How to improve volunteer management with Salesforce: 3 real-life success stories and practical tips
Managing volunteers in nonprofit organizations is key to developing and maintaining an effective, passionate, dedicated supporter base, but it can often feel overwhelming. Manual tasks like data entry, poor communication, and limited ways to track progress only add to the frustration. Unsurprisingly, over 30% of nonprofits report challenges with recruiting and retaining volunteers. Yet, many organizations feel uncertain about how to address these issues and move forward.
Here’s the good news: there’s a better way. In this article, we’ll show you how Salesforce can simplify and improve your volunteer management, helping you overcome common challenges and create a program that engages and inspires your volunteers. We’ll walk you through three real-life success stories, sharing practical tips along the way to help you put these solutions into action.
Success story #1: enhancing volunteer management with Salesforce for Freedom ID: the impact of 500 successful verifications in the first month
When the full-scale war in Ukraine began, Zenoo, our long-lasting client, had a clear mission: to provide a secure, efficient system to connect refugees with verified hosts. However, the organization faced significant challenges, from complex verification processes to meeting strict regulatory requirements. Here’s how we partnered with Zenoo to deliver a solution that changed lives and ensured safety for thousands of people.
The challenge: balancing urgency with accuracy
Initially, Zenoo responded to the war in Ukraine with the Freedom Boxes project, which delivered gifts to lift refugees’ spirits. But the deeper issue soon became apparent—Ukrainian refugees were at high risk of human trafficking, and there was an urgent need for a more practical solution: ensuring safe and verified hosting.
Creating such a solution came along with several challenges:
- A comprehensive verification system was necessary to guarantee the safety of refugees;
- Potential hosts needed to go through a multi-layered, accurate, and quick verification process to minimize delays for refugees;
- EU KYC (Know Your Customer) regulations require careful handling of host data and verification procedures;
- The platform needed to handle high volumes of requests while being scalable for future expansion, including advanced features like blockchain-based verification tokens.
Our solution: a secure, scalable Salesforce architecture
Zenoo partnered with us to develop a Salesforce-powered system that could handle their complex requirements. We worked closely, leveraging their expertise in ID verification, to create the Freedom ID platform.
Key features of the solution included:
- Automated ID processing. Potential hosts uploaded government-issued ID scans and fresh photos, which were processed through licensed providers to ensure accuracy and compliance.
- Multi-layered verification. We established an automated system with manual review capabilities to minimize errors and accelerate turnarounds.
- Integration with nonprofit organizations. Nonprofits could create accounts and use unique links to refer hosts, cutting down the verification process times and ensuring smooth collaboration.
- Admin role for nonprofits. Only designated admins managed host verification requests and tracked their progress.
- Proven architecture. We adapted solutions from previous projects with Zenoo to support nonprofit operations, enabling efficient processing of verification requests.
With clear administrative roles, our client’s team can manage and monitor verification tasks, making operations smoother and more effective. Their referral system was designed to strengthen partnerships, enabling quicker onboarding and seamless collaboration. In such a way, the solution simplifies volunteer management by streamlining processes, reducing bottlenecks, and ensuring the right people are in the right roles.
How we worked on the project
Collaboration was at the heart of this project. We started by understanding the unique needs of the Freedom ID platform and the nonprofits Zenoo worked with. Our team held regular sessions with stakeholders to align on goals and ensure the platform could handle high volumes of verification requests while meeting compliance standards.
During development, we implemented additional logic to handle cases requiring manual review, enhancing the system’s security. The testing phases involved input from the Freedom ID team and nonprofit partners, refining the platform for real-world use.
The outcome: safety and efficiency in action
The results spoke volumes:
- 500 potential host verifications in the first month;
- Reduced human trafficking risk with host verification;
- Faster processing times and minimized waiting for both hosts and nonprofits;
- The system met all EU KYC requirements, ensuring the secure handling of sensitive data;
- The platform is ready to support future features, such as automated refugee-host matching and blockchain-based verification tokens.
Freedom ID’s Salesforce platform didn’t just solve a problem—it laid the foundation for a safer, more effective volunteer management system that can evolve with future needs.
