Free tool from VolunteerFlow

What is your volunteer program really costing?

Estimate what your organization currently spends on volunteer-management software and administrative time, then explore potential opportunities to simplify your technology stack.

Calculate My Costs Take the Full Tech Stack Audit
About 2 minutes
Estimates are fine
No sign-up or email needed

What you get

  • Your estimated annual software cost
  • Staff hours a year on volunteer admin, and what that time costs
  • Workflows that may be brought into one system
  • VolunteerFlow's published prices next to your current spend
  • Scenarios you control, with every formula shown
The calculator

Your current costs and workload

Rough numbers are fine. Nobody keeps exact figures for this. Please don't enter names, payroll records or other personal information; only approximate totals are needed. Your numbers stay in this browser tab.

Software

All subscriptions together: a volunteer management platform, scheduling, email, texting, forms, events, documents, check-in and reporting tools. Leave out accounting software unless you want to include it.

per month, in US dollars

For example a volunteer database, a spreadsheet, Google Forms, a sign-up site, an email tool, a texting service, an event system, paper attendance sheets and file storage.

Staff time

Scheduling, updating spreadsheets, sending reminders, tracking attendance and hours, moving information between systems, preparing reports, fixing duplicate records and reviewing applications. Add up everyone who does it.

hours per week

What does that staff time cost?

Enter whichever you know. A loaded hourly cost (pay plus taxes and benefits) gives the most realistic figure. A salary is divided by 2,080 hours, a full-time year.

per hour

Your program (optional)

For context in your results. These do not change the cost math or which VolunteerFlow plan applies.

Separate tools (optional)
Which of these do you handle in a separate tool, a spreadsheet or on paper?

Tick any that apply. We use them to show where work could be brought together.

How it works

How we calculate it

No hidden formula. Every figure comes from the numbers you enter or from VolunteerFlow's published prices, and you can check each one yourself.

Your current costs

  • Annual software cost = monthly software spend x 12
  • Annual administrative hours = weekly admin hours x 52
  • Administrative labor cost = annual hours x hourly staff cost (or salary / 2,080 hours)
  • Software + administrative cost = annual software cost + labor cost

VolunteerFlow prices

The yearly price on annual billing, or 12 monthly payments on monthly billing, exactly as published on our pricing page. We never estimate a price for a plan that does not publish one.

Illustrative scenarios

  • Time value = labor cost x the reduction you choose (10%, 20%, 30% or your own, up to 50%)
  • Software replaced = annual software cost x the share you choose
  • Potential modeled difference = software replaced - plan price + time value

ROI and payback

  • Illustrative ROI = (modeled benefit - plan price) / plan price x 100, where the modeled benefit is software replaced + time value
  • Illustrative payback = plan price / (modeled benefit / 12), shown only when the modeled benefit is above zero

Both are shown only when the plan has a published price.

Common questions

About the calculator

Who provides this calculator?

VolunteerFlow, a volunteer management platform. It is a free tool, not an independent financial analysis or financial advice. Your results are worked out from the numbers you enter, and VolunteerFlow prices come from our published pricing.

Do I need exact numbers?

No. Estimates are fine. Use your best guess for monthly software spend, weekly admin hours and staff cost; you can change any of them and calculate again.

What does the "estimated software + administrative cost" include?

Only two things: the software spend you entered, times 12, and the staff time you entered, valued at the hourly cost you entered. It is not the full cost of running your volunteer program or your organization.

Does VolunteerFlow guarantee these savings?

No. The scenario section shows what a reduction in admin time or software spend that you choose would be worth, based on your inputs. Actual costs, time savings and results vary by organization, and VolunteerFlow does not guarantee specific savings or ROI.

Do VolunteerFlow prices depend on how many volunteers we have?

No. Every plan includes unlimited volunteers. Plans differ by features, admin seats and storage, so the calculator lets you compare all three rather than picking one for you.

What happens if I request a cost review?

Your name, organization, email, any optional details you add and your calculator numbers are sent to the VolunteerFlow team. A person reviews them and replies by email. We use the details only to reply to your request and do not add you to a mailing list.

Want to know more first? Read about VolunteerFlow's features, see how we compare with other volunteer management software, or what we built for animal rescues and shelters. Weighing a change? Our guide to choosing volunteer management software for a small nonprofit explains the common pricing models. Questions about your current setup? Talk to us.