5 Biggest Volunteer Management Challenges Charities Face

At a Glance

Charities rely heavily on volunteers, yet face constant challenges in recruitment, retention, communication, and organisation. With volunteer numbers continuing to decline, overcoming these challenges requires effective outreach, structured onboarding, recognition, clear communication, and digital tools.

Volunteering For Charities

Volunteers are more than just an extra pair of hands; they’re invaluable to making charity missions possible. The time, energy, and hard work volunteers put in help charities reach more people and make a greater impact. 

Volunteers add immense value with their unique perspectives and skills, but managing them can be challenging, especially when it comes to recruitment, retention, and communication.

Whether you’re a leader of a non-profit looking to improve how you work with volunteers or a volunteer manager wanting to address common volunteering challenges, you’ve come to the right place. In this guide, we’re highlighting the five challenges of managing volunteers and how to address them.

Why are Volunteers Important to a Charity?

Volunteers are invaluable to any charity or non-profit, contributing in the form of support, skills, and community connections to help you fulfil your mission.

In the charity sector, volunteers matter because:

They Offer Operational Support

Most charities run on tight budgets, often with little to no paid staff. Volunteers offer their skills, time, and energy at no cost, allowing charities to stay open longer and reach more people.

They Are Local Experts

Charity volunteers often come from the communities they serve, bringing their lived experiences, cultural understanding, and local knowledge to your organisation. They have a knack for building relationships with donors in a way that paid staff sometimes can’t.

They Bring in Invaluable Skills

From number crunching to running digital fundraising campaigns, there are numerous skills that volunteers can bring to the table. If you’re a small charity that can’t afford specialist staff, you can gain immensely from the expertise and involvement of your volunteers.

They Strengthen Communities

To volunteer is to create connection and belonging. Volunteers can build socially cohesive communities, not just by helping others, but by gaining the confidence and trust of the people they interact with.

Declining Volunteer Numbers and Their Impact

Given the benefits that volunteers bring, the decline in the number of people volunteering in the UK is a growing concern. A number of factors have led to this, from economic pressures due to increasing living costs to a perception issue in some cases. 

Some potential volunteers want to contribute, but don’t know how their skills can be useful. Others may feel the opportunities they come across are either too time-consuming or not flexible enough for their lifestyle.

5 Biggest Challenges of Managing Volunteers That Charities Face

With all that in mind, here are five of the biggest challenges your charity may face when managing volunteers, and how to overcome them using tools and proven strategies.

1. Recruiting Volunteers

Volunteers come and go, and replacing them is a time-consuming and ongoing process. Some people may lose interest in volunteering, while others quit due to changes in their personal and professional situations.

How to Address This Challenge:

• If you’re finding that recruiting volunteers is difficult, assess your outreach strategy. See which channels have been most beneficial in recruiting volunteers in the past.
• Partner with other community groups and organisations that can connect you with newer audiences who are likely to be interested in your work.
• Ask your current volunteers to speak about the positive impact of your volunteer program and incorporate their reviews into your recruitment materials.
• Simplify the sign-up process and provide a welcoming hub for people to get started.

KindLink’s Opportunities Marketplace helps connect charities and volunteers. Watch our demo to know how it works. 

2. Volunteer Burnout and Well-Being

Burnout is common in the social good sector, especially for those who give their time and energy selflessly. According to the 2023 NCVO Time Well Spent Report, 33% of recent volunteers felt that too much of their time was taken up, and 27% felt unappreciated. 

Your volunteers may feel burnt out due to stress, being overworked, feeling underappreciated, and not seeing the meaningful impact they worked hard for.

How to Address This Challenge:

Addressing volunteer burnout isn’t easy, as it requires more nuanced action.

• Monitor workloads, making sure no volunteer feels overloaded with responsibilities or that they’re not contributing enough.
• Use volunteer management tools, such as those offered by KindLink, to keep track of volunteers’ skills, interests, and participation history, so you can assign them to the best-fitting roles.
• Encourage your volunteers to approach leadership at any time with any issues they’re facing, including experiencing burnout.

3. Communication and Engagement Barriers

Do your volunteers miss shifts or say they’re unaware of a policy you already communicated? Poor or ineffective communication can lead to misunderstandings and cause your volunteers to disengage.

How to Address This Challenge:

• Set clear channels of communication, like group chats or emails, to keep your volunteers informed and on the same page.
• Encourage two-way communication by inviting feedback and using an open forum for volunteers to ask questions.
• Use KindLink’s volunteer management platform to make communication easy through clear scheduling, updates, and feedback.

4. Volunteer Retention

Alongside recruitment issues, it’s common for charities to struggle to retain volunteers year after year. Some engage in one-time volunteering while others lose interest due to factors like lifestyle changes, stress, or feeling underappreciated.

But retaining your existing volunteers is always the easier and more cost-effective approach than finding and training new ones.

How to Address This Challenge:

• Develop a structured onboarding program to make your new volunteers feel welcomed and connected to the cause.
• Foster collaboration and build a sense of community through social events and team-building activities.
• Use a reward and recognition system to keep volunteers feeling motivated and appreciated for their hard work. Celebrate achievements and milestones often.

5. Disorganised Operations

Managing a large number of volunteers without the right systems in place can get chaotic pretty quickly. You can avoid this by implementing the right technology and systems to manage your volunteers.

How to Address This Challenge:

• Centralise volunteer data through a database to track volunteer history, availability, and performance.
• Cut down admin time and free your team to focus on what matters most through digital sign-ups and automated scheduling.
• Integrate a volunteer management platform to make scheduling, documentation, and communication an effortless process.

All these efforts will help you build a stronger, more accepting, and supportive volunteer community that inspires long-term commitment to your nonprofit.

Is It Time to Invest in Volunteer Management Software?

Poor volunteer management can invite reputational risk and hidden costs. You can avoid these 5 challenges in managing volunteers for your nonprofit or charity by investing in volunteer management software.

Our volunteer management platform can help you:

• Effortlessly recruit, retain, and manage volunteers
• Track and access from a single CRM
• Gain insights into their impactful contributions
• Manage events and campaigns 
• Track volunteer hours, activities, and level of engagement in our CRM
• Record and update the database that syncs with CRM for up-to-the-minute insights

Don’t let volunteer challenges limit your impact. Use our volunteer management platform to take your mission to the next level. Sign your charity up today.