot Feature: Swap!

Quickly Swap Your Spot & Find Substitutes on Your VolunteerSpot Calendar

Busy schedules and unforseen events means that making life's commitments, including volunteering, isn't always feasible. And being able to then find a replacement or substitute to take your place for a job you have to back out of just adds more stress to the situation, right?

With VolunteerSpot's free online sign up sheets and reminders, scheduling and reminding volunteers is easy. With our brand new SWAP feature, we take the guilt out of not being able to make every commitment and give volunteers and school parents the tools to quickly find a replacement (saving everyone time and stress)!

Check out how in this quick video and click here to get started today!