Top-Rated Tools for Tracking Volunteer Hours

Employees often look for places to work that value their passions and civic-mindedness. Volunteer time off (VTO) lets companies give something tangible to build community programs and keep workers engaged. Tracking the hours spent can help leadership see how well programs work and where to make changes. Incorporating top-rated tools for tracking volunteer hours into your employee portal offers the data needed to drive such programs.

Top-Rated Tools for Tracking Volunteer Hours Painlessly

The best tracking programs integrate seamlessly with other payroll systems. Your human resources (HR) department should be involved in selecting which best complements procedures already in place. Finding software that integrates well makes adding another feature simpler than revamping an entire network.

You might offer a set number of hours per year for employees to volunteer and be paid by the company for their time. Tracking everything ensures workers get appropriately paid and use their time wisely. Software also prevents them from abusing the privilege and ensures they meet the requirements to get paid for VTO or have an excused absence.

The National Federation of Independent Business surveyed members and discovered that 76% of small-business owners volunteer with civic groups, charities, schools and other local organizations. They also supported nonprofits by paying their employees to spend time at the charity and encouraging donations. While your purpose may be to give back, you can gain tax breaks for your time, mileage and financial support. The top-rated tools for tracking volunteer hours will make the process simple.

Features, pricing and customer reviews were examined to select the top tools for tracking volunteering. When available, demos were tried or recordings were watched on the company’s website or videostreaming services such as YouTube. After careful consideration, the volunteer time-tracking software options below reflect which ones should suit the needs of almost any small or medium business. Most offer customized enterprise plans for larger operations.

1. Volgistics

The intuitive layout of Volgistics helps those unfamiliar with tracking software to integrate seamlessly with payroll systems while monitoring current, past and interested volunteers. Tap into the power of Verified First to perform background checks to maintain your brand’s stellar reputation.

With Volgistics, you can:

• Create a profile for each volunteer.
• Schedule opportunities on the volunteer management screen.
• Create customized reports with hours and additional notes.
• Integrate with mobile devices so employees can easily check their activity and join new opportunities.
• Track volunteer hours with the time clock.
• Use checklists to set requirements for volunteer work.

The pricing depends on how many volunteers you track and other indicators, such as operators, archive and online portal access. You can try the system for 30 days to see if it might work for your organization. Pricing for 50 volunteers is around $9 per month, with mobile access and the time clock running a few dollars more.

2. PlanHero

If paperwork swamps your volunteer coordinator or HR department, PlanHero could be the solution. Saving time lessens employee frustration over waiting for reimbursement or answers to questions. With this system, HR can run reports quickly.

This volunteer management tool lets you:

• Gather online signups for volunteer opportunities
• Send automated reminders
• Offer an online event schedule
• Sync volunteer status to calendars
• Add a time gap as needed between meetings
• Track employee volunteer hours
• Avoid ads
• Have a free plan

PlanHero is easy to set up and integrates with Double the Donation Volunteering, encouraging employee engagement.

The free plan offers one active event at a time and a 30-day duration for a single group, while the Essentials plan runs $12 per month and has unlimited events and duration for one group. The Pro plan runs $18 monthly and has a $10 add-on fee for additional administrators. Pro has unlimited events and event duration for up to three groups at a time.

3. Volunteer Matters

It can be challenging to keep your volunteers engaged and giving back through your business. Volunteer time-tracking software should give you ways to reach out to your top helpers and encourage them to continue their efforts. Volunteer Matters offers engagement features to keep people signing up.

The software allows you to:

• Qualify your volunteers to be sure they work in their desired capacity.
• Send out reminders and notices to keep employees engaged.
• Allow people to schedule opportunities and sign up for others, reducing administrative tasks.
• Send thank you notes once the employee completes volunteer work.

The cost of Volunteer Matters varies depending on your organization’s needs. Monthly plans start at $219, plus a $499 setup fee. If you need to add more than two administrators or 250 volunteers, you’ll need to upgrade to the Professional package for $379 per month and a one-time $699 setup fee.

4. Samaritan Volunteer Management Software

If you’re looking for a platform that coaches you through the basics, Samaritan could be a good choice. It is one of the few programs that offers a free basic option alongside paid ones. It specializes in small and large volunteer programs.

You can:

• Integrate with social media and systems running background checks.
• Use HR programs like PureSafety OHM, PeopleSoft and Workday.
• Integrate registration forms into your site for easy submission.
• Expand opportunity listings to include a Google Map link.
• Set up the program to send automated email reminders.
• Let volunteers edit data and report hours.
• Get expansive reports for any data you can imagine.

Samaritan offers a free base plan with basic functions. For advanced management, you must upgrade to a Premium monthly subscription for around $20 monthly. You must request a quote from Samaritan if you need something more customized.

5. GivePulse

Do you want to understand the social impact of volunteering and giving through your company and employees? GivePulse tracks and digs into social mentions and other data that can drive future decision-making about what charities to provide the most time and money to.

The software can:

• Highlight community opportunities
• Allow scheduling
• Perform tracking
• Offer basic communications
• Provide service-learning courses
• Set up group donation campaigns

GivePulse doesn’t make its pricing easy to find, but other sites, such as Capterra, mention it has plans from free to $138 a month. It may charge processing fees for donations collected through its system. Contact the company directly for a free quote if you want details on the best plan for your business’s needs and pricing.

