Enhancing Nonprofit Efficiency by Building a 0 - 1 Volunteer Management System into Boardable’s SaaS Platform
Overview
This project aimed to enhance Boardable's platform by integrating a volunteer management system tailored to help nonprofits more effectively manage, engage and retain volunteers.
My Role - Product Designer
Conducted research via competitor analysis, surveys, and contextual inquiries
Mapped User Flows, Information Architecture, designed wireframes ranging from low to high-fidelity, incorporating and adhering to Boardable’s design system
Led concept testing to align the solution with the needs of nonprofits and volunteers
Team of 5 (Hover for details)
Tools
Timeline
8 months (Oct 2024 - April 2025)
ANTICIPATED IMPACT
%
HIGHLIGHTS
Create and manage events, meetings, and shifts with ease.
Recruit the right volunteers for every event.
Track volunteer impact and reward contributions to keep them engaged.
Addressing Volunteer Retention Challenges for Nonprofits
As part of our capstone project, we partnered with Boardable, a leading provider of board management software for nonprofits.
Based on multiple reports, many nonprofits struggle to retain volunteers, impacting their ability to fulfill their missions. Our collaboration with boardable focused on uncovering the root causes of volunteer attrition and designing a solution that extends Boardable’s platform to better support nonprofits in engaging and retaining their volunteers.
Secondary Research
To better understand the challenges nonprofits face in retaining volunteers, we reviewed 20+ existing studies, industry reports, and best practices in volunteer management. Our analysis revealed two key barriers impacting retention:
Key Findings
Limited Technology Adoption Hinders Efficiency
Many nonprofits still rely on manual processes or outdated tools for scheduling, tracking, and engagement, often due to cost, digital literacy gaps, or resistance to new systems.
Lack of Recognition Undermines Engagement
Volunteers are more likely to stay when they feel valued, yet many organizations lack recognition practices.
These insights informed our next step, which is gathering perspectives from both volunteer managers and volunteers to understand their experiences and pinpoint specific gaps in the process.
Surveys
We sent out surveys to capture quantifiable metrics on the challenges Volunteer Managers and Volunteers face, helping us validate patterns from our secondary research with real-world data.
We distributed surveys to both volunteer managers and volunteers to gather quantifiable insights into their day-to-day challenges. Surveys were shared within volunteer networks such as Catchafire and Boardable’s existing customer base through Zoho Surveys, allowing us to capture perspectives from both seasoned nonprofit professionals and active volunteers.
Outcome of Survey
The surveys revealed clear challenges in volunteer management and experience, but we wanted to get a closer view of the workflows volunteer managers navigate each day. We focused on uncovering the root causes of issues like recruitment bottlenecks and scheduling conflicts, and how they play out in the context of daily operations.
Contextual Inquiries
We conducted 8 contextual inquiries with nonprofit volunteer managers across various industries to better understand their day-to-day workflows.
Observing their processes and tools in real time helped us identify where inefficiencies occur, how recruitment and scheduling are managed, and where a digital solution could add the most value.
Participant Demographics
8
Participants
Various nonprofit sectors
User Quotes
We use Google Workspace and manually send calendar invites. It works, but it’s hard to manage, manual and confusing for new volunteers.
Our system is outdated and doesn’t meet current needs, but we can only afford about $20 a month.
We use spreadsheets for schedules, but there’s no easy way to send reminders or manage last-minute changes.
Key Themes
Heavy Reliance on Manual Processes and Multiple Platforms
Managers juggle spreadsheets, emails, and calendars, lack of centralized document sharing, creating inefficiency and a fragmented volunteer experience.
Recruitment Delays and Scheduling Conflicts
Low response rates and scattered data results in slow recruitment, while manual scheduling leads to cancellations and no-shows.
Budget Constraints
Nonprofits often remain tied to free or outdated tools because of financial limitations, making it hard to adopt better systems.
From our contextual inquiries, it became clear that nonprofits need more than just scheduling or communication tools, they need a complete volunteer management system that supports the entire lifecycle of engagement: recruiting, onboarding, scheduling, communication, recognition, and impact tracking.
