Gamified Volunteer Program for Non-profits

The Volunteer Program Notion template for nonprofits offers incentives to volunteers for donating their time and/or expertise.

The automated, gamified system awards volunteers with “gold coins” for each hour of service that they have logged. Volunteers can "spend" their coins on fun rewards. Out of the box, the template allows volunteers to earn 100 gold coins per hour, but this rate can be customized.

As an example, let’s say a nonprofit organization is seeking volunteers to help upgrade their website. The staff would create a listing for this project that includes a deadline, description, and point of contact from the staff. The Volunteer Directory and/or the Volunteer Skills pages would help staff members find volunteers who have expressed interest in volunteering and have relevant expertise. The website upgrade project requires a couple of meetings, some research, and copyediting.

The team realizes that one of the volunteers in their directory, Quincy Moon, has the perfect skillset to help. Quincy agrees to volunteer her time and expertise. As she works on the project, she logs her volunteer hours using a personalized view of the Volunteer Hours database nestled into her listing in the volunteer directory. Between October and November, Quincy logs a total of 10 volunteer hours for a total of 1,000 gold coins. Quincy decides to trade in her 1,000 gold coins for a t-shirt featuring an exclusive design.

Don’t worry about keeping track of coins, though! The directory database uses formulas to track each volunteer’s total hours, total gold coins earned, total gold coins spent, and current balance.

Please note—it is important to make sure that volunteers do not receive rewards that could be classified as taxable compensation. Rewards should be of nominal value. Additional insight on this topic is available in the IRS Publication 15-B, Employer’s Tax Guide to Fringe Benefits.