Case Study: British Heart Foundation

Discover how Rosterfy is transforming the British Heart Foundation's volunteer efforts into a world class program, which is saving them  £200,000 per year.

By using Rosterfy, their 'MyVolunteer' program has become more effective, captivating, and scalable, perfectly aligning with their vision for the future.

PROVEN RESULTS

The ROI of Rosterfy

BHF Stats
Since implementing Rosterfy, BHF is saving £200,000 per year thanks to the reduction of steps in the administrative process and the increased accessibility of data
BHF Stats (5)

Volunteers can now can now apply for additional roles in just two clicks as opposed to providing 14 pieces of information with each new role application. 

BHF Stats (4)

Prior to Rosterfy being used, the application process had 54 steps with an estimated 54% of these being redundant after Rosterfy.

British Heart Foundation's impactful volunteer program

British Heart Foundation (BHF) is a charity organisation dedicated to the prevention and treatment of heart and circulatory diseases. With almost 700 charity retail outlets in the UK supported by over 12,000 volunteers every week, their support makes a huge impact to the charity.

BHF aims to fund around £100 million of research each year into all heart and circulatory diseases and the things that cause them. BHF’s volunteer program strives to be easy, flexible and inclusive and their onboarding platform ‘MyVolunteer’ is pivotal to their success.

In 2021, they chose Rosterfy as their supplier of Volunteer Management Software and to date has achieved cost savings of over £330,000 while at the same time providing their volunteers with an engaging platform, encouraging them to easily support their cause.

In this case study we will explore how BHF uses Rosterfy to increase the impact of their volunteer program, ensure legal and regulatory compliance and introduce operational efficiencies.

MyVolunteer
ROSTERFY HELPS BHF PROVIDE A DIVERSE RANGE OF ROLES

A consistent experience for a variety of roles

Fundraising

Volunteers that offer a friendly face while representing their organisation are pivotal to BHF's fundraising efforts.

Retail Volunteers

BHF's ability to generate revenue for their cause is directly linked to the efforts of volunteers who support hundreds of their retail stores.

Event Support

Event 'Cheer Squads' create a wonderful and engaging experience for participants and guests.

Action Team

Volunteering with BHF is about being part of a community of people wanting to make a difference, wherever they are.

British Heart Foundation
A NOTE FROM THE BHF TEAM

"We're able to say exactly how many volunteers we have in our Charity Stores, as well as those supporting our events as part of BHF's Action Team. That's because of Rosterfy"

Sue George

Volunteer Development and Systems Manager at British Heart Foundation

Why British Heart Foundation picked Rosterfy 

To ensure the smooth running of their volunteer programs BHF turned to Rosterfy—a scalable volunteering management platform designed to streamline the scheduling, communication and engagement of volunteers. 

Using Rosterfy in their ‘Action Team’ initiative for example, gave them a chance to build a database of people who could not only volunteer one off at events but support different campaigns, providing extra value across all services within the whole organisation.

Now, they can offer opportunities to an active database of over 6,000 volunteers, screened, compliant and ready to go.

BHF Powered by Rosterfy

Reducing the application process admin

Prior to Rosterfy being introduced to ‘MyVolunteer’, the application process had 54 steps with an estimated 54% of these being redundant after Rosterfy.

It was estimated that it previously took an average of 42 days for someone to start volunteering with BHF, this was reduced to 21 days because of the operational efficiencies introduced by Rosterfy.

Through optimising the process for both volunteers and the administrative staff, Rosterfy enables BHF to lower dropout rates and increase commitment to their mission.

BHF 42 Days

A huge increase in the number of volunteers involved in multiple opportunities

Existing volunteers no longer needed to reapply and can now apply for additional roles in just two clicks as opposed to providing 14 pieces of information with each role application. 

4107 volunteers were assigned to multiple opportunities in 2022, this has increased to 18,247 in 2023 due to the reduced steps and increased visibility of opportunities Rosterfy has offered.

Number of volunteers on multiple opportunities increased by 125%

BHF Multiple volunteering opportunties
Definitive Guide to Successful Volunteer Recruitment
WHITE PAPER

Successful Volunteer Recruitment: The Definitive Guide

Want to better understand how to future proof your volunteer recruitment?

Go beyond simply filling opportunities and build a robust volunteer program by engaging with the next generation of volunteers and ensuring diversity throughout your program. 

