Volunteer sign-ups

[cktc]

DH and I have a bit of a disagreement on people's willingness to volunteer time, specifically for signupgenius where you have to sign up for certain time slots. Curious how others feel.

Does the length of time required matter? Say 2 vs 4 hours for a physical activity.

Does the number of other volunteers matter? Like are you more or less likely to sign up if its 1/15 slots filled vs 12/15.

[wvugurl26]

Personally I would prefer to know I'm signing up from 12 to 2 and that's all. Versus a who knows how long and it depends on who shows up type situation. I assume most people are busy and that it's easier to schedule a specific time slot.

I travel quite a bit so dates also matter for me. I suppose there are people who don't want to be committed to a specific time. They might not like it. I do think most people would be motivated to sign up if they see where the shortages are.

[hoops902]

1.  Of course the length of time matters.  Either because I only have so much time to devote in general, or because the job itself would only be enjoyable for a certain amount of time.  In general I think it makes more sense to have shorter durations and allow people to sign up for multiple slots if they want to be there longer.

2.  Yes the number of volunteers matters a little bit (in some cases).  If I think the number of volunteers likely exceeds the necessary number for the job, I'm not likely to volunteer because I hate things where I show up and end up standing around twiddling my thumbs because someone asked for 15 volunteers for a 5-person job.  Or because I think I'm likely to get wrangled into a different job that I didn't sign up for because of an abundance of people (i.e.  if I signed up with 14 other people to paint a fence and it only takes 4 people, I don't want to be told I'm now cleaning out septic tanks because that job needs done too).

[mollyanna58]

I volunteer with an animal rescue.  We use the signup genius to see how many people are coming to help at an adoption event, so we know how many dogs we can send.  It's a little frustrating because many people do not sign up, they just show up; and we could have sent more dogs if we knew they were coming.  That means we also have more people than needed, so some wind up twiddling their thumbs, which is frustrating for the volunteers.


There are other events for fundraising, where volunteers do sign up for specific time slots.  We use the sign up to make sure we have enough people to staff the event, and can post for more help if needed in advance of the event.

[thyme4change]

Getting people excited to give up their free time is less about the logistics and more about the marketing. A well organized effort is nothing if someone doesn't get people excited and motivated about what needs to happen. If you are having trouble securing volunteers, look at the 'ask' and the 'why' rather than the sign up process.

[giramomma]

I use sign up genius a lot; both to set up sign ups for volunteering as well as to sign up to volunteer.

It's not how many people sign up (unless it's full) or the duration, the only thing that I and others seem to care about is whether or not they are interested in doing the activity.

[cktc]

Thanks for the feedback!

Our neighborhood recently started a gardening club and are doing citrus gleaning for food banks. The goal is 100 volunteers over 2 days and so far very few people have signed up for picking. When I saw the signup genius for 4 hour blocks I was like, eek that's intimidating, especially with so few volunteers. DH thought I was overthinking it and people will sign up if they support the cause. I guess we are both kinda right.

Hopefully there will be some more volunteers as it gets closer and people will know how much time they can commit.

[wvugurl26]

I agree with you that a 4 hour block could be intimidating. I could understand why the time block might work best for the particular activity but it's a lot. I'm guessing many people may not want to or can't commit to 4 hours. If people are passionate of course they'll sign up but if you are hoping to involve others, 2 hour chunks might work better.

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

I’m the outlier. I would be more likely to sign up if 12/15 have already signed up so that I don’t end up doing the work of 15 with just one or two other people. I also prefer specific task assignments (sell tickets, bouncy house, side dish for 12) and specific time slots (12-2). I prefer to know what I am doing and for how long.

[Ryan]

All of this kinda depends on what type of job we're talking about.  I can just say that I really don't like wishy-washy descriptions of the work that's being done because it just sounds like my time is going to be wasted.  Just as an example:

I'm FAR more likely to sign-up for something where they say "We need volunteers for 1-hour time slots to shovel/wheelbarrow mulch from one side of the building to the other".  I am not likely to sign-up for something where they say "We need help with Fall cleanup.  Please come out Saturday morning".  In the latter example, I feel like there is very little organization and I'll end up wasting a lot of time there because you'll feel bad leaving.  You show up and there is one guy that hasn't thought through the jobs much and they almost just seem like they are thinking of things to do on the fly.  

I think people like to know the time and job they are going to be doing.