6. Track It Forward

Track It Forward looks easy to learn if you want something easier to set up. Some of the best features of this program let you:

• Track hours as volunteers complete them via the mobile app.
• Approve workflows with a click.
• See detailed reports on how your company measures up in giving back to the community.
• View volunteer progress by logging in.
• Send automated reminders to employees.

Track it Forward offers a free 30-day trial — no credit card is needed to sign up. After a month, organizations with 100 volunteers or less pay $12 monthly for basic features — billed in annual installments — $24 monthly for additional administrators and premium features, and $36 per month for all features, including file upload fields. It offers a free plan and basic tracking if you have under 25 volunteers.

7. Volunteer Hub

If you organize several volunteer activities each year, VolunteerHub carefully tracks hours and impact. It integrates with customer relationship management to help you participate in the activities your clients care most about.

The best features of VolunteerHub allow you to:

• Check in on mobile devices when starting and stopping volunteer hours in the field.
• Customize reports to suit the needs of the employee and HR.
• Recruit, manage and engage volunteers by communicating within the system.
• Send reminders to avoid no-shows and ensure you staff events adequately.
• Grab real-time data as an event occurs.
• Coordinate with nonprofit endeavors you care about to ensure your volunteers are meeting the charity’s needs.

VolunteerHub is one of the pricier options for volunteer software, coming in at $143 per month for 1,000 volunteers with annual billing and set up costs. You’ll pay $288 per month for up to 2,500 volunteers and must contact the company if you have over that amount.

8. Benevity

Benevity is known for its customer relationship management tools. It also offers employee engagement modules, including the ability to manage your volunteer programs.

Benevity lets you:

• Use a single system for CRM and volunteer time tracking.
• Automate tracking volunteer hours.
• Create donation matching programs to encourage your workforce and the company to give back to the local community.
• Receive extensive reports for tax time, tracking employee engagement and more.

Benevity is best for larger businesses seeking to start a volunteer program or better track activities already created. Each company’s needs determine the charges — the site doesn’t provide pricing. However, you can request a demo of its products. Contacting Benevity is the only way to find out what it might cost your organization.

9. Volunteer Time Tracking by Salesforce

Salesforce offers an all-in-one solution for businesses. The volunteer tracking portion integrates with Salesforce’s other software.

Some of the features of the Volunteer Time Tracking let you:

• Keep up with how many hours the volunteers said they’d work and how much they contributed.
• Edit hours at one time for many volunteers, such as when a group takes on a project.
• Create recurring jobs to track hours automatically.
• Make a volunteer shift schedule to ensure needs are covered.

The software allows you to search your volunteer database to fill a particular need or reach out to someone who hasn’t contributed their time recently. Your costs will depend upon your base charge for Salesforce plus any add-ons. For example, the Starter CRM suite runs $25 per user per month.

10. Jibble

If you’re looking for a no-nonsense free solution for tracking volunteer hours, Jibble might be just what you need. You can use the clock to track time by activity or project. The software might be helpful for grant recipients.

Jibble integrates with:

• QuickBooks
• Slack
• Xero
• Deel
• Microsoft Teams
• Asana
• Azure
• HubSpot
• Google Calendar
• GitHub
• Trello

You can sign up for a free forever plan and upgrade if needed. The upgrades are based on features, not users. Premium, at $2.99 per user per month, provides detailed reports. Bump up to the Ultimate package for $5.99 per user per month and get client-based project tracking.

11. ClickTime

How better to track volunteer time for nonprofits than with software explicitly created for charities? ClickTime allows you to:

• Get reports on funding sources.
• Track overhead expenses.
• Stay in compliance with your grant.
• Connect with Twilio, HubSpot and Salesforce.
• Use a stopwatch to start and stop time as needed.
• Monitor expenses.

ClickTime works well for small businesses and startups. The Starter plan is $12 per user per month for up to 25 users. You’ll gain features as you move up the scale and the ability to add more users. The Team package runs $15 per user per month, and you can add up to 200 people. You get all the benefits of the starter package plus the ability to approve workflows. If you need more users or features, you’ll need an Enterprise package, which ClickTime can customize to suit each business.

12. Better Impact

Check out Better Impact if you want a system to engage your employees better and track their volunteering involvement.

The software lets you:

• Offer online applications.
• Provide online training.
• Text and email reminders.
• Receive reports on hours volunteered and the outcomes.
• Create custom member profiles.

The Standard edition gives you an unlimited number of administrators, the ability to attach files in the browser and create volunteer profiles with photos. Pricing varies — Better Impact bills for training, setup and other help from the company. Contact it for a one-on-one consultation to learn more about costs.

Which Solution Is Right for Your Volunteer Tracking Needs?

Finding the best software solution to track volunteer hours is complex. Take advantage of free demos to see which one seems most effortless to navigate and covers the data you need. The more engaged and invested staff is in philanthropic endeavors, the more impact your entire organization can have.

Devin Partida writes about investor technologies, big data and apps. She is also the Editor-in-Chief of ReHack.com.