Success story #2: helping Nova Ukraine to set up Salesforce for managing 3,500 volunteers and raising $85 Million
When the full-scale war in Ukraine began, Nova Ukraine’s team—a nonprofit supporting humanitarian aid efforts—found themselves overwhelmed. For years, they had operated with basic tools like Google Workspace to manage volunteers and donors. However, as the crisis deepened, their operations scaled dramatically, and the need for an automated, organized system became critical. Here’s how we helped Nova Ukraine transform its workflows, manage 3,500 volunteers, and successfully distribute millions of dollars in aid.
The challenge: managing rapid growth and ensuring transparency
For the first 8 years, Nova Ukraine managed everything manually—donor information, grant requests, and volunteer coordination were tracked across spreadsheets and emails. This system worked when operations were small but quickly fell apart when demand surged during the full-scale war.
The team faced several pressing challenges:
- Managing thousands of donations and volunteers manually consumed time and increased the risk of errors;
- As donations grew, Nova Ukraine struggled to efficiently process donor information, grant applications and ensure transparency;
- Off-the-shelf nonprofit tools couldn’t handle the scale and complexity of their workflows, requiring a tailored CRM solution.
Our solution: building a tailored Salesforce system for efficiency and impact
We partnered with Nova Ukraine to design and implement a customized Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud solution. Our team focused on automating processes, improving collaboration, and building an analytical system to provide real-time insights.
Here’s what we delivered:
- Automated grant request processing. We implemented a system that transformed the entire grant lifecycle. Duplicates were eliminated, background checks and approvals were automated, and financial fulfillment and reporting became seamless.
- Unified donor management system. The new Salesforce system brought all donor data—past and present—into one place. The organization could easily process payments, collect accurate data, identify donor trends, and optimize fundraising strategies.
- Customized Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud. The system was tailored to Nova Ukraine’s unique processes, ensuring they could manage donors, grants, and volunteers effectively.
- Volunteer collaboration and grant distribution. With 3,500 Ukraine-based volunteers and over 1,400 partner nonprofits, Nova Ukraine needed a way to coordinate aid distribution efficiently. The customized system automated workflows, managed approvals, and provided tools for volunteer tracking requests.
- Analytical system for data-driven decisions. We built an analytics platform to monitor donation trends, grant distributions, and operational efficiency, helping Nova Ukraine to make informed decisions.
How we worked together
From day one, we aimed to understand Nova Ukraine’s unique challenges and create a system that met their needs of working with donors and organizations applying to receive grants. Our teams worked closely, designing solutions that could handle massive amounts of data while being simple to use for volunteers and coordinators.
Throughout the project, we implemented about 160 new features and enhancements, including integrations for various payment methods like crowdfunding, wire transfers, and checks.
The outcome: measurable impact in numbers
The results were transformative:
- 205,000 donations were handled seamlessly in one year, even with a mid-year system migration.
- 5,000 requests have been processed since May 2022, with over 3,000 successfully fulfilled by around 90 coordinators.
- 1,400 partner nonprofits were onboarded by March 2023.
- $78 million worth of aid was distributed, amounting to 20 tons of goods.
- Improved volunteer management: The system supported 3,500 volunteers, enabling better coordination and faster aid distribution.
Nova Ukraine turned chaos into organized, scalable processes by implementing a customized Salesforce solution. Automated workflows freed up time for staff to focus on strategy, volunteers could be better coordinated, and donors received full transparency about how their contributions made a difference.
Success story #3: how Better Time Stories enhanced volunteer coordination and delivery efficiency with Salesforce
Better Time Stories began as a heartfelt project during the full-scale war. Its mission was to connect displaced Ukrainian children with their loved ones through personalized storybooks. While the project gained early momentum, its operations faced significant roadblocks. Inefficient systems, manual errors, and scaling issues threatened to undermine its impact. That’s where we stepped in.
The challenge: inefficiencies holding back impact
Better Time Stories relied on a quickly assembled Salesforce system to handle requests and deliveries. But as demand grew, the cracks in the system became apparent:
- Bugs and glitches in the system led to duplicate requests and data entry mistakes, complicating deliveries;
- Families with multiple children often received excess book sets instead of one per household, wasting resources;
- Working with group refugee housing was unnecessarily difficult due to limited manual input options;
- The system wasn’t ready to support deliveries outside of the Netherlands, restricting expansion to countries like Belgium, Germany, and Austria;
- The request system couldn’t validate addresses, detect fraud, or eliminate duplicates, leading to incorrect or failed deliveries;
- Need for ongoing technical support to maintain its operations while fixing these inefficiencies.
