How to Get More Volunteers for Your Nonprofit

Volunteer recruitment doesn't have to cost money. Step Up is a free volunteer management platform that lets nonprofits post opportunities and receive signups at no charge. There are no listing fees, no per-volunteer costs, and no hidden charges. You create your opportunity, it goes live in our directory, and volunteers find you.

Our audience includes students who need volunteer hours for graduation, adults who want to give back, and groups looking for team volunteer projects. When someone signs up for your opportunity, you get notified so you can follow up and coordinate.

Step Up provides a simple volunteer signup system. Volunteers browse your listing, see the details (hours, dates, location, requirements), and sign up with their information. You receive their contact details and can reach out to confirm and schedule.

You manage your opportunities from a dashboard. Create new listings, edit existing ones, and track who has signed up. No spreadsheets. No missed emails. Everything stays in one place.

Need to track volunteer hours for reports or compliance? Step Up offers volunteer tracking tools for organizations that need to document and verify hours. Schools and referring organizations can use our system to track their members' volunteer work at your site. Learn more on our For Organizations page.

Beyond using Step Up, here are a few practices that help organizations get more volunteers:

• Write clear listings. Include the role, time commitment, dates, and any requirements. Volunteers are more likely to sign up when they know what to expect.
• Offer flexibility. One-time and ongoing opportunities both work. Some people want a single event; others prefer recurring roles.
• Be responsive. When someone signs up, reach out quickly. A fast reply shows you value their interest.
• List where people search. Every opportunity you post publishes to the Step Up directory, where people already looking to volunteer filter by cause, location, date, and time commitment — so your listing reaches someone searching for exactly what you need.

Most recruiting advice assumes you have to go out and find people. The cheaper half of the problem is being findable when they come looking for you. Every opportunity you post on Step Up publishes to your own branded landing page and to the public directory at the same time, so someone searching for a cause you serve can reach you without ever having heard of your organization.

That matters most for the volunteers who are hardest to recruit directly: students who need service hours, people completing court-ordered community service, and newcomers to your area who have no idea which local groups exist. They search rather than ask around, and a listing is what puts you in front of them.

If you are also weighing a move from the tools you use today, see how to switch volunteer management software, or read more about volunteer management software for nonprofits.