Competitor Analysis
We turned to competitor analysis to evaluate existing solutions in the market, identify best practices, and uncover gaps where Boardable’s volunteer management system could differentiate and add the most value.
(Analysis simplified for scannability)
problem Statement
In a nutshell
Nonprofit managers struggle to effectively recruit, schedule, and retain volunteers because existing tools are fragmented, time-consuming, and not tailored to their unique needs. This leads to lost hours each week, difficulty keeping volunteers engaged, and reduced capacity to focus on work.
To build a 0–1 volunteer management system that helps nonprofits recruit, schedule, and communicate with volunteers, while tracking impact and recognition to improve management and retention.
dESIGN pROCESS
Initial Wireframes
I created a set of low-fidelity wireframes informed by the research insights and requirements gathered from volunteer managers, along with a basic information architecture to guide navigation and content structure.
These early design artifacts were shared with stakeholders to validate the direction, gather feedback, and align on priorities before moving into higher-fidelity design.
Due to time and resource constraints, our focus was majorly on the volunteer manager flow of the web app.
Volunteer Manager End
Refined Information Architecture
Based on stakeholder feedback, I refined the information architecture and aligned the navigation with Boardable’s existing board management system. This ensured consistency with the current tool, reduced the learning curve for users, and maintaining familiarity while introducing new volunteer management features.
Mid-Fidelity Screens & Design Details
A selection of mid-fidelity wireframes that illustrate some of the key design decisions made during the project. These screens capture how research insights, stakeholder feedback, and information architecture refinements were translated into tangible design choices, ensuring alignment with both user needs and organizational goals.
Evaluation & Iterations
Evaluating the experience for Volunteer Managers
After multiple design iterations, we wanted to validate concepts were usable, intuitive, and aligned with the needs of nonprofit staff and volunteers. Testing at this stage allowed us to reduce risk, catch usability issues early, and ensure that our solutions such as scheduling, onboarding, and communication flows would deliver real value in practice.
Round 1 (Moderated Remote Sessions)
6 Volunteer Managers were guided through clickable wireframes while thinking aloud. This helped us gather in-depth qualitative feedback on navigation clarity, task completion, and feature understanding.
Round 2 (Unmoderated Concept Testing)
We deployed high-fidelity prototypes via Useberry platform, with 6 Volunteer Managers followed by a post-test survey to capture both behavioral and attitudinal data at scale
Tasks
Participants were asked to complete realistic workflows that mirrored real nonprofit scenarios, including:
Create a new event with title, date, and time.
Assign a volunteer to the event.
Upload a preparation document.
Send a message to confirm participation.
Review new volunteer applications.
Major Findings (What didn't work)
Assigning Volunteers – Split Mental Models
Participants had different expectations about where to start this task. Some looked for it under the event page, while others tried the Volunteers tab.
Event Creation Label Confusion
The label “Schedule” caused hesitation. Some participants thought it meant create a new event, while others assumed it meant assign volunteers to an existing event.
Lack of details while approving timesheets
Users emphasized that the designs lacked important details such as assigned shifts and notes from volunteers when approving timesheets.
Applications Tab Naming
While checking new applications, some participants assumed the feature would be labeled Recruitment rather than Applications, leading to brief hesitation in locating it.
High Fidelity Prototypes + Added Iterations
I translated findings from evaluation sessions into high-fidelity prototypes and iterative refinements to better meet the needs of volunteer managers.
FInal Designs
Reflection
If I had more time
Expanding the Volunteer Flow
If I had more time, I would have dedicated more effort to refining the volunteer flow. While I focused primarily on the manager’s perspective, I wanted to explore in greater depth how the experience would feel for volunteers and how their end-to-end journey could be improved.
My Learnings
Importance of Observation and Understanding the User
Actually observing volunteer managers’ workflows through contextual inquiries gave me a deeper perspective while designing. It highlighted how much their daily challenges, small workarounds, and habits influence my design decisions, and reinforced the importance of truly understanding the user.
