About
Who uses it? What do users say about it? Where is it used? Etc.
News flash, Dec 2023: To date, the VolunteerSignup.org website has facilitated recruitment of over 10 million wonderful volunteers! The service is used by over 150,000 groups and organizations. 😊
Who uses it?
Below is a "word frequency cloud" showing who uses VolunteerSignup.org The bigger the word, the bigger the number. So, the big users of VolunteerSignup.org are societies, PTAs, schools, teams, and foundations. Service organizations, churches, sports clubs, theatre groups, Scout troops, and fairs are also prominent.
To ground things, here are some examples of groups and organizations that have created 10 or more signup sheets over a one-year period (good work!). Note the intriguing size range (Vancouver Symphony Orchestra vs. Mrs. Wildman's Grade Three Class).
- Animal Crackers Nursery School
- Southwest Hockey Program
- Rosa Parks Elementary School
- Twin Brooks Community League Soccer
- Free Cakes For Kids - Nottingham
- Albany Fair
- LSW Band Volunteers
- St. Peter's Parish
- Alberta Snowboarding Association
- Lewiston Civic Theatre
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- Des Moines Art Center
- Williamstown Primary School Seaside Fair
- Greenbrier Lacrosse
- MBCC Outreach
- Essex Alliance Church
- Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
- Leduc Figure Skating Club
- Mrs. Wildman's Grade Three Class
- 1st Epping Scout Group
- Inland Valley Hope Partners
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The above represent typical use. What about atypical use?
VolunteerSignup.org saw a surge of use after Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Because government alone could not deliver all disaster relief services (eg., food to the elderly), the people of New York and elsewhere mobilized, using VolunteerSignup.org to help recruit and organize volunteers.
Hurricane Sandy Spike 2012
On November 11, 2012, approximately two weeks after Hurricane Sandy struck the New York area, we received this email from a Hurricane Sandy relief organizer.
"I love your site and we have used it to dispatch over a thousand volunteers for Hurricane Sandy relief. You've literally helped us to save lives."
Another atypical but effective use of VolunteerSignup.org has been for support networks. For example, VolunteerSignup.org has been used to recruit, organize and schedule volunteers (often family, friends and neighbors) in support of people injured in a car accident or with a serious medical condition.
What users say
"Just wanted to say THANK YOU. I've been searching for something this simple, clean, streamlined, AND functional for a while. It's an answered prayer after a long time wasted on inferior platforms. THANK YOU!!!" bon...@gmail.com
"You guys are the best!!! I used VolunteerSignup to coordinate a huge Fair at my son's school in May. We had over 20 games/stations that needed volunteers. I had over 200 volunteers to coordinate. I work full time and this website was HUGELY beneficial. I had looked at SignUpGenius and a couple of other websites but found yours to be the most intuitive, straightforward, and user-friendly. I have received so many compliments about the signs ups. I couldn't have done it without your awesome services." bdu….@hotmail.com
"Thanks very much for such a simple, elegant tool. I looked at several sign-up services, and yours does one thing only, but very well. Everything else I looked at was feature-bloated and most were ad-driven. Bravo!" web....@...ville.com
"THANK YOU!!! We are well into our second season using your program, and it is FANTASTIC! We rely on over 50 volunteers each weekend, 14 weeks per season, and this makes it easy for our non-profit council to organize volunteers and so easy for volunteers to sign up. I researched several other programs, and yours by far is the best, no charge, no ads, and knowing it's done as a giveback, is so awesome. Thanks for all you do!" fps...@nemont.net
"This website is FANTASTIC!!! Thanks for making it available to non-profits for free! We are a baseball-softball organization and are using it for our snack bar sign ups. It's making it a breeze this year!" tod...@gmail.com
"Love Love Love VolunteerSignup! We use a very cumbersome program for our sign ups and our volunteers hate it. We are trying this with our upcoming popcorn sale because it is so simple to set up and user friendly! Thank you!" mro...@...samail.org
"I have used Volunteer Spot and SignUpGenius and just have to say that your software is SO MUCH BETTER! Easy to use and does not require people to sign their life away to volunteer. Just wanted to say that I'm very impressed and will always use this program for any sign ups that I'm coordinating. Thanks!" jlw...@att.net
"Thank you for providing this website. It has saved my wife a lot of time getting volunteers for school book fairs. We have been using it for about three years and haven't had any problems with it." jrl...@gmail.com
"Thank you so much for creating VolunteerSignup. Wow, this has made my job as coordinator of volunteers for my kids school rowing club so much easier. I'm not so computer savvy so I was blown away by what can be achieved by a push of a button. You guys are awesome and thank you so much for this free service. Many blessings to you all from Australia." sus...@...net.au