Streamlining reference collection

Before Rosterfy was introduced to BHF it could take up to six weeks for a reference to be returned. 

Incomplete training records and a lack of follow up were two of the five key areas identified as opportunities to improve in recent audits.

The ‘MyVolunteer’ program is now able to reduce the time spent processing the reference and screening details by 15 minutes each volunteer.

This enhanced transparency into the reference checks not only improves compliance but also simplifies the entire procedure, making it more efficient.

BHF screening

Templates that provide consistent time savings

Prior to Rosterfy being introduced to BHF’s ‘MyVolunteer’ program, adding a new role meant creating a new requirement, every time. This often involved completing 11 steps and adding 11 pieces of information.

Whether it's a new volunteering position or event, role templates from Rosterfy have reduced the possibility of human error and reduced the number of steps taken to post an opportunity from 11 to three. 

BHF Steps
Rosterfy High Performer_G2

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Collecting Parental Consent

Students and young volunteers play a crucial role in helping Charity Retail Stores meet their staffing requirements. Having a smooth and recordable process for collecting parental consent will significantly improve store volunteer recruitment.

Prior to Rosterfy, parental consent was collected in store on paper forms which represented reporting and auditing issues. Since Rosterfy was introduced over 13,000 parental consents have been collected. This greatly helps the organisation maintain auditing standards and increases the likelihood of finding new volunteers for the stores.

Student Volunteers

Improved Communication with Email Alerts

Previously email notifications and communication involved manual intervention. This time consuming process was very labour intensive and if not promptly acted on could result in no-shows or frustration for the volunteers.

‘MyVolunteer’ now provides excellent communication to the volunteers. Rosterfy’s automated reminders, system updates, training reminders and more has helped increase the number of volunteer communications from around 214,000 sends in 2022 to over 550,000 in 2023, almost all totally automated.

Happy young woman on her smartphone

A summary of savings for British Heart Foundation

Rosterfy is utilised to manage volunteers across 700 stores. They have reduced wastage, streamlined processes and the volunteer benefits from a straightforward process that empowers them to support their cause even faster.

While BHF greatly benefits from the increased legal compliance and operational effectiveness, the volunteer feels valued and part of something special.

Their own whole organisation benefits from greater operational visibility of their program. They have the tools to deliver a world-class experience for their volunteers and their time savings allow them to focus on meeting their targets.

The combination of reduced steps in the process and the increased accessibility of data that Rosterfy has offered BHF provides a yearly saving of around £200,000 per year.

These are savings based on the current volunteer numbers and as their program grows and continues to improve the savings increase and the people that truly benefit are those who BHF supports.

With plans to open additional stores across the UK, British Heart Foundation needed to future-proof their volunteer management with an adaptable and scalable solution - Rosterfy was the only option.

BHF Saving

Benefits of a modern Volunteer Management Platform

The need to modernise and streamline their ‘MyVolunteer’ program went beyond simply reducing operational inefficiencies. 

Choosing a world class provider of volunteer management software means they can meet legal & regulatory compliance requirements, reduce overheads and future proof their program.

Legal and Compliance


Reduce GDPR Exposure

  Improve Compliance

Provide a single source of truth

Right to be forgotten process

Improved process for obtaining Parental Consent

Improved visibility on reference status, parental consent status and training records

Operational


 Reduced operational overheads

Improved referencing process

Ensures mandatory training is completed

Enhanced reporting and insights

 Opportunity to cross sell other products and create a benefits hub

Configurable email alerts

Improved leaver process

Volunteer Experience


 Enhanced volunteer experience

Ability to cross sell other opportunities to volunteers

Advertising volunteer opportunities in both Retail and Fundraising

Advertising volunteer opportunities based on location

Ability to create unique volunteer journeys

Creating a 'best in class' experience for volunteers

BHF are able to offer their volunteers an engaging experience from their first interaction with their program.

Rosterfy empowers BHF to develop a customised, detail-packed portal that showcases every role's crucial information, all while offering a swift and effortless signup process.

BHF's volunteering portal is encouraging those who support them to participate in a variety of different volunteer opportunities - beyond what they may have thought were available.

With the introduction of a unified hub for all volunteer opportunities, coupled with an automated application system, BHF is enhancing the volunteer experience, making it more dynamic and engaging.

BHF Portal
THE SOLUTION OF CHOICE FOR CHARITIES & NON-PROFITS

Provide a world class volunteer experience

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