How to create a volunteer application form (free templates & expert tips)

Nonprofit and non-governmental organizations have been carrying out their work voluntarily for a better future. In recent years, non-profit organizations have grown in size, and they want to reach more people, places, or animals with the help of easier transportation and developing technology. But all these organizations need something to achieve this: A sufficient number of volunteers.

So, what is volunteering? What is volunteer recruitment? How do you gather more volunteers? Can online forms help you to gather volunteers? And how can you create a volunteer application form?

You will learn these and more about the volunteer application form when you read this post. If you are ready, let’s start with the basic definition!

What is volunteer recruitment?

Non-profit organizations work in areas such as social assistance, environmental conservation, education, health, and other societal benefit sectors. However, since these organizations are "non-profit," they do not usually have a steady income. Therefore, working in these organizations is mainly based on volunteering, and at certain times, they recruit new volunteers.

Volunteer recruitment includes the process of gathering volunteer applications, filtering and selecting, and training them if necessary. Using the right tools and strategies, you can easily make everything easier for your organization and potential volunteers.

How can an online form help you get more volunteers?

Non-profit organizations can work both regionally and internationally, but they need something in common: volunteers. That’s because the most important thing is to get things done, and it’s only possible if people are willing to do it. Online application forms help you when you look for more volunteers or when you want to qualify them. But these are not all; online forms can help nonprofits:

Be more accessible
Make applications easier
Learn about the volunteers
Better assign volunteers to the right positions

How can you create a custom volunteer application form for your organization?

Now you know what volunteer recruitment is and the importance of using online forms when looking for volunteers. What about creating a custom volunteer application form? In this part, you will learn how to create a volunteer application form online.

1. Choose a free template, start with a blank form, or create with AI

Choosing a starting option

You can create your online volunteer form from scratch on forms.app. Yet, the forms.app has a lot of free online volunteer forms to save time. Plus, you can also use forms.app AI to create your forms with a single prompt.

2. Edit the questions or add your own

Adding questions and fields to your volunteer application form

You should determine the specific skills, time commitments, and roles needed for volunteers within your organization. So, craft questions directly related to the volunteer roles, skills, and interests needed, like driver skills, foreign language knowledge, etc. Also, you can use or edit the questions on the volunteer form template.

3. Customize the looks of your volunteer application form

Customizing the look of your volunteer application form

How you form look is important. People may bored when filling out the form when it is full of just text or questions. So, adding some pictures or changing the design is better for your form. If you want a quicker solution, you can use ready themes under the Design tab.

Choosing a sharing option for your volunteer application form

Now, you are ready to share your volunteer application form on your website. After that, if you share the form’s link on your organization’s social media accounts, you can reach more people and get more volunteer applications. Go to the Share tab and choose the options that fit you the best.

Does all this stuff look complicated? Then, create your form using forms.app, the best form-builder webpage for creating any type of form.

7 Proven tips for creating a better volunteer application form

So far, you learned how to create a volunteer application form. Yet, if you want to create a more efficient and applicant-friendly volunteer application form that attracts and retains the right volunteers, you should follow the seven tips below:

State the organization's expectations: It should be good to explain your expectations from the volunteers before the form, for example, which volunteer position you are looking for. If you do that, this will eliminate non-eligible people, and you will save time when making decisions.
Be simple and clear: Avoid unnecessary or overly detailed questions. Asking for just your needs is enough. Otherwise, an applicant may get bored and quit his/her application, and you lose a qualified person.
Ask about volunteer’s expectations: Knowing the volunteers' expectations of your organization or project is important before you choose. This is one of the ways of understanding how much s/he qualifies for your organization. You can easily get how much s/he wants to work with you and what s/he can give your organization or his/her perspective.
Learn about volunteer’s skills and experiences: It's important to know applicants' skills and experience. Thus, you can find a great volunteer for specific work or categorize the applicants according to their skills and qualifications. However, some people may lie about themselves, so you may ask them for their certificate.
Make sure to comply with legal provisions: Ensure your volunteer registration form complies with data protection laws and does not ask for unnecessary sensitive information.
Avoid asking just multiple-choice questions: Allow for flexibility in responses, especially in open-ended questions. Thus, you have more idea about the personal information of the applicants.
Ask for their contact information: You must add a section for e-mail addresses, phone numbers, and other details. So you can easily contact the volunteers that you choose for your volunteer program.

Wrapping it up

In conclusion, non-profit organizations need volunteers for their work, but finding qualified people is a little bit hard. Thus, they should create a volunteer sign-up sheet and share their website to get new volunteers.

In this article, you learned what volunteering is, how to gather more volunteers for your organization, and how to create a volunteer recruitment form. It's time to log into forms.app and create an excellent online volunteer application form for your organization.