Our solution: streamlining operations with Salesforce
Our team worked closely with Better Time Stories to address these challenges and optimize their Salesforce system. By fixing technical issues, enhancing features, and expanding capabilities, we helped the project scale efficiently and maximize its impact.
Here’s what we delivered:
- Advanced address validation and fraud detection. We implemented multi-step address validation and fraud detection processes to ensure accurate deliveries while reducing failed shipments and costs.
- Optimized request processing. A major issue was fixed: no more than one package could be sent per household, solving the problem of redundant deliveries and making better use of donor funds.
- Data validation steps. Additional gatekeeping features were introduced to eliminate duplicates, Cyrillic writing errors, and incomplete information, improving data accuracy and workflow efficiency.
- Manual input for group refugee housing. We added the option for manual package input, simplifying the process for volunteers handling requests from group refugee shelters.
- Scaling system capabilities. The system was optimized to support deliveries to Belgium, Germany, and Austria, enabling Better Time Stories to expand operations ahead of Christmas.
- Request verification using IDs. A verification solution using IDs was implemented to avoid scams and duplicate entries, ensuring that resources were directed where they were genuinely needed.
- Donor-family matching and personalized communication. We developed a flow to connect individual donors with the families they supported, allowing Better Time Stories to send heartfelt, personalized messages—a touch that resonated deeply with donors and recipients alike.
- Testing environment. A test environment was created to enable the testing of new features without risking issues in the live system.
How we collaborated
The success of this project was built on close collaboration. Our prior professional networking ensured smooth communication with Better Time Stories’ production team, enabling us to move quickly and efficiently. We worked in sprints, identifying and prioritizing fixes while implementing solutions that allowed the nonprofit to expand without interruptions.
Our team also stayed on to provide technical support, ensuring that operations continued to run smoothly as new challenges arose.
The outcome: efficient operations and happier families
The results of the project were clear and measurable:
- Improved delivery success rate. Pre-optimization, the delivery success rate stood at 70%. After our improvements, this number rose significantly;
- €41,130 in donations translated to:some text
- 2,400 packages sent to Germany;
- 190 packages delivered to Belgium;
- 130 packages delivered to the Netherlands;
- Organized, categorized data made it easier for employees and volunteers to process requests and manage donations;
- Reduced data loss with testing and validation measures.
How to use Salesforce for volunteer management: our tips gained from the implemented projects
While volunteer work and nonprofit management may seem far removed from high-tech solutions, the real-life examples above prove how transformative technology can be. According to recent Salesforce research, nonprofits using their tools have seen impressive results: a 93% increase in ROI, 29% faster decision-making, and significant improvements in team collaboration.
“Salesforce is not just about managing data—it’s about simplifying workflows and freeing up time for what matters most: your mission. We’ve seen firsthand how it empowers nonprofits to make a real impact.”, says our Chief Revenue Officer, Vlad Petrovych.
Based on our experience, let’s explore the lessons your NPO can take from Salesforce’s capabilities and our past success stories to enhance operations, engage volunteers, and drive meaningful impact.
Automate volunteer recruitment and onboarding
Managing thousands of volunteers and processing countless grant requests is a challenge that many nonprofits face, and it can quickly become overwhelming. For Nova Ukraine, this was a daily reality. Their team struggled with sending reminders, tracking applications, and running background checks, which made it hard to stay efficient while focusing on their mission.
That’s when automation with Salesforce made all the difference. After setting up workflows and triggers, our client was able to simplify their processes. Automatic email reminders ensured that no volunteer application was overlooked, while follow-up tasks helped the team stay on top of new applicants. Integrated third-party tools sped up background checks, allowing the team to recruit volunteers more quickly.
For Nova Ukraine, automation wasn’t just a time-saver—it was the key to efficiently coordinating over 3,500 volunteers and processing grant requests with ease, allowing them to make a greater impact where it mattered most.
