Enhancing the Relationship Between Volunteering and Fundraising for your NFP

The recent Rosterfy Lunch and Learn Sydney Roundtable in partnership with Funraisin brought together experts from various sectors to discuss how to improve collaboration between fundraising and volunteer teams. The session highlighted key insights on how integrating technology and improving data management can strengthen the relationship between these two areas and drive greater impact.

Key Insights:

1. Breaking Down Silos Between Teams:
One of the main challenges identified by participants was the disconnect between volunteering and fundraising teams. Many organisations still operate with separate departments, leading to missed opportunities for collaboration and integration.

Actionable Tip: Moving forward, organisations should explore integrated systems that allow volunteers and donors to be part of the same ecosystem, creating a unified approach to engagement.

73% of volunteers donate to the non-profit they volunteer for
Global Trend Giving Report

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2. The Power of Data Integration: The data reveals that volunteers are not just the heart of an organisation—they’re also its biggest donors. Volunteers give 56% more than non-volunteers, based on Giving Australia 2016 project data, but organisations often struggle with maintaining clean, accurate data meaning they have no way of tracking and acknowledging their volunteers who donate both with their time and their money.

Actionable Tip: Integrating volunteer and donor data management systems to create a single source of data truth can provide greater transparency and more complex reporting to understand the ROI of your volunteers. This in turn allows for greater opportunities for engagement through personalised engagement strategies including reward and recognition.


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3. Measuring Volunteer Impact: One common theme throughout the session was the importance of showcasing the impact of volunteers. Whether through public dashboards or reporting tools, organisations need to demonstrate how volunteers contribute to achieving organisational goals.

Actionable Tip: Software like Rosterfy help organisations to visualise their volunteer data with live dashboards to help illustrate the real-time impact of volunteer efforts. This not only helps secure support from stakeholders but also boosts volunteer morale.

4. The Role of Technology: Enhancing recruitment, training and engagement
A major focus of the event was on leveraging technology to improve volunteer recruitment, training, and engagement. The rise of mobile apps and SMS communication is revolutionising how organisations connect with their volunteers. It’s so important to go beyond just a welcome email. How does your organisation utilise communications to drive engagement from start to finish?

Actionable Tip: Invest in technology that makes communication easier, ensuring volunteers can access information on-the-go. It’s important to use different types of communication including email, SMS and push notifications in order to capture your volunteers attention in a way that resonates best with them.  

Summary 

The session demonstrated the power of collaboration and the need for integrated systems to strengthen the relationship between fundraising and volunteering. By focusing on data accuracy, volunteer recognition, and strategic use of technology, Volunteering organisations can build stronger, more engaged volunteer bases and drive greater social impact.

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