How to Streamline Volunteer Scheduling and Avoid Burnout

28 Jul

It’s 6 a.m. on a Monday, and your camp’s volunteer coordinator is already fielding texts from no-shows, shuffling schedules, and scrambling to fill gaps before the day begins. Meanwhile, a long-time volunteer—on their third full-day shift in a row—is questioning whether they’ll return next week. Sound familiar?

Burnout is a common problem for all nonprofit organizations, including nonprofit camps. The State of Nonprofits study found that almost all interviewed leaders are concerned about burnout, and 75% reported challenges filling staff vacancies.

Even the most passionate teams can be stretched too thin when they don’t optimize volunteer scheduling and retention. But it doesn’t have to be this way. By rethinking your approach and putting volunteer well-being front and center, you can streamline operations and prevent burnout for everyone involved.

Let’s explore practical strategies for building a healthier, more resilient volunteer scheduling system and better supporting your volunteers and staff.

1. Start with volunteer feedback.

Current volunteers provide the best insight into what’s working—and what isn’t—in your scheduling process. Collecting and applying their feedback shows respect, builds trust, and helps prevent burnout by addressing pain points early.

Use these tips to gather insights from volunteers:

Compile ongoing feedback throughout the camp season. Give volunteers a link to an online survey they can complete anytime to share their input. Also, consider installing QR-coded survey signs at check-out stations to gather quick, in-the-moment feedback from volunteers.
Plan mid-season check-ins and post-program surveys. In-person conversations can help volunteers open up in ways they might not feel comfortable doing in surveys. Meet with volunteers one-on-one or in small groups to check how things are going during your camp activities and after the program wraps up.
Ask the right questions. Request volunteer feedback about ideal shift lengths and frequencies, days of the week they like to volunteer, preferred tasks, and communication preferences.

Volunteers’ feedback can provide a baseline for understanding how successful your current scheduling processes are. From there, you can set new goals to evolve your scheduling effectively over time. For example, you might aim to increase volunteer retention to 50% year-over-year or reduce shift no-shows by 25%.

2. Implement flexible scheduling tools.

Rigid, outdated scheduling systems make it harder to adjust to real-life changes. Modern nonprofit solutions, including robust volunteer scheduling tools, empower both volunteers and staff to stay on the same page and reduce the manual burden of scheduling coordination.

Keep these best practices in mind to find and maximize the right volunteer scheduling tools:

Use cloud-based volunteer management software with real-time communication updates. This enables last-minute schedule adjustments and keeps everyone aligned without endless email chains.
Seek a solution that allows you to match volunteers with the right roles. Happy volunteers are more likely to show up consistently, improving your scheduling accuracy. Bloomerang’s volunteer management software guide recommends looking for a tool that enables you to match volunteers to roles they’d be interested in based on their skills, interests, and availability.
Let volunteers self-select shifts within parameters you define. They can choose the best fit based on their availability, skills, and interests. Consider using a 'priority shift' system to highlight high-need time slots and offer incentives like a free lunch, small gifts, or public shout-outs.
Look for features like mobile access, shift reminders, and hour tracking. These features reduce administrative workload by automatically updating volunteer logs with accurate shift timing information. Plus, they enhance volunteer satisfaction by making it easy for volunteers to stay updated on their impact.

With the right volunteer scheduling software, you can provide volunteers with an organized, easy-to-understand sign-up and reminder system. As a result, both your staff and volunteers will feel less stressed about the scheduling process, helping to decrease burnout across your organization.

3. Respect volunteers’ time and energy.

Volunteers believe in your mission, and they do it without expecting payment in return. Scheduling with care, keeping supporters’ preferences and capacity in mind, can go a long way toward maintaining morale.

Show volunteers you respect their time by taking these steps:

Avoid back-to-back or overly long shifts. Carefully audit your current shift offerings to ensure that none require the same volunteers to show up at different times multiple times a day, or multiple days or weeks in a row. In addition, ensure your shifts have reasonable time lengths so volunteers can attend to their other daily priorities.
Build in adequate breaks between volunteer commitments. This is especially important for multi-day camps or high-intensity roles. For example, avoid asking volunteer leaders to participate in a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign right after your summer camp season concludes.

