Volunteer Insights

Dashboard in Apteco Orbit · 4 tabs · 39 insights

How many volunteers do we have, how many come back, and how many also give? Volunteers give hours before they give money. This is where you see both on the same person.

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OverviewA volunteer manager or fundraiser would use it to see how to keep volunteers coming back and invite them to give.This YearA volunteer manager would use it to see who is helping this year and plan how to bring one-time helpers back.HistoricCharts show the year people last volunteered (209 in 2025), how many years people have volunteered (425 under 1 year) and the top 20 jobs by hours (Volunteer Day - May 2024 leads with 280).VolunteersA volunteer manager would use it to thank top helpers and follow up with people who helped only once.

Volunteer Insights · Overview, in Apteco Orbit: The Overview tab, with cards on volunteers who return and also give, then charts of volunteer groups, a circle diagram of donors who volunteer, and ages. — **Volunteer Insights · Overview** The Overview tab, with cards on volunteers who return and also give, then charts of volunteer groups, a circle diagram of donors who volunteer, and ages. A volunteer manager plans how to keep volunteers coming back and giving.

Volunteer Insights · This Year, in Apteco Orbit: The This Year tab, with cards for active and new volunteers, hours and shifts, then charts of the volunteer mix, hours by month and shifts by job. — **Volunteer Insights · This Year** The This Year tab, with cards for active and new volunteers, hours and shifts, then charts of the volunteer mix, hours by month and shifts by job. A volunteer manager sees who is helping this year and plans their return.

Volunteer Insights · Historic, in Apteco Orbit: The Historic tab, with cards on past volunteers and hours, then charts of when people last volunteered, how long they have helped and top jobs by hours. — **Volunteer Insights · Historic** The Historic tab, with cards on past volunteers and hours, then charts of when people last volunteered, how long they have helped and top jobs by hours. A volunteer manager sees how many helpers return and plans to keep them.

Volunteer Insights · Volunteers, in Apteco Orbit: The Volunteers tab, with cards on time served and volunteer groups, a chart of new volunteers by year, a top volunteers table and a list of every volunteer. — **Volunteer Insights · Volunteers** The Volunteers tab, with cards on time served and volunteer groups, a chart of new volunteers by year, a top volunteers table and a list of every volunteer. A volunteer manager thanks top helpers and follows up with one-time helpers.

Sample charity: the people and numbers in these screens are made up, so the picture shows the tool, not a result.

What it answers

Volunteer records often live in a separate app. In Mission they are a table beside donations and events, so a volunteer who gives shows up as both, and a volunteer who stops shows up as lapsed.

Volunteer Insights counts volunteers and their hours. A volunteer is a person with a timesheet, counted once however many shifts they work, and hours are the hours on their timesheets.

tabs, each with its own cards and charts

insights Orbit works out for it

tables it reads: Donations, Participants, Supporters, Volunteers

pathway uses it

What it is built from

Every insight is worked out by Orbit for every supporter. Click one to read it in the Field Guide.

