Literacy Pirates: Increasing volunteer conversions by 30%

Introduction

A volunteer programme making a huge impact on child literacy

A child on The Literacy Pirates’ after-school programme can make 5 months progress towards age-related expectations in reading in a single term, building their confidence and perseverance so they can succeed at school and beyond.

Around 300 people regularly offer their time each month to help children improve the standards of their reading and writing skills. 

This London-based nonprofit harnessed the power of Rosterfy’s volunteer management software, achieving their ambitions to expand volunteer involvement without the added burden of increased administrative expenses.

From automating the onboarding process to creating a more engaging experience for volunteers they are creating a truly remarkable experience.

The Solution

Welcome aboard with a streamlined onboarding process

The Literacy Pirates have created an engaging onboarding experience that’s completely aligned to their brand and mission. Volunteers are greeted with a warm welcome and encouraged to complete a profile, and from that moment onwards, they’re part of the crew.

Each crewmate (volunteer) is guided through online training which details the expectations of the volunteers and some advice on getting started.

Online training is easy to follow and hosted on their Rosterfy profile, allowing The Literacy Pirates to track completion rates and simplify data capture, with volunteer details and progress stored in one place.

Before Rosterfy, The Literacy Pirates had a three hour training and safeguarding session, which they recognised was demanding on volunteers’ time. With Rosterfy, this has been streamlined to a one hour session, creating a self-service onboarding experience that fits into their volunteers’ busy schedules.

Creating a volunteer journey that suits your programme

Volunteers working with children or vulnerable people require a higher level of screening and checks then most volunteer programmes.

The Literacy Pirates understood they needed a system that would allow them to build a volunteer onboarding journey that matched their specific needs.

They are have certain requirements such as:

• Gathering basic information up front
• Displaying engaging content during the application process
• Step-by-step online training delivered seamlessly
• Background and screening checks
• Visibility of completion progress for both the volunteer and admin team

Crewmates offering their support to The Literacy Pirates have to complete a background check but it was important to request this at the right time.  The DBS or background check is a mandatory requirement but comes later in the application process.

The Literacy Pirates have to pay for each background check so it’s important to make sure that’s spent on people who are likely to complete the process.

Not only have they improved the conversion rate of people completing the application process but they have reduced the costs for background checks.

The Literacy Pirates have created an engaging onboarding experience that’s completely aligned to their brand and mission. You’re greeted with a warm welcome and encouraged to complete your profile and from that moment onwards you’re part of the crew.

Reward and recognising volunteers

The Literacy Pirates have a unique reward and recognition programme that is directly linked to volunteer profiles on the Rosterfy platform.

Each crewmate is rewarded with badges for completing certain milestones such as their first session, every 10 subsequent sessions and reaching the milestone of 100 sessions.

These badges are both physical and digital as their Rosterfy profile will display which milestones they have reached.

The Impact

Improving applicant conversion rates

Spending time on applicants who ultimately don’t contribute to their cause or who drop out before completing the application process is an inefficient use of resources that could otherwise enhance a program.

Moreover, the expense of conducting background checks on those who never transition into volunteering roles can quickly mount if the program’s efficiency isn’t regularly assessed.

Rosterfy has given The Literacy Pirates more visibility of their volunteer application funnel and small changes can make a big difference.

Around 30% of applications go onto volunteer which is their target in the short term but with Rosterfy they are aiming for 40% in the near future.

The power to make changes to the platform is in their hands

One of the key reasons Literacy Pirates picked Rosterfy as their volunteer management software provider was because of the ownership they can make of their programme and processes.

Anytime they want to make a change to their forms or onboarding process they can manage this themselves, Angele Tilly explains:

“We are able to make small changes such as adding text, correcting a type or add sessions that we didn’t have before ourselves is hugely helpful. Previously we had to go through consultants who built our system which we were charged for each time”