A kludge [1] of a volunteer management system created by the Canadian Birkebeiner Society (Birkie) for its 2024 Event-Day.

Volunteer management systems abound; Capterra has a list of the top 10 [2] and there are more. A simple internet search yields nearly 100 million hits. Good news, lots of choices and features to choose from; Bad news, do these choices and features match the requirements of the organization? Not matching requirements to business needs is a recipe for disaster.

1. Making Kludge: First Step, Know Your Business Need
2. A Simple Kludge Recipe (serves 1 non-profit)
   1. Ingredients
   2. Method
   3. Serving, and PresentationIdeas
3. Beyond the Rough and Ready
4. Notes and Further Reading

Making Kludge: First Step, Know Your Business Need

Technology is nearly always the simplest component of a computer system implementation. Change management, business processes, training, reporting, interfaces, changes/ configurations, requirements definition, and user acceptance are what kills or impedes the project. If you notice the foregoing list, almost all of the challenges involve pesky humans.

Non-profits also span a wide gamut of business activities (including many that no self-respecting business would ever get into). One size does not fit all – however, you can get a sense of proportion by making some Kludge.

A Simple Kludge Recipe (serves 1 non-profit)

Ingredients

1. One Website; must have access rights
2. Dolap of Volunteer Leaders; preferably seasoned
3. Peck (or more) of Volunteer Role Descriptions; pictures, videos, etc. are optional
4. Sprig of an Expression of Interest
5. A Single Google Account
6. Smattering of Basic Spreadsheet Skills

Method

• Collect volunteer role descriptions from the well-seasoned volunteer leaders; see Telling the Volunteer Story(ies) for detailed recipe.
• Mash the Roles into The Birkie Catalog of Opportunities, set aside.
• Develop a Volunteer Expression of Interest form, Birkie – Sign Me UP!, keep warm.
• Using the Google Account, combine the Volunteer Role Descriptions with the Website to create a nice display of volunteer roles and a schedule to sign up.
• Pour all of the above into a database, a Google Sheet to the Rescue will do in a pinch.
• Expose to prospective volunteers, decorate with Lucky 7’s in LAST VeGA as required.
• Maintain and document the process.

Serving, and PresentationIdeas

Serve fresh but update and keep current as roles can quickly become stale or out of date.

Beyond the Rough and Ready

The Canadian Birkebeiner used this mostly free and rough and ready system and it was considered ‘Good Enough’ for the 2024 event. This kludge gave invaluable experience moving from an entirely manual process to a semi-automated one. As well, it started to habituate long standing volunteers to the concepts of registering and using a system rather than the manual processes.

The Kludge was sticky, did not always work as expected, it was a bit temperamental and ‘good enough’ to learn and understand what professionally baked system should look like and do.

Notes and Further Reading

1. “Kludge Definition & Meaning – Merriam-Webster.” Accessed November 15, 2023. merriam-webster.com/kludge.
2. “Volunteer Management Software – Review Leading Systems.” Accessed November 15, 2023. www.capterra.com.