Insights

Lifetime ValueAdds up all donation amounts across all of the supporter's donations. Group your donors by total giving to prioritize stewardship. Identify your top 10% of lifetime givers for personal thank-you calls or major gift cultivation.
Latest Donation DateTakes the most recent all donation dates across all of the supporter's donations. Quickly see who has given recently and who has gone quiet. Separate active donors from lapsed donors in any campaign list.
First EventTakes the earliest all event dates across all of the supporter's event participations. Find when a supporter first engaged through events. Use to compare event-acquired supporters vs donation-acquired supporters.
Last EventTakes the most recent all event dates across all of the supporter's event participations. Identify supporters whose event engagement has gone cold. Pair with Days Since Last Event Attended for re-engagement targeting.
Total Hours At EventsAdds up all ev4Q6GC3 across all of the supporter's event participations. Quantify volunteer and participant time investment. High-hours supporters are deeply engaged even if their giving is modest.
No. Of Times VolunteeredCounts the number of records across all of the supporter's volunteer timesheets. Rank volunteers by frequency. Your most active volunteers are often your best candidates for giving conversations.
No. Of Events AttendedCounts every participant record the supporter has: each registration counts, whether or not they came. Measure breadth of event engagement. It counts registrations, so pair it with Attendance Status when you need the events someone actually came to.
Volunteer Engagement TierPlaces each volunteer into a group based on how many times they have volunteered. The group boundaries are already set up in Mission. Group volunteers by activity level for recognition programs. Your most active volunteers should receive personal outreach.
First Date As VolunteerTakes the earliest date across all of the supporter's volunteer timesheets. Track volunteer tenure. Long-serving volunteers deserve recognition milestones and legacy giving conversations.
Last Date As VolunteerTakes the latest date across all of the supporter's volunteer timesheets. Spot volunteers who have stopped showing up. Pair with Years Since Last Volunteered for re-engagement outreach.
Last Event AttendedTakes the most recent all event dates across all of the supporter's event participations. Quick reference for the most recent event a supporter attended. Useful in conversation prep before a phone call or meeting.
Days Since Last Event AttendedCounts the number of days between Last Event Attended and today. Trigger re-engagement outreach when event engagement lapses. Set automated touchpoints at 90, 180, and 365 days.
Donor AgeCalculates the number of years between Date of Birth and today. Group communications by life stage. Younger donors may respond to digital channels, older donors to mail and phone.
Donor Age (Banded)Places each supporter into an age group based on their date of birth. Use in any module to compare giving patterns, event attendance, and retention across age groups.
Total Volunteer HoursAdds up Volunteer Hours across all of the supporter's volunteer timesheet records. Quantify volunteer contribution in hours for impact reporting and grant applications that require volunteer hour totals.
Years Since Last VolunteeredCalculates the number of years between Last Date as Volunteer and today. Identify lapsed volunteers for re-engagement. A supporter who volunteered for years and then stopped may need a personal check-in.
Volunteer Donor StatusCombines volunteer activity with lifetime giving to show whether a volunteer is also a financial supporter. See which volunteers also give and vice versa. Use to build cross-engagement campaigns that convert volunteers into donors.
Years As VolunteerMeasures the time gap between two dates (First Date as Volunteer, Last Date as Volunteer). Recognize tenure milestones. A 5-year volunteer anniversary is an opportunity for a thank-you and a conversation about legacy giving.
Event Participant FlagCounts the number of records across all of the supporter's event participations. Identify supporters who have attended at least one event. Separate event-engaged from event-inactive donors.
Volunteer FlagReturns 1 if the supporter has at least one volunteer timesheet record, 0 if not. Identify supporters who have volunteered at least once. Build volunteer-specific communications and appeals.
Days Until EventMeasures the time gap between two dates (Event Start Date). Countdown to each upcoming event. Use to trigger pre-event communications at 30, 14, and 7 days out.
Event HoursCalculates how long the event lasted in hours, from start time to end time. Duration of each event in hours. Feeds into total volunteer and participant hours.
Days Registered Before EventMeasures the time gap between two dates (Event Start Date, Register Date). Measure how far in advance people register. Early registrants may respond to early-bird pricing or VIP offers.
Volunteered year before lastA list Orbit keeps up to date by itself. Every dashboard tile that counts this list shows the same number, because they all read the same list. The bottom of the "kept from the year before" sum.
Volunteered this year and last yearA list Orbit keeps up to date by itself. Every dashboard tile that counts this list shows the same number, because they all read the same list. Volunteer retention is this audience divided by Volunteered last year.
Volunteered last year and year beforeA list Orbit keeps up to date by itself. Every dashboard tile that counts this list shows the same number, because they all read the same list. Divide by Volunteered year before last to see how many of that year's volunteers stayed on.
New volunteers this yearA list Orbit keeps up to date by itself. Every dashboard tile that counts this list shows the same number, because they all read the same list. Welcome them. Recruitment rate is this audience divided by Volunteered this year.
New volunteers last yearA list Orbit keeps up to date by itself. Every dashboard tile that counts this list shows the same number, because they all read the same list. Divide by Volunteered last year for last year's recruitment rate.
Lapsed volunteersA list Orbit keeps up to date by itself. Every dashboard tile that counts this list shows the same number, because they all read the same list. A welcome-back list: what has changed since they last came, and an easy way to return.
Volunteered before this yearA list Orbit keeps up to date by itself. Every dashboard tile that counts this list shows the same number, because they all read the same list. Everyone who started before this year. With New volunteers this year, it adds up to everyone who has ever volunteered.
Volunteered this yearA list Orbit keeps up to date by itself. Every dashboard tile that counts this list shows the same number, because they all read the same list. Your volunteers this year, counted as people. Someone with ten shifts counts once.
Volunteered last yearA list Orbit keeps up to date by itself. Every dashboard tile that counts this list shows the same number, because they all read the same list. The bottom of the volunteer retention sum.
First shift dateOrbit lines up each supporter's timesheets by date and takes the earliest one. Find new volunteers by the year of their first shift, and chart recruitment year by year.
Donor & Participant FlagCounts the number of records across all of the supporter's event participations. Identify supporters who both give and attend events. Multi-channel supporters have higher retention and lifetime value.
Volunteer HoursMeasures the time between the start and end of each volunteer timesheet entry, in hours. The building block behind Total Volunteer Hours. Use it at timesheet level to see where volunteer time is going, shift by shift.
Volunteered 3 years runningA list Orbit keeps up to date by itself. Every dashboard tile that counts this list shows the same number, because they all read the same list. Your steadiest volunteers. Thank them by name.
Volunteers lapsingA list Orbit keeps up to date by itself. Every dashboard tile that counts this list shows the same number, because they all read the same list. Call them before the next event. It and Volunteered this year and last year add up to everyone who volunteered last year.
Last shift dateOrbit lines up each supporter's timesheets by date and takes the latest one. Spot volunteers who have stopped coming: a last shift more than a year ago makes someone a lapsed volunteer.
Number Of Lifetime DonationsCounts the number of records across all of the supporter's donations. Group by engagement depth. Donors with 1 gift need a different retention strategy than donors with 10+. Build different stewardship journeys for each group.

