Very Special Kids selects Rosterfy to Power their Volunteer Management

Rosterfy is proud to announce a new partnership with Very Special Kids, Victoria’s only paediatric palliative care service, who have selected Rosterfy as their volunteer management solution to streamline operations, strengthen compliance, and elevate the volunteer experience..

Celebrating its 40th year in 2025, Very Special Kids has over 550 volunteers across Victoria, who help with a variety of roles including fundraising, events and programs,  in-home family support through to hospice support, hospital visits, administration and even garden maintenance at the Malvern facility. These volunteers help families navigate life-limiting childhood conditions, providing holistic care from diagnosis through to bereavement.  

With volunteers described as the “cornerstone” of the organisation, Very Special Kids relies on a large and diverse volunteer workforce to power everything from fundraising events to hospice support and holiday programs for siblings. Signature initiatives like the 24-Hour Treadmill Challenge, which raised more than $978,000 this year with the help of 120 volunteers, demonstrate the vital role volunteers play in sustaining the organisation's mission.

Anna Taylor, Manager of Volunteer Services at Very Special Kids, shared that the decision to invest in Rosterfy was driven by a need to move beyond a CRM system not built for complex volunteer operations. “Our current CRM is great for data management to support our fundraising teams but not necessarily fit for purpose volunteer management system. For us, it was really important to put in place the foundations to not only streamline operations for administrators but enhance the volunteer experience and Rosterfy is going to allow us to do just that.”

Anna also mentioned that they considered a variety of other VMS solutions but in the end they selected Rosterfy due to its impressive features and proven experience. “While we considered systems that were appropriate for smaller volunteering organisations, Rosterfy stood out as the clear choice for its comprehensive feature set, particularly its automation functionality, which we feel will transform our operations and allow us to provide a world class experience for our volunteers,” Anna continued. 

Key benefits of Rosterfy for Very Special Kids include:

Streamlined role specific automated onboarding

Very Special Kids aims to revamp their onboarding processes using Rosterfy to deliver automated onboarding, specific to the role of the volunteer. With a broad array of roles including fundraising, events and in-home family support through to hospice support, hospital visits, administration and even gardening at the Malvern facility, the onboarding experience looks different for each, and with Rosterfy, the team will ensure a personalised experience, specific to the volunteer role.

“We were looking for a purpose-built solution that could help us relieve some of the administrative burden, streamline onboarding, and ultimately enhance the experience for every volunteer. Rosterfy ticked all those boxes—and more,” continued Anna.

Ensure compliance with thorough screening

Working with children with life-limiting conditions and their families, volunteers are required to undergo rigorous screening including providing a working with children check, national criminal history checks, immunisation requirements, and adherence to hospital-specific volunteer criteria based on volunteer roles.. The team plans to use Rosterfy’s automations to not only collate and store this information but also ensure compliance through auto reminders regarding renewals and expiring credentials.

Online learning and training facilitated by Rosterfy

One of the leading advantages of Rosterfy and key factor in Very Special Kids’ decision to implement Rosterfy was its ability to centralise all volunteer-related information and training into a single, streamlined platform enhancing efficiency, consistency, and the overall volunteer experience. Very Special Kids plan to deliver a hybrid model of onboarding training, online for level one training, while level two, three and specialist training will still be face to face. All other ongoing mandatory training will be hosted online. 

Attendance tracking and reporting

The introduction of digital check-in/out processes via the Rosterfy Volunteer App will not only help from a reporting standpoint but will also help Very Special Kids create an additional layer of safety for the families in their care, which is especially important for volunteering in-home and community. 

Integration with Salesforce

Rosterfy’s powerful integration capabilities with Salesforce will allow Very Special Kids to centralise their volunteer data and enhance data hygiene across platforms.

“Rosterfy is giving us the tools to treat our volunteers with the professionalism they deserve,” Taylor added. “We want to provide a seamless, supportive journey—and this platform allows us to do that.”

Rosterfy Co-Founder, Shannan Gove, welcomed the partnership, stating, “We’re honoured to be supporting Very Special Kids in their remarkable mission. Their commitment to volunteer impact, compassion, and safety aligns perfectly with Rosterfy’s values, and we’re excited to help them build a more connected, scalable volunteer program.”

About Rosterfy

Rosterfy is a global volunteer and workforce management platform helping organisations recruit, train, engage, and retain volunteers at scale. Trusted by nonprofits, events, and government programs worldwide, Rosterfy empowers impactful volunteer experiences through automation, compliance tools, and powerful integrations.

www.rosterfy.com

About Very Special Kids

Very Special Kids provides holistic palliative care for children and young people with life-limiting conditions as well as tailored support for their families – through life, death and bereavement. It supports families across Victoria at Very Special Kids House, home to the state’s only children’s hospice.

https://vsk.org.au/