For many nonprofits, a volunteer program is viewed primarily as a source of labor, or extra hands to support the mission. However, this operational focus often causes organizations to overlook a critical financial asset hidden within their volunteer base: corporate volunteer revenue.
While countless companies offer volunteer grants and Paid Volunteer Time Off (PVTO) to monetize the time their employees give, these funds frequently go unclaimed due to a lack of awareness and process. The challenge lies in bridging the gap between service and funding, specifically: the administrative burden of tracking hours, verifying grant eligibility, and ensuring forms are submitted on time without overwhelming limited staff resources.
In this technical guide, we will explore how integrating fundraising software can automate these complex corporate volunteering workflows. We will discuss how to streamline data synchronization, trigger automated donor stewardship emails, and apply workplace giving insights to ensure your organization never misses an opportunity to convert volunteer time into revenue.
1. What tools exist to help nonprofits grow volunteer grant revenue?
When evaluating the technology landscape for volunteer grants, it is important to distinguish between the tools used by companies to manage their programs and the tools used by nonprofits to grow their revenue.
Most major corporations use CSR platforms to handle the administrative side of their giving. These platforms are excellent for the company because they process employee hours and disburse checks.
Nonprofits can receive funds when a volunteer successfully initiates a request to their company. To actually grow this revenue, nonprofits need a tool that identifies eligible volunteers before they leave or exit your donation page.
Fundraising software like Double the Donation provides the industry’s most comprehensive database of volunteer grant companies. It allows volunteers to instantly find their employer’s specific forms and guidelines, guiding the volunteer from your website directly to their specific corporate portal to complete the submission.
By using a dedicated growth tool, you take control of the process, ensuring your supporters have the information they need to navigate their corporate systems and unlock the funds.
2. How can my nonprofit integrate Double the Donation’s volunteer grants plugin?
Double the Donation’s volunteer grants and paid volunteer time off (PVTO) plugin helps your supporters search for their employer and discover available volunteer grants and PVTO options they offer. This tool is designed to make it easier for your donors to search for workplace giving opportunities directly through your website, improving user experience and reducing staff workload.
3. How can my nonprofit increase volunteer grant revenue?
To increase revenue, your nonprofit must shift the mindset from “tracking hours” to “driving submissions.” While accurate tracking is necessary for verification, the revenue only comes when the volunteer logs into their corporate portal and actively submits a grant request.
The problem is that most volunteers do not know this step exists. They assume that because they signed a waiver or logged hours in your system, the money will follow automatically. It does not.
Since the volunteer must initiate the request, your nonprofit can increase revenue by removing the guesswork from the process. Instead of hoping they figure it out, you can guide them using these three steps:
- Educate volunteers during their orientation, shift, or sign-out process.
- Use fundraising software like Double the Donation to automatically follow up with volunteers after their shift.
- Use a searchable database to give them the exact URL for their company’s submission portal. If you make it easy for them to click and submit, you will see a direct increase in your “Dollars for Doers” revenue.
4. How can my nonprofit handle incomplete donor or volunteer data?
To increase revenue and connect your supporters to their eligibility, you need one key piece of fundraising intelligence: supporter employment data. Without knowing where a donor or volunteer works, you cannot connect them to the specific corporate funds available to them.
To ensure your supporter profiles are complete and actionable, your nonprofit should take a multi-pronged approach to collecting and maintaining this information.
- Capture at the source: The best time to get this data is when the supporter is already engaged. You should add an employer field (ideally an autocomplete search tool) to your donation forms and volunteer registration pages. This allows supporters to self-report their company name instantly. With a fundraising software, you can uncover their eligibility status and present them with the specific “Next Steps” to submit a match or grant request before they even leave your site.
- Enrich existing donors: For the supporters already in your database, you can use employer appends services to scan your existing records (using email addresses or phone numbers) and append missing employer details. This fills the gaps in your historical data without requiring the donor to take any action and helps you launch targeted email campaigns to unlock previously hidden revenue potential.
5. How can my nonprofit automate volunteer grant outreach?
Your nonprofit can automate volunteer grant outreach by integrating a fundraising tool that has a dedicated corporate volunteering module, like Double the Donation. With automated email streams, you can seamlessly communicate with eligible volunteers and provide company-specific guidelines and instructions for submitting volunteer grants and VTO opportunities. Automation helps ensure that volunteers receive timely prompts to submit their grant requests, increasing the chances of successful applications. This makes it easier for organizations to drive greater engagement and ensure volunteers take full advantage of their corporate benefits. This also reduces manual work and improves follow-up rates even with limited resources.
6. How to keep track of supporter progress with the volunteer grant process?
Tracking the progress of a volunteer grant can be challenging because submission happens on an external corporate portal that you cannot see. Despite knowing that a volunteer is eligible, you don’t know if they have taken action.
To solve this, your nonprofit can use a fundraising software that can help create a visible pipeline based on supporter engagement. Tools like Double the Donation track how a supporter interacts with your automated email streams, updating their status in real-time to tell you exactly where they are in the journey.
Instead of guessing, you can see statuses such as:
- Waiting for Donor: The volunteer has been emailed but hasn’t clicked the link yet.
- Match Initiated: The volunteer clicked the “I submitted my request” button in your email, signaling they have completed the external process.
- Ineligible: The volunteer indicated they do not qualify.
This data allows you to focus your limited staff time on the people who actually need help. If you see a high-value volunteer (e.g., someone with 50+ hours) stuck in “Waiting for Donor”, your team can pick up the phone for a personal stewardship call to ensure that significant grant revenue isn’t lost.
7. How can my nonprofit and our supporters identify new volunteer grant opportunities?
You can identify new volunteer grant opportunities by analyzing donor employment data to find companies and employers offering corporate volunteering programs.
To make the process more efficient, you can utilize a fundraising software that has an up-to-date corporate giving database. Double the Donation provides a comprehensive database of volunteer grants and matching gift programs offered by thousands of companies. Just embed the database widget on your nonprofit website, donation pages, or volunteer forms to inform volunteers of their employer’s corporate giving programs and their eligibility, and instruct them on how to take the next steps.
With Double the Donation’s corporate database and search tool, you can streamline eligibility discovery, ensuring your nonprofit maximizes unclaimed corporate contributions.
8. How do nonprofits integrate volunteer grants with donor stewardship?
To integrate volunteer grants with donor stewardship, start by acknowledging volunteers who submit grant requests with personalized thank-you messages. When writing stewardship reports, newsletters, and social media content, include total grant impact and highlight top volunteer contributors.
9. What internal workflows can help my nonprofit manage volunteer grants effectively?
To manage volunteer grants effectively, your nonprofit can:
- Coordinate between your volunteer management, finance, and development teams.
- Track hours, verify grant eligibility, and reconcile funds regularly.
- Use corporate giving insights for real-time reporting.
- Automate reminders for volunteers to submit hours.
Consistent monitoring and regular team check-ins maintain accuracy and ensure all grants are captured.
Automating Corporate Volunteering to Boost Donor Engagement
Operational efficiency is the bridge between a volunteer’s good intentions and a completed grant check. By automating the discovery and reminder process, you allow your team to focus on donor stewardship and relationship building rather than data entry.
As you refine these internal processes, remember that high-volume volunteers are often excellent candidates for matching gifts as well. We recommend analyzing your current volunteer data to identify which corporate employers are most represented, allowing you to tailor your future tech integrations for maximum impact.
To learn more about corporate volunteering and other forms of workplace giving, explore more resources from Double the Donation and implement best practices, streamline processes, and capture more volunteer grants today.