"REVOLUTIONARY! This fantastic website is so easy to use: simple to set up; simple for people to sign up. Great functionality and terrific added extras (e.g.: list of email addresses of sign-uppers to contact). So thrilled to have been directed to this site - we are using it for a school function. Thank YOU!" win...@...net.au
"Thank you! This will be the 3rd year we use volunteersignup.org for our annual festival and it is SO helpful! Seriously appreciated!" dan...@...ens.net
"Thank you so much for developing this tool AND making it free! I've used this a number of times over the past 4 years for 2 non-profits, and can't begin to tell you how much easier it made the events. THANK YOU THANK YOU!" asw...@...rian.org
"Thank you so much for making VolunteerSignup available to non-profits such as us, for no charge. I have been using this site for the better part of my 3 years with Inland Valley Hope Partners. I don't know if I could function without it. The simplicity is perfect for my needs and the ease of access is great for our volunteers. You have played a key role in helping us feed the hungry and house the homeless. Thank you." ron...@...ers.org
"Hi! I just wanted to give you guys solid kudos for the volunteer sign up site. It makes organizing any budget/non-profit event that requires volunteers a breeze. It's a brilliant and simple product. Love your mantra - KEEP IT SIMPLE! Also, I love the copy sheet feature, I save alot of time by not having to input the same positions for recurring races, and best of all I check on sign up progress at a glance." pro...@...lake.com
"You are fantastic and VolunteerSignup is an amazing tool. It is simple and extremely easy to use. I deal with some not-very-computer-savvy people and this works for them. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!" ewa...@...ail.com
Where is it used?
Although it began as a simple garage project for a local ski club in Canmore, Canada, in 2010, others have found VolunteerSignup.org on the web, or learned about it from other users, planting seeds elsewhere which have flourished. It has grown and spread remarkably well considering that it is not advertised.
Since the site is in English it is mainly used in English-speaking countries.
The largest number of users are in the US, followed by Canada, Australia and the UK. However, on a per capita basis, use is highest in Canada and Australia.
Below are the cities that use VolunteerSignup.org the most. Calgary and Edmonton have "home town" advantage; New York, Chicago and LA are the three largest US cities, so a large number of users in those cities makes sense. But Melbourne and Brisbane in Australia? We have no idea how VolunteerSignup.org became so popular there (but are delighted).
Overall, we'd say that VolunteerSignup.org is mainly used where the tradition of volunteerism and citizen engagement is strong, and where people are open to new ways of doing things.
A very short history of VolunteerSignup.org
VolunteerSignup.org began in Canmore, Alberta, Canada in 2010 to help recruit volunteers for Canmore Nordic Ski Club's annual fall ski swap. It worked great and was then made available to other similar volunteer-reliant organizations in Canmore and beyond. It has grown organically and steadily since thanks to the power of the internet.
VolunteerSignup.org began as a garage project for the Canmore Nordic Ski Club back in 2010. Since then, it has grown steadily. Below are some milestones.
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Sep 2010 - A very, very simple online signup sheet developed for Canmore Nordic Ski Club's fall ski swap (online signup was a success)
Oct 2010 to July 2011 - other local organizations use the bare-bones service (word quickly spreads)
Aug 2011 - www.volunteersignup.org website created to make the service available internationally (goes live in Aug 2011).
Sep 2013 - 200,000 volunteer opportunities filled
May 2014 - Comprehensive rebuild of the underlying technology to make the service even better (thank you Dan!)
Apr 2015 - Whew! A top to bottom rebuild to make VolunteerSignup thoroughly mobile-friendly and better in other ways (Thank you Dan, Tobi, Stefan, Judy, Jacob!)
Sep 2015 - 800,000 volunteer opportunties filled
Mar 2016 - 1,000,000 volunteer opportunities filled; it is used by over 30,000 groups and organizations.
Oct 2017 - 2,000,000 volunteer opportunities filled; it is used by over 50,000 groups and organizations.
Jan 2020 - 5,000,000 volunteer opportunities filled; it is used by over 100,000 groups and organizations.
Aug 2022 - 8,000,000 volunteer opportunities filled :-)
Dec 2023 - 10,000,000 volunteers and more than 150,000 groups and organizations.
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Who runs VolunteerSignup.org?
Peachplum Ltd. is the legal entity which houses VolunteerSignup.org. It turned out it was simpler to do it this way than to create and manage a non-profit organization for this purpose. Peachplum Ltd. does not make any money from VolunteerSignup.org, or from other sources, nor does it have any assets other than the website itself. Various volunteers and patrons donate time and resources to keep VolunteerSignup.org up and running. The overall intent is to facilitate volunteerism in society and to make the world a better place ;-)