Offer tiered roles with varying levels of responsibility. Volunteers can choose the level of commitment they’d like to have with your organization. For example, volunteers who don’t have as much free time during the week to participate in your camp can still help out on the weekends by organizing supplies or sorting paperwork. Volunteers who want to be more involved can take on larger responsibilities, such as planning camper activities.
Adopt a mentorship model. Pair experienced volunteers with newcomers to share responsibilities, reduce onboarding stress, and build community.

Creating the best possible experience for volunteers starts with holistically considering their needs. Making it as easy as possible for volunteers to fit your organization into their daily schedules ultimately provides a more enriching experience.

4. Design schedules that prioritize predictability.

Unpredictable schedules can stress both volunteers and staff. Clear, consistent scheduling practices ease anxiety and give everyone a better sense of control. Practice consistency by following these tips:

Publish schedules well in advance and stick to them. Predictability increases commitment because people can plan their shifts around their other priorities.
Avoid last-minute changes whenever possible. Flexibility matters, but surprises usually don't sit well when it comes to coordinating volunteers.
Assign point people so volunteers know who to contact for issues or updates. Include their photos and contact details in welcome packets or post them prominently on a shared bulletin board to make it easy for volunteers to identify these individuals.

When your schedule changes unexpectedly, communicate as quickly and clearly with volunteers as possible to notify them of the adjustments. Send a mass text or email explaining the situation and allow volunteers to send any questions or concerns.

5. Provide role clarity for volunteers.

Volunteers are more confident, committed, and effective when they understand exactly what you expect from them. Ambiguity in roles can lead to frustration, underperformance, or burnout, especially in camp environments where your organization’s success relies on camper retention.

In fact, one study found that “volunteers who feel unclear about the nature of their role and perceive that their voices or opinions are not valued experience increased feelings of burnout which subsequently leads to greater intent to quit.”

Maintain clarity with volunteers through these next actions:

Develop clear, written role descriptions for each volunteer position.
Communicate responsibilities upfront during orientation and training.
Use visual aids like org charts or team flow diagrams to show how each role fits into the larger operation.
Offer quick-reference guides or FAQ sheets to answer common questions and reinforce clarity.
Periodically check in with volunteers to ensure their understanding and adjust roles as needed based on feedback.

Connect volunteers' roles to your organization's overall mission. Even something that might seem unconnected to your camp's primary purpose, like your annual silent auction, directly impacts your ability to continue delivering outstanding programs to campers. Show volunteers that no matter what they’re doing, their participation matters.

6. Reassess and refine after every season.

Volunteer needs and camp dynamics change year to year. Reflecting on what worked and what didn’t helps you continuously improve your scheduling strategy, avoid future burnout, and increase volunteer retention.

Use these tips to evaluate your volunteer scheduling efforts effectively:

Host a debrief session with staff and key volunteers. Make this a collaborative space for sharing ideas and gathering feedback. Ask team members what went well and what you could improve next time.
Review data from your scheduling platform. What shifts were hardest to fill? Which roles saw the highest attrition? Knowing common gaps in your strategy can help you develop better scheduling strategies to ensure complete coverage in the future.
Update documentation and best practices for next season. Continuous improvement ensures your scheduling system gets better every year. Combine anecdotal feedback and data to iterate your approach from year to year.

Throughout the review process, keep an open mind and stay flexible. While trying new strategies might be intimidating, they can ultimately transform your volunteer program.

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Scheduling shouldn’t be a source of stress—it should be a tool for empowerment. By creating systems that serve both your volunteers and the staff who support them, you can reduce burnout, increase retention, and foster a camp culture built on collaboration and care. Start with just one tip, build from there, and keep refining based on real feedback. Your future self—and your community—will thank you.

Chief Marketing Officer at Bloomerang

As the Chief Marketing Officer at Bloomerang, Ann is responsible for the company's overall thought leadership, brand, marketing, and community outreach programs that work to strengthen relationships with customers and the broader nonprofit community. Ann brings over 24 years of experience in business-to-business (B2B) marketing in the technology industry, including time spent working at a nonprofit organization.

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