Volunteer Management Forms: Four Ways to Put Them to Work

There’s more to volunteer management than signups. You also handle applications, background checks, recruitment, training and onboarding, and retention—it’s all part of the job.

Unison Forms, available with Unison Premium, Team, and Pro editions, help you collect and organize information throughout the volunteer lifecycle—from initial interest and applications to profile updates and post-event feedback. 

How Forms work in Unison

Add custom text boxes, dropdowns, and checkboxes to collect the information you need. When someone submits a Form, their responses are saved with their volunteer record in Unison.

Forms are available with Unison Premium, Team, and Pro. Premium Forms can include up to five questions, Team Forms up to 10, and Pro Forms an unlimited number.

With Pro, you can also move Form responses through custom stages to track progress and guide people through flows such as applications, screening, and onboarding.

Here are four ways to put Forms to work.

1. Recruiting volunteers

Give prospective volunteers a way to connect before they choose a specific opportunity or shift. With a volunteer interest Form, you can learn about their interests and follow up when there’s a need that matches.

Best for: Building your volunteer pipeline and matching people with the right opportunities.

What to ask:

• Interests
• Skills or experience
• General availability
• Preferred volunteer roles
• Programs or opportunities they’d like to learn more about

For example, an animal shelter could ask prospective volunteers what interests them most: dog walking, fostering, special events, or administrative support. When those needs come up, the volunteer coordinator already knows who may be a good fit—and builds stronger volunteer engagement by placing them in a position they want to fill.

2. Applications and screening

Some roles require an application or screening process before a volunteer can start filling shifts. Create a Form with the information you need to review applicants and move qualified volunteers through onboarding.

Best for: Volunteer roles with an application, screening, or approval process.

What to ask:

• Relevant experience
• References
• Qualifications or certifications
• Role preferences
• Required acknowledgments

A youth mentoring program uses Forms to collect applicants’ experience, availability, references, and preferred age groups before making a match. Once the program approves an applicant, Unison can create a new volunteer profile directly from the Form response. For a program where relevant experience or certifications matter, Forms help ensure that only qualified volunteers support the work.

3. Tracking volunteers

The information you need from volunteers can change over time. Forms give you an easy way to collect new details or ask people to update information you already track, without chasing down responses individually.

Best for: Keeping volunteer profiles current or collecting information for a particular program or event.

What to collect:

• T-shirt size
• Emergency contact
• Languages spoken
• Skills or certifications
• Availability
• Role preferences
• Dietary restrictions

A nonprofit preparing for its annual 5K reaches out to returning volunteers, finding out if they prefer to help with registration, a water station, or the finish line—and confirm details like T-shirt size before placing an expensive bulk order. The updated information can then be saved to custom fields in Unison. Not only does the nonprofit retain a higher number of volunteers by placing them where they want to be, they ensure efficient spending by ordering the t-shirts they need, rather than taking a guess.

4. Volunteer feedback

Volunteers have a firsthand view of your programs and events. A follow-up survey can identify what’s working, discover what needs to improve, and create an experience that keeps volunteers coming back.

Best for: Surveys after special events and volunteer opportunities you want to improve over time.

What to ask:

• Did you feel prepared?
• Were your instructions clear?
• What worked well?
• What could we improve?
• Would you volunteer again?

A veterans service organization hosting its annual luncheon sends a survey to volunteers that reveals that volunteers needed more instructions before checking in—and saves that feedback within Unison. That insight gives the organizer something concrete to change next time and helps make volunteering an experience people want to repeat.

Frequently asked questions about Unison Forms

What is a Form in Unison?

Forms let you create custom forms, applications, and surveys that automatically add or update volunteer information in Unison. You can use text boxes, dropdowns, and checkboxes to collect the information your organization needs.

How are Forms different from signup questions?

Signup questions collect additional information when someone signs up for a particular opportunity or shift. Forms can be shared separately and used for broader needs such as volunteer interest, applications, information updates, and feedback surveys. Form responses are saved with volunteer records in Unison.

Who can view Form responses?

Administrators can review Form responses in Unison. Organizations using Pro can also move responses through custom stages to track progress and guide volunteers through a process.

Which Unison plans include Forms?

Forms are included with Unison Premium, Team, and Pro. Premium supports up to five Form questions, Team supports up to 10, and Pro supports unlimited questions. Pro also includes custom Form stages for tracking responses and guiding people through flows.

How else could Forms simplify volunteering?

Think about the volunteer information you collect today in spreadsheets, over email, on paper, or across other tools. Forms centralize that information in Unison, where you already manage volunteers, ensuring that all of the volunteer data you need is in one place.