Streamline Your Volunteer Sign-Up With Digital Waivers

Getting volunteers signed up is essential for any nonprofit or small business running community events. Obtaining signed volunteer liability waivers is a key step during this process, protecting your organization from costly legal issues and informing volunteers of the potential risks. However, relying on paper forms or informal processes can lead to confusion, lost documents, and more work for your staff. 

If you're looking to ease the burden on your staff, drive efficiency, and create a more professional experience for your volunteers, digital waivers are an easy win. We'll explore how digital waivers can save you time and provide tips for getting the most out of this technology.

Why Switch to Digital Waivers?

Smartwaiver’s guide to waiver software highlights the following advantages:

The three key benefits of digital waivers (detailed in text below)

• Easy waiver management. Digital waivers are immediately stored in a secure, virtual database. This saves time and makes it easier to locate specific waivers.

• Better user experiences. Volunteers can sign the waiver ahead of time from any device, making it much more convenient to complete this step.

• Increased accessibility. Users can easily make accessibility-based adjustments like enlarging the font or using a screen reader when waivers are in a digital format.

Beyond convenience, digital waivers play a critical role in your risk management and impact reporting. A well-written waiver clarifies expectations, outlines safety protocols, and covers your legal bases in case of incidents. Additionally, digital waivers can help you track how many volunteers participate, total volunteer hours, repeat versus first-time volunteers, popular volunteer opportunities, and more.

Time-Saving Features to Look For

When choosing a digital waiver platform, prioritize those that offer features designed to streamline onboarding and save time, such as:

• Intensive customization options, allowing you to add custom fields and collect all required information without additional follow-up.

• Integration options with your CRM or volunteer management tools, limiting manual data entry and human errors.

• Mobile-friendly design to allow volunteers to sign up ahead of time from any device.

• A driver’s license scanning tool that allows you to scan volunteers’ licenses and autofill information like their name, date of birth, and address in the waiver.

These features can significantly cut down on administrative overhead, offer a more straightforward experience for volunteers, and improve your team's ability to manage volunteers effectively.

Use Onsite Waiver Kiosks

Even with digital options available, not every volunteer will complete their waiver in advance. On-site waiver kiosks allow you to seamlessly accept digital waivers in person at the event for walk-in volunteers and those who forgot to sign the form beforehand.

These self-service stations allow volunteers to quickly sign their waivers on a tablet. Confirm that the waiver software provider you choose offers a waiver kiosk app, set up the app on your tablet, and start accepting forms. Kiosks are ideal for events with high foot traffic or rotating volunteer shifts.

Being prepared for last-minute or first-time volunteers boosts recruitment and cultivates lasting relationships. For example, say you organize a beach clean-up day, and people walking along the beach decide to pitch in. With a digital waiver kiosk, you can get them signed up in minutes, protect your organization from potential legal issues, and collect valuable information you can use to engage these supporters.

Quick Tips for Streamlining Sign-In

Switching to digital waivers will inherently save you time compared to traditional methods, but using these additional tips will help your organization get the most time savings:

• Share the waivers across multiple channels, including your website, social media, text, email, etc. to increase accessibility and awareness.

• Create a set of waiver templates tailored to volunteer-related activities, customizing them as needed (e.g., updating the description of the opportunity, date, etc.).

• Make signs with scannable QR codes linking to your digital waiver as an alternative to using your waiver kiosk to limit wait times.

Remember to evaluate your current volunteer sign-up and onboarding processes to pinpoint ways to simplify the experience. For example, if you require volunteers to watch a training module before participating, you might embed the videos into the digital waiver.

Streamlining your volunteer intake process doesn’t require a major tech overhaul. By switching to digital waivers, you create a smoother, safer, and more scalable system for managing volunteers. This saves your team time and sets a professional tone that encourages future engagement.