Practical tips:
- Use Salesforce Flow to design automated steps for the volunteer application process, from email confirmations to assigning tasks for interviews;
- Implement Experience Cloud to create a self-service portal where volunteers can submit applications, track their progress, and access resources;
- Leverage MuleSoft for seamless integration with third-party tools such as background check systems, reducing manual data entry.
Centralize volunteer information
Managing volunteer data becomes much simpler when everything is organized in one place, and Salesforce makes this possible. It allows nonprofits to track contact details, availability, and skills for each volunteer, ensuring no information gets lost. Volunteers can be assigned roles and matched to projects based on their preferences and abilities, which creates a better experience for everyone involved. With the ability to integrate third-party apps, organizations can also keep their data synchronized across various platforms.
For Better Time Stories and Nova Ukraine, this centralized system completely transformed their volunteer management processes. By having everything in one place, they were able to work more efficiently, make smarter decisions, and ultimately engage volunteers in more meaningful ways.
Practical tips:
- Use the free Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack to store and organize volunteer records in customizable objects;
- Enable Einstein Activity Capture to automatically sync emails and events related to volunteers, ensuring comprehensive records;
- Integrate Salesforce with Google Workspace or Microsoft Teams to enhance collaboration and manage schedules effectively.
Enhance communication and engagement
Salesforce allows you to customize your communication with each volunteer based on their interests and history, ensuring that every interaction is relevant and meaningful. You can send personalized emails using Volunteer Campaigns. Moreover, it’s possible to you can automate multi-step communication flows with Engagement Studio in Pardot, which will keep volunteers informed and engaged.
When collaborating with Freedom ID and Nova Ukraine, we have seen this approach significantly improved partner and volunteer engagement. Through personalized messaging and more effective follow-up processes, they were able to strengthen relationships, build trust, and create a more engaged and committed volunteer base.
Practical tips:
- Use Pardot to create automated communication journeys;
- Use Marketing Cloud Personalization to deliver hyper-relevant content to volunteers based on their previous interactions and preferences;
- Create engagement reports with Tableau CRM to analyze and refine communication strategies for better results;
- Introduce Chatter as an internal collaboration tool for keeping volunteers informed and engaged.
Simplify volunteer scheduling
Coordinating volunteers across different programs and locations becomes much simpler with Salesforce’s custom scheduling features. You can create shared calendars to manage volunteer shifts, keeping everything organized and in one place. Automated reminders help ensure volunteers show up on time while tracking attendance allows you to flag no-shows and follow up when needed.
These tools make volunteer management more efficient, reducing scheduling issues and helping nonprofits keep everything running smoothly.
Practical tips:
- Use Salesforce Field Service to schedule volunteers based on availability and skills;
- Integrate scheduling tools like Calendly or FormAssembly to streamline sign-ups;
- Add Einstein Analytics dashboards to monitor volunteer scheduling trends and identify potential gaps.
Ensure transparency and accountability
Salesforce makes it easy to track volunteer hours, contributions, and progress, ensuring complete transparency. It automatically logs volunteer activities, generates real-time reports to share progress both internally and externally, and provides visual dashboards to analyze volunteer contributions.
For many NPOs, including Nova Ukraine, this level of accountability is crucial in managing grants, donations, and volunteer efforts. By having clear insights into volunteer activities, they could make more informed decisions, improve reporting, and strengthen their overall impact.
Practical tips:
- Use Salesforce Reports and Dashboards to create visual snapshots of volunteer activity;
- Automate updates to volunteers with Dynamic Reports that highlight their contributions and milestones achieved;
- Use Sales Cloud to maintain records of grants received, including deadlines, funding amounts, and reporting requirements.
Customize solutions to fit your specific needs
Every nonprofit has its own set of needs, and Salesforce can be customized to fit your specific workflows. For Freedom ID, we developed a tailored verification system to ensure safe hosting for refugees, streamlining the entire process. For Nova Ukraine, we customized Salesforce to manage grants, donor information, and volunteer coordination, helping them work more efficiently and effectively.
Practical tip:
Consult with a certified Salesforce expert to achieve the best results in tailoring your setup. With deep expertise in Salesforce, our team can handle customizations of any complexity. Whether you’re managing thousands of volunteers or scaling your operations across borders, we’re here to help you build a system that works.
