10 Mistakes Nonprofit Leaders Make When Managing Volunteers

Volunteer management can be the secret sauce that amplifies your nonprofit’s impact, or it can become one more exhausting thing on your already overflowing plate. We’ve worked with enough nonprofits at Funraise to spot the patterns that lead to high turnover, frustrated volunteers, and staff burnout on both sides of the equation.

So let’s walk through the ten most common volunteer pitfalls we see and, more importantly, how to fix them without adding another three hours to your workday.

Mistake 1: Starting Without a Clear Volunteer Plan

Picture this: A volunteer shows up excited to help, but no one knows what they should do. They wander around awkwardly before leaving, never to return. Not exactly the warm welcome you hoped for.

When there’s no defined strategy, volunteers arrive unsure of their roles, how long things will take, or how their connection to your mission matters. This confusion leads to mismatched assignments and quick demotivation. Create a volunteer program roadmap that clearly outlines tasks, required skills, and how volunteer work advances your goals. Your future volunteers (and staff) will be so grateful you did.

Mistake 2: Letting Communication Fall Through the Cracks

Emails go unread. Updates arrive sporadically. Volunteers miss crucial details about arrival times, responsibilities, or last-minute changes. Here’s the thing: poor communication erodes trust faster than almost anything else.

The solution? Centralize your volunteer updates. Use a dedicated communication channel, whether that’s Slack, a volunteer portal, or consistent email sequences, where everyone can access real-time information.

Protip: Send weekly recap emails every Sunday evening with the coming week’s opportunities and a quick thank-you for last week’s efforts. This simple rhythm keeps volunteers engaged and informed without overwhelming your inbox.

Mistake 3: Skipping Training Because “It’s Just Volunteering”

Volunteers come from all kinds of professional and personal backgrounds. Assuming tasks are intuitive sets everyone up for failure. We’ve watched nonprofits lose dedicated volunteers simply because they felt unprepared and made avoidable mistakes.

Pair newcomers with experienced mentors and provide role-specific guides, even simple one-pagers. According to data from volunteer management research, inadequate training causes low confidence and early dropouts that could easily be prevented.

Mistake 4: Forgetting That Recognition Fuels Retention

Here’s a powerful stat: Formal volunteering rebounded to 28.3% of Americans (75.7 million people) in 2023 (AmeriCorps), but retention hinges entirely on volunteers feeling valued. Treating volunteers as disposable resources instead of valued team members kills your program’s momentum.

Send personalized thank-you messages after shifts. Share impact stories. Celebrate milestones publicly.

Protip: Create a “Volunteer of the Month” spotlight on your website or social media with their story and photo. This turns one-time helpers into long-term advocates who bring friends along.

Real-World Struggles We See Every Day

Before nonprofits switch to Funraise, we hear the same frustrations repeatedly.

“We lost our best volunteer because no one thanked her.” A development director once told us about a retired teacher who organized their entire book drive, then quietly disappeared after receiving zero acknowledgment.

“Our volunteer coordinator quit because tracking hours in spreadsheets took 15+ hours weekly.” Manual data entry burns out staff faster than volunteers.

“Half our volunteers don’t show up because they forget their shifts.” Without automated reminders, even your most committed helpers lose track.

These aren’t unique problems. They’re systemic issues that better processes and tools solve immediately. And yes, you can start addressing them for free with platforms designed for this exact purpose.

Mistake 5: Wrestling With Ineffective Scheduling Systems

Sticky notes. Endless email chains. Phone tag to confirm shifts. Sound familiar?

Scheduling Issue	Impact	The Fix
Manual tracking	Overscheduling leads to burnout	Use integrated software for self-signups
No visibility into availability	Confusion and no-shows	Shared calendars with automated reminders
Ignoring volunteer preferences	Low turnout and resentment	Skills-based matching from day one

Ineffective scheduling creates chaos that sophisticated volunteer management tools eliminate entirely. When volunteers can view and claim shifts on their own schedule, everyone wins.

AI Prompt: Optimize Your Volunteer Program

Want to quickly identify gaps in your current volunteer management? Copy and paste this prompt into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or Perplexity:

I manage volunteers for a [TYPE OF NONPROFIT] serving [GEOGRAPHIC AREA]. We currently have [NUMBER OF ACTIVE VOLUNTEERS] volunteers. Our biggest challenges are [CHALLENGE 1], [CHALLENGE 2], and [CHALLENGE 3]. Based on best practices in volunteer management, create a 30-day action plan to address these issues, including specific tactics, communication templates, and metrics to track improvement.

