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Volunteers are the backbone of a youth sports organization and should be considered a core function of running a successful program. But where do you begin?
The first step to securing volunteers is to create an effective volunteer sign-up form that is both engaging and informative. A well-crafted form benefits both the volunteers and program administrators. Volunteers should feel confident in understanding their roles and expectations, while administrators should be able to easily review responses to find the right fit.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to determine which volunteer roles you need, what key questions to ask, how to promote your online volunteer sign-up form, and which platforms are best suited for your organization.
Google users can download our volunteer sign-up form template to their own Google Drive, so you don’t have to start from scratch!
1. Determine your volunteer needs
Every youth sports organization is unique, so your volunteer needs will vary. For instance, a competitive league might require volunteers to help with tryouts, a role that wouldn’t be necessary in a recreational league where tryouts aren’t typically held. Understanding the specific needs of your program is key to defining the right volunteer roles.
One of the first steps to determining your volunteer needs is to identify the scope of your program. To do this, you’ll want to ask yourself the following questions:
- Does your organization run year round?
- Do you need volunteers for a specific event or season?
- How large is your organization?
- Do you already have existing volunteers?
You should then list out all of the roles that you need volunteers for and identify their responsibilities. A nonprofit organization would most likely have the following roles:
- Coaches and assistant coaches: Responsible for leading practices and games and developing training plans.
- Website administrator: Responsible for choosing a website vendor, updating website content, and creating online registration forms.
- Team parent or manager: Responsible for handling a specific team’s communication, schedules, and after game snacks.
- Concessions: Responsible for running the concession stand during home events and communicating inventory to board members.
- Facility crew: Responsible for maintaining home venues, setting up for games or events and tearing down once the event is over.
- Fundraising committee: Responsible for planning and executing fundraising events.
Lastly, you’ll need to determine the time commitment for each role at your organization. This includes knowing the type of availability the potential volunteer needs to have, how many volunteer hours a week they’re committing to, and whether they need to complete any next steps or certifications.
A large part of running a sports organization is knowing how to create a leadership and management team. Taking the time to detail out your organization’s personnel needs will go a long way!
2. Create your questions
One way to make volunteering less stressful is to create a simple online signup form for potential volunteers to fill out. In many cases, your online form is their first impression of your program, so you want to ensure you get it right.
So here’s where we come into play! This section will help you determine which questions are crucial to ask up front and which ones should be left for future conversations. If your form only covers the basics, prospective volunteers might think that you don’t have a concrete plan in place. Too many questions, and they’ll think you’re disorganized.
To help you find a good middle ground, we’ve detailed out the basic components of a powerful volunteer application form template.
Personal information
This section will include basic information about the individual. Most organizations require that volunteers be over 18, so make sure you take age into account.
- Full Name
- Date of birth
- Contact information (email and phone number)
- Preferred method of contact
Availability
You’ll want to have a wide variety of availability between volunteers to ensure consistent coverage. Likewise, you’ll need to make sure that the candidate is suited for the time commitment and expectations of the role they’re applying for.
- Weekend and weekday availability
- Available roles (select all that apply)
- Do you have any conflicting obligations?
Motivation for volunteering
It’s important to recruit passionate volunteers for your organization. Asking questions about their motivations will help you determine if they’ll be a good fit.
- Why do you want to volunteer for our organization?
- What area of youth sports are you most passionate about?
- Do you have a preferred age group that you’d like to work with?
Relevant experience
Knowing more about the candidate’s past experiences will help you determine the right fit. You can also buddy more experienced volunteers up with brand new volunteers to help them learn quicker.
- What past volunteer experience do you have?
- Have you ever worked with children in the past?
- Did you ever participate in youth sports as a child?
Add other questions as needed
Our downloadable form isn’t one size fits all, so it’s important that you determine the must-haves of your youth sports volunteer form. Other questions could include:
- Are you willing to participate in a youth sports background check?
- Do you have reliable transportation to attend away events?
- Are you CPR certified?
3. Brand your volunteer form
As we discussed, your online signup sheet will often be the volunteer’s first impression of your organization, so you must make it count! A well-branded form looks polished and creates a sense of belonging for volunteers, showing them they’re part of a well-organized community.
Your form should include your organization’s full name, logo, and primary and secondary colors. Many form builders also allow you to customize your form with various font choices.
4. Share your form
It’s not always easy finding volunteers for your sports organization so it’s crucial that you promote your form online!
We recommend sharing your online form on all relevant social media platforms. Encourage current volunteers to share the link to their feeds along with a snippet of their experience. This type of user-generated content is beneficial because many people rely on word of mouth to determine where they should volunteer.
You should also share your online form link to your website and include a contact form so potential volunteers can ask questions.
5. Use a tool to collect responses
Lastly, using a powerful signup tool will streamline volunteer efforts at your organization. The platform of your choice should contain a fast form builder and a user-friendly way to view and export form responses.
When looking for platforms, consider the following tools:
- Custom questions: You want the ability to add to any mandatory form fields.
- Drag and drop functionality: It should be easy to reorder questions within your form.
- Embed options: Some platforms allow you to embed a form directly into your website as opposed to only sharing a link.
- Integrations: Search for tools that can integrate with your existing systems or provide detailed reporting.
- Reporting: Look for simple ways to view and export form responses.
Once you begin to receive submissions, consider having someone focus on volunteer management. There will be an influx of applications to read, so it might be beneficial to have someone manage creating new volunteer signup sheets, sending out volunteer information, and being the main point of contact for any type of volunteer coordination.
The best volunteer form software
Having the proper software in place can elevate your sports management experience. We’ll highlight some of the best sports league management software for creating and managing volunteer forms.
- Google Forms: Best for simple, free sign-up forms. You can easily customize your forms and integrate them with Google Sheets to quickly track responses.
- SignUpGenius: Best for managing time slots for volunteers. It has easy scheduling with options for volunteers to select specific dates and times.
- JotForm: Best for customizable and branded sign-up forms. It’s highly flexible and has integrations with email marketing tools.
- SignUp.com: Best for recurring volunteer tasks. It contains automatic reminders and updates as well as allows you to sign up and schedule different time slots.
A final option is using an all-in-one sports management software like Jersey Watch. Jersey Watch has an online registration form builder which can be used as a volunteer sign-up form. Tools such as a file upload question type, online waiver creation and form exports makes it a great choice!
When determining which platform is best for you, take into consideration your budget, the ease of use, the level of customization it allows and the reporting type.
Final thoughts
Creating a network of reliable volunteers takes work, but it’s worth the upfront investment. One of the most important areas of youth sports management is recruiting the right personnel, so you want to make sure you get it right.
Consider using our template or taking inspiration from our recommended questions to get started on creating your own volunteer sign up form today!