Leverage advanced features for complex needs
For larger operations, Salesforce integrates with tools on the AppExchange to add extra functionality. Popular tools include:
- FormAssembly: Build forms to collect volunteer applications;
- DocuSign: Automate signature collection for background checks and agreements;
- Conga Composer: Generate documents and reports directly within Salesforce.
Practical tips:
- Explore the Salesforce AppExchange to find integrations that solve specific pain points in your operations;
- Use Integration Suite to ensure smooth data flow between Salesforce and external tools;
- Implement OmniStudio for creating dynamic, guided interactions for complex processes like application workflows.
Optimize data validation and fraud detection
Ensuring accurate data entry is essential, especially as operations scale. Salesforce helps achieve this by automating address validation to reduce errors, adding verification steps to flag duplicates or incomplete information, and integrating fraud detection tools to enhance security.
In the Better Time Stories project, we implemented advanced validation steps that significantly eliminated errors, improving data accuracy and overall delivery efficiency. This streamlined approach helped the organization maintain high-quality data as it expanded its operations.
Practical tips:
- Use Salesforce Validation Rules to enforce data accuracy at the point of entry;
- Implement Duplicate Management to identify and resolve duplicate records automatically;
- Integrate tools like AddressTools or Experian Data Quality for enhanced data validation and fraud prevention.
Keep scalability in mind
Your Salesforce solution should grow with your nonprofit. Nova Ukraine scaled its operations to support over 3.6 million Ukrainians while managing 205,000 donations and thousands of volunteers. Build a scalable Salesforce architecture with modular components so you can add features as your needs grow.
“Scalability means thinking ahead. We design solutions that work for today but are ready for tomorrow’s growth.” – adds our CRO, Vlad Petrovych.
Practical tips:
- Design a modular Salesforce architecture using Lightning Web Components to ensure scalability;
- Set up Data Archiving Solutions to manage storage limits and maintain performance as your data grows;
- Regularly evaluate and optimize system performance with Salesforce health check to ensure readiness for future growth.
Trust us to improve your volunteer management with Salesforce
At Noltic, we specialize in building tailored Salesforce solutions that simplify complex processes and help nonprofits make a bigger impact. Whether you’re struggling with volunteer coordination, communication, or scaling operations, we can help you use Salesforce to facilitate your efforts and engage your volunteers more effectively.
Our experience speaks for itself:
- Proven results in the nonprofit sector. We’ve helped numerous nonprofit organizations like Nova Ukraine and Better Time Stories manage thousands of volunteers, process donations efficiently, and scale their operations during critical times.
- Global reach and trust. With over 110 successful Salesforce projects delivered worldwide and 5.0 rating on Clutch and 5 stars on AppExchange, we’ve worked with nonprofits across borders, ensuring smooth operations and measurable results.
- Niche Salesforce expertise. Our team includes 70+ Salesforce professionals, 10 of whom are Architects, collectively holding over 300 Salesforce certifications.
- Recognition by Salesforce. As a Summit Consulting and Crest ISV Salesforce Partner, our achievements reflect Salesforce’s recognition of our dedication to delivering exceptional results for our clients.
We understand that every nonprofit is different, and there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. That’s why we work closely with you to design systems that solve your challenges—whether it’s improving communication, scheduling, or reporting.
FAQs
What Salesforce features are most relevant for volunteer management?
Salesforce offers tools like the Nonprofit Success Pack to track volunteer activities, hours, and roles. Volunteers for Salesforce (V4S) adds specialized features for scheduling, shift management, and sign-ups. Reporting tools provide insights on volunteer performance and engagement.
How can I integrate Salesforce with other tools I use for volunteer management?
Salesforce supports integrations with platforms like Google Calendar, Mailchimp, and event tools through AppExchange. Middleware solutions such as Zapier or MuleSoft can connect Salesforce with additional tools to sync data automatically.
What are the best practices for customizing Salesforce to meet specific volunteer management needs?
Tailor Salesforce by creating custom fields, objects, and page layouts to track volunteer skills, availability, and assignments. Use automation features like Flow or Process Builder to simplify scheduling and notifications. Custom reports and dashboards help monitor KPIs like volunteer hours or program success.
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