Bring your volunteers, past activities, hours and events into VolunteerFlow from the spreadsheets and exports you already have. Every file is checked on a review screen before anything is saved.
It makes sense to hesitate before moving them. These are the usual worries when a program thinks about changing systems.
Names, contact details and notes built up over years, often by several people.
Totals that grant reports, awards and recognition depend on.
A roster here, an hours log there, and a sign-up sheet for every event.
Who helped at which event, and when.
Forms, waivers and certificates saved in inboxes and folders.
Staff and volunteers who are comfortable with the way things work now.
The worry that a record gets dropped on the way across.
Migration has to fit around running the program.
Each of these has its own import in VolunteerFlow, from a CSV or Excel file.
Names, email, phone, address, date of birth, emergency contact, skills and status, plus your own custom fields when a column heading matches the field name. Other columns are kept on the profile as application info.
Plans: All plans. First name, last name and email are required.
One row per person per day. VolunteerFlow creates each past activity, marks it completed, records the volunteer as attended and logs the hours.
Plans: All plans.
A date and hours for each entry, with an optional activity name and notes. Imported hours count toward totals and milestones straight away.
Plans: Flow and Impact, from the Hours page.
One event with one shift per row, ready for volunteers to sign up.
Plans: All plans.
Put volunteers on shifts of events you have already created, with attendance and hours when you have them.
Plans: All plans. Import or create the events first.
Add people to a group from a file. A group that does not exist yet is created for you.
Plans: Flow and Impact.
Name, breed, age, species, sex, status, microchip, tags and notes, reviewed row by row before saving.
Plans: With Animal Management (Impact).
Some things need a different route. Here is how to handle them.
Past application forms are not imported. Rebuild your form in VolunteerFlow and new applicants use it from day one.
There is no bulk document import. Documents can be added to profiles one at a time, and on Flow and Impact volunteers can submit certifications through the portal for you to verify.
VolunteerFlow imports CSV and Excel (.xlsx) files. Here is how that works with the spreadsheets you already have.
Past service can come across as full activity records or as hours on their own.
Plans: All plans, from the Activities page.
Plans: Flow and Impact, from the Hours page.
Whether you use Volgistics, VolunteerLocal, Better Impact, SignUpGenius or another platform, VolunteerFlow does not connect to it directly. The move works through files:
After the move, the jobs your spreadsheets do today have a home in VolunteerFlow.
Every import stops at a review step, so problems show up before they reach your data.
List your spreadsheets and exports. Pick the records you still use.
Export from your current system, or download each sheet as a .csv or .xlsx file.
Start with volunteers. The review screen shows every row before anything is saved.
Bring in past activities, hours, events and rosters. Rows match to the volunteers you imported.
Check the results, send portal invites if you want to, and run your next shift in VolunteerFlow.
Not sure how your data will transfer? Tell us what system or spreadsheets you use today and what your files look like. We'll explain how they fit VolunteerFlow's imports and where to start.
You don't have to bring every record. One approach is to import current volunteers and the hours you still report on, and keep older files as an archive. Another is to bring the full history so year-over-year totals stay in one place. Either works: import what you will use, and add more later.
See all VolunteerFlow features, how setup works, or what we built for animal rescues and shelters. Plans and what each includes are on the pricing page.
Yes. Upload a CSV or Excel (.xlsx) file from the People page. VolunteerFlow recognises common column names such as first name, last name, email and phone, and shows every row on a review screen before anything is saved. Each volunteer needs a first name, last name and email address.
Yes. You can import past activities with one row per person per day, which creates each completed activity, marks attendance and logs the hours. On Flow and Impact you can also import hours on their own from the Hours page. Each file can have up to 5,000 rows.
Yes, through a download. VolunteerFlow does not connect to Google Sheets directly, so choose File > Download in Sheets and save the sheet as a CSV or Excel file, then upload that file. Only the first sheet in an Excel file is read.
Volunteers are matched by email address. A match is shown as a duplicate, side by side with the existing record, and you choose to skip it or update the existing profile with the details from your file. A second profile with the same email is never created.
Yes. Set the fields up first in Settings > Custom Fields. When a column heading in your file matches a field name, the import fills that field for each person. A value that does not fit, such as an option that is not on the list for that field, is left blank and flagged on the review screen.
Yes, through files. VolunteerFlow has no direct connection to other platforms. If your current system can export to CSV or Excel, you can import the volunteers, history, hours, events and rosters those files contain.
Yes. Every import stops at a review step that lists each row with any errors or warnings, such as a missing email, a date in the future or a name that matches two people. Nothing is saved until you apply the import.
No. You can bring over current volunteers and the hours you still report on, and leave older records in their original files. You can also import in stages, one file at a time.
Your original spreadsheets and exports stay where they are; importing reads a copy. There is no undo once an import is applied, so check the review screen before you apply.
Talk to us about your current setup. Send us a note about the system or spreadsheets you use today and we will explain how your data fits VolunteerFlow's imports and where to start.
Try the imports with your own files during a free 30-day trial. No credit card required.
Not sure how your current data will transfer? Talk to us about your setup.