Fields from your data

Which CRMs can feed it

The Field Guide maps every insight to the fields each CRM keeps. This is how many of this dashboard's insights each one can build.

Filter the Field Guide by your CRM

Pathways that use it

Each pathway reads this dashboard's numbers, then acts on them.

Learn to use it

Overview for the annual report (hours and time value). This Year, Volunteers to Attendees, when staffing an event. Volunteers, the overlap chart, every quarter: volunteers who have never given are the Field Guide's Volunteers Who Have Never Given audience, and the stop you did in Part 4 shows how to build it.

Learn Mission: Volunteer Insights

Watch the lesson · about a minute

Questions people ask

What does the Volunteer Insights dashboard show?

Volunteer records often live in a separate app. In Mission they are a table beside donations and events, so a volunteer who gives shows up as both, and a volunteer who stops shows up as lapsed.

Volunteer Insights counts volunteers and their hours. A volunteer is a person with a timesheet, counted once however many shifts they work, and hours are the hours on their timesheets.

Which data does it need?

Supporter Full Name, Date of Birth, Event Name, Event Start Date, Event End Date, Event Type, Attendance Status, Participant Donor ID, Register Date, Role at Event, Gift Amount, Gift Date, Timesheet Date Worked, Volunteer Job Name.

Which CRMs does it work with?

How many of its 39 insights each CRM's data can build, by the Field Guide's mapping: Raiser's Edge NXT: 16 of 39; Salesforce NPSP: 14 of 39; Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud: 35 of 39; DonorPerfect: 3 of 39; Bloomerang: 5 of 39; Little Green Light: 32 of 39; CiviCRM: 39 of 39; HubSpot: 16 of 39; Givebutter: 5 of 39.

How do I use it?

How do I get the Volunteer Insights dashboard?

Send a request with the form on this page. An Apteco Architect gets in touch to set it up with you. To learn it first, open the course stop.

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