Variables to customize:

• [TYPE OF NONPROFIT]: e.g., food bank, youth mentoring, animal rescue,
• [GEOGRAPHIC AREA]: e.g., rural Montana, urban Atlanta,
• [NUMBER OF ACTIVE VOLUNTEERS]: e.g., 25, 100, 500,
• [CHALLENGE 1, 2, 3]: e.g., low retention, poor scheduling, lack of recognition.

While AI prompts help with strategy, your daily workflow benefits most from solutions like Funraise that embed AI directly where you work. Instead of copying data between tools, AI-powered features within your fundraising platform provide full operational context, turning volunteer insights into donor engagement automatically. You can start exploring these capabilities completely free.

Mistake 6: Blurring the Line Between Volunteers and Staff

Overloading volunteers with endless responsibilities mimics paid employment without the paycheck. This approach ignores their need for flexibility and leads to exhaustion.

Interesting finding: Less than a quarter of nonprofits dedicate even half-time staff to volunteer administration (Volunteer Alive), which often results in volunteers being stretched too thin to compensate.

Set clear boundaries. Assign meaningful, time-bound roles that respect volunteers’ other commitments.

Protip: Survey your volunteers quarterly about workload and satisfaction. Use their feedback to adjust expectations before burnout sets in, sustaining long-term commitment.

Mistake 7: Not Having Enough for Volunteers to Do

The flip side is equally damaging. Eager volunteers arrive only to idle around with nothing meaningful to accomplish. This makes them feel unimportant and unlikely to return.

Pre-plan specific projects with clear outcomes. For example, instead of “help with the building,” try “6 volunteers painting the community room will reduce a 5-hour job to 1 hour.” Remember, volunteers provide approximately one-third of the nonprofit workforce (Bloomerang), so maximize this resource by matching available tasks to their skills.

“The most successful nonprofits treat volunteers as integral team members with unique skills, not as free labor to fill gaps. Recognition and strategic deployment transform occasional helpers into lifelong advocates.”

Funraise CEO Justin Wheeler

Mistake 8: Either Micromanaging or Ignoring Feedback

There’s a delicate balance in volunteer oversight. Hovering over every task stifles autonomy, while completely ignoring volunteer input misses valuable improvements they see from ground level.

Create feedback loops through post-event surveys or suggestion boxes. Host informal “feedback huddles” after major initiatives to capture insights while they’re fresh.

Protip: These conversations often reveal practical gems, like the volunteer who suggested quieter tutoring spaces, dramatically improving student focus.

Mistake 9: Putting Square Pegs in Round Holes

Mismatching volunteer skills with assigned roles wastes everyone’s time. Your detail-oriented accountant probably won’t thrive brainstorming creative campaign slogans, while your graphic designer might feel lost reconciling donation receipts.

Take time to assess strengths individually during onboarding. Don’t be afraid to rotate volunteers between roles if the initial fit isn’t working. Regular reassessment prevents quiet resentment.

Mistake 10: Resisting Technology That Simplifies Everything

Look, spreadsheets might feel comfortable, but they hamper recruitment, tracking, and meaningful reporting. Here’s what matters: One volunteer hour was valued at $33.49 in 2023, up 5.3% year-over-year (Independent Sector via Funraise), yet fewer than one-third of nonprofits track recruitment metrics (AMRA and ELMA), missing critical optimization opportunities.

Integrated platforms connect volunteer management with your fundraising CRM, revealing patterns like which volunteers become financial donors. This intelligence transforms program strategy entirely.

Protip: When volunteer data syncs with your donor database, you can identify supporters who both give time and money, then steward them appropriately. Funraise’s integration with POINT volunteer management makes this seamless, and you can start experimenting with the free tier today.

The Bigger Picture: Why Getting This Right Matters Now

Nearly half of nonprofit CEOs call volunteer recruiting a “big problem,” a challenge that’s increased 62% since 2003 (Council of Nonprofits). Meanwhile, formal volunteering experienced significant disruption, with rates dropping 23% between 2019 and 2021 before rebounding strongly (Council of Nonprofits).

Your volunteer program can’t afford preventable mistakes when competition for helpers intensifies. The good news? Most fixes don’t require massive budgets, just intentional systems and respect for volunteers’ contributions.

Avoiding these common volunteer management pitfalls helps you retain talent, dramatically cut administrative burdens, and scale your impact without burning out your team. Whether you’re managing 10 volunteers or 500, these principles work.

Ready to transform how you manage volunteers? Start by addressing your biggest pain point from this list, then build momentum from there. And if technology gaps are holding you back, remember that solutions like Funraise eliminate friction between volunteer coordination and fundraising, all in one place, starting completely free with no commitments required.

Your volunteers showed up because they believe in your mission. Make sure your management approach honors that commitment.