Comments on: How Do You Schedule Volunteers? http://www.volunteercentered.com/2007/05/08/how-do-you-schedule-volunteers/ Volunteer leadership, management, and recruiting for church ministries and non-profits Thu, 24 Mar 2011 20:46:07 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Paula Irons http://www.volunteercentered.com/2007/05/08/how-do-you-schedule-volunteers/comment-page-1/#comment-3388 Paula Irons Tue, 15 May 2007 10:56:27 +0000 http://www.volunteercentered.com/2007/05/08/how-do-you-schedule-volunteers/#comment-3388 Hi. I'm in children's ministry and scheduling volunteers was an issue for us for a long time. It was hard to get people to volunteer, they often didn't show up, etc. Today, volunteerism is still tough of course, but the quality of our volunteer staff has become awesome. For our youngest classes, our volunteers serve 1 time each month -- say, the 1st Sunday of every month during a single service, the 2nd Sunday of every month, etc. Here it isn't as important for the kids that they see the same face every time they come. As the kids get older, though, that definitely changes. In our preschool classes, volunteers serve a month at a time, but in our Kindergarten and elementary classes, we are blessed to have almost all of our volunteers serve every single week! This is just great for the kids (and volunteers) because they really build some fabulous relationships and that rapport allows a lot more information to sink in to each child. We do give these volunteers the summer off while we do a summer-long VBS. We administer our volunteer staff using Flockhound, a new sofware product for children's and youth ministries. In addition to managing check-in and a whole bunch of other things, it allows us track volunteer background checking, manage volunteer name tags, and schedule volunteers. If you want it to, it will also print a post card to remind each volunteer when they serve. We print them a week in advance, and I think this greatly helps our volunteer consistency. The cards print mail-ready or you can drop them in family mailboxes like we do. The website for Flockhound is www.kingdomhound.com. Hi. I’m in children’s ministry and scheduling volunteers was an issue for us for a long time. It was hard to get people to volunteer, they often didn’t show up, etc. Today, volunteerism is still tough of course, but the quality of our volunteer staff has become awesome. For our youngest classes, our volunteers serve 1 time each month — say, the 1st Sunday of every month during a single service, the 2nd Sunday of every month, etc. Here it isn’t as important for the kids that they see the same face every time they come. As the kids get older, though, that definitely changes. In our preschool classes, volunteers serve a month at a time, but in our Kindergarten and elementary classes, we are blessed to have almost all of our volunteers serve every single week! This is just great for the kids (and volunteers) because they really build some fabulous relationships and that rapport allows a lot more information to sink in to each child. We do give these volunteers the summer off while we do a summer-long VBS.

We administer our volunteer staff using Flockhound, a new sofware product for children’s and youth ministries. In addition to managing check-in and a whole bunch of other things, it allows us track volunteer background checking, manage volunteer name tags, and schedule volunteers. If you want it to, it will also print a post card to remind each volunteer when they serve. We print them a week in advance, and I think this greatly helps our volunteer consistency. The cards print mail-ready or you can drop them in family mailboxes like we do. The website for Flockhound is http://www.kingdomhound.com.

]]> By: Kyle Isenhower http://www.volunteercentered.com/2007/05/08/how-do-you-schedule-volunteers/comment-page-1/#comment-3387 Kyle Isenhower Sun, 13 May 2007 15:57:57 +0000 http://www.volunteercentered.com/2007/05/08/how-do-you-schedule-volunteers/#comment-3387 We use a Wordpress blog to schedule volunteers also. We make a post for who is scheduled for a given weekend. We also have made pages that list dates so volunteers can comment their availability for any given weekend. We use a Wordpress blog to schedule volunteers also. We make a post for who is scheduled for a given weekend. We also have made pages that list dates so volunteers can comment their availability for any given weekend.

]]> By: Brian Davis http://www.volunteercentered.com/2007/05/08/how-do-you-schedule-volunteers/comment-page-1/#comment-3384 Brian Davis Wed, 09 May 2007 23:41:26 +0000 http://www.volunteercentered.com/2007/05/08/how-do-you-schedule-volunteers/#comment-3384 I schedule my volunteers with a blog I made in Wordpress. www.fellowshipcrew.org I started it in Apple's Iweb, but changed it to Wordpress so more staff could actual generate posts. I schedule my volunteers with a blog I made in Wordpress. http://www.fellowshipcrew.org

I started it in Apple’s Iweb, but changed it to Wordpress so more staff could actual generate posts.

]]> By: Jim Walton http://www.volunteercentered.com/2007/05/08/how-do-you-schedule-volunteers/comment-page-1/#comment-3383 Jim Walton Wed, 09 May 2007 14:24:05 +0000 http://www.volunteercentered.com/2007/05/08/how-do-you-schedule-volunteers/#comment-3383 I just started helping in the soundbooth and we are scheduled for a month at a time. So, I'm on EasyWorship this month for the second service and next month I'll get familiar with the sound board. The main sound guy works every other Sunday so I'll probably eventually start rotating with him every other week. Nothing formal, just based on need and about 4 or 5 of us are willing and available. I just started helping in the soundbooth and we are scheduled for a month at a time. So, I’m on EasyWorship this month for the second service and next month I’ll get familiar with the sound board. The main sound guy works every other Sunday so I’ll probably eventually start rotating with him every other week.

Nothing formal, just based on need and about 4 or 5 of us are willing and available.

]]> By: Bill http://www.volunteercentered.com/2007/05/08/how-do-you-schedule-volunteers/comment-page-1/#comment-3382 Bill Wed, 09 May 2007 00:48:55 +0000 http://www.volunteercentered.com/2007/05/08/how-do-you-schedule-volunteers/#comment-3382 We are using a web2.0 program to schedule some things in the church, ie. our elders serving communion. The program is called Doodle, no bells and whistles. www.doodle.ch But I would be curious to see what others are using, particularly something Web2.0 based. We are using a web2.0 program to schedule some things in the church, ie. our elders serving communion.

The program is called Doodle, no bells and whistles.

http://www.doodle.ch

But I would be curious to see what others are using, particularly something Web2.0 based.

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