Product tour
How Nehemiah works
Nehemiah keeps every volunteer’s record, schedule and paperwork in one place, then runs the routine follow-up for you. You set it up by describing your program.
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Overview
What does volunteer management software need to do?
Keep one record per volunteer, schedule people around their real availability, track what each role requires, and keep everyone informed. Nehemiah does all four, then does the follow-up itself.
| Area | What it does |
|---|---|
| People | One record per volunteer: contact details, roles, availability, paperwork, shifts, messages and notes. Search, a journey board from interested to active, and saved groups. |
| Schedule | Recurring shifts like “every 2nd Tuesday, 9 to 1”, standing commitments, week and month views, a list of open spots and auto-fill. |
| Opportunities | Ongoing positions, projects, one-off events and sign-up sheets, listed on your public page. |
| Compliance | Requirements by role, one review queue, a person-by-requirement matrix, expiry reminders, AI pre-checks and a monthly OIG exclusion check. |
| Forms | A form builder, your public organization page and join form, an embed snippet for your website and a QR code for flyers. |
| Messages | Newsletters, announcements, urgent alerts and open-needs emails in your organization’s look, plus automatic reminders. |
| Autopilot | 20+ ready-made recipes for welcomes, paperwork, open shifts, thank-yous and digests. |
| AI teammate | The Volunteer Concierge onboards new people. Ask Nehemiah sets things up when you describe them, typed or spoken. |
| Reports | Hours, the value of volunteer time, coverage, how new sign-ups progress and where they came from, with CSV downloads. |
| Volunteer portal | No password. Next shift, open spots that fit, availability, paperwork, hours and a certificate. |
| Kiosk | Check-in on a front-desk tablet: volunteers find their name and tap Check in. Hours are recorded. |
| Multiple organizations | One staff login for many organizations, and one portal login for a volunteer who serves several. |
Onboarding
How does a volunteer go from sign-up to first shift?
In six steps, and Nehemiah runs most of them. Your team approves the role and confirms what needs a human eye.
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Day 0
They sign up on your form
Nehemiah creates their record, saves the availability they wrote (“Thursday afternoons” becomes every Thursday, 1 to 5), and sends one welcome that asks only for what they can do now, like an agreement and an emergency contact.
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Your call
Your team approves the role
Nehemiah opens an approval to-do right away and flags it if it waits more than 2 days. Approving someone for a role is always a person’s decision.
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Paperwork
Nehemiah asks for what the role needs
Each item has its own one-tap link. Volunteers upload a photo from their phone or sign on screen. Staff-only checks, like the background check, are never asked of the volunteer.
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Follow-up
Gentle reminders if they go quiet
Reminders go out 2, 5, 9 and 14 days after their last step, never more than 3 a week. If that doesn’t work, your team gets a to-do to call them.
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Review
Documents land in one queue
Uploads arrive pre-checked by AI. Clear reads can be approved for you, and your team confirms the rest instead of typing dates by hand.
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First shift
They’re invited to a first shift
Once they’re approved and their required paperwork is done, Nehemiah invites them to the soonest open shift they’re free for in the next 3 weeks. Reminders and thank-yous take it from there.
How the Volunteer Concierge works Volunteer onboarding checklist
Autopilot
What runs on Autopilot?
The routine emails and to-dos. There are 20+ ready-made recipes, each described in one plain sentence, and your template switches on the ones that fit. Edit any step, test it, or turn it off.
Welcome and onboarding
New people hear from you in minutes, not days.
Paperwork
Missing and expiring items get chased for you.
Shifts and reminders
Open spots fill and people show up.
Thank-yous and keeping in touch
People feel noticed, so they come back.
Digests and newsletters
Regular updates go out on schedule.
See what it did, change how it works
Each recipe opens as a step-by-step flow: when it starts, who it’s for, what it sends and how long it waits. Run a test any time, and check its run history to see who it reached. Home sums up what Autopilot did this week and lists what needs a person.
For volunteers
What do volunteers see?
Friendly emails with one-tap buttons, and a simple portal they open with a link by email. No app to install, no password to remember.
- Their next shift, with Add to calendar and a Can’t make it button.
- Open spots that fit the roles they’re approved for and the times they said they’re free.
- Availability in their own words, like “every other Saturday morning”. Nehemiah turns it into availability it can match.
- Their checklist: upload a document from a phone, sign an agreement on screen, see what’s still needed.
- Hours served and a printable certificate.
- Email preferences: everything, only important messages, or urgent only.
Reports
What reports can I pull?
Hours, the dollar value of those hours, coverage, how new sign-ups progress and where they came from. Pick any date range and download any table as CSV for a grant report or a board meeting.
| Report | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Hours served | Hours from check-ins and attended shifts, by month, by role and by person. |
| Value of volunteer time | Hours × $36.14 an hour, Independent Sector’s national value of a volunteer hour, released April 2026. |
| Coverage | Shifts filled, and coverage by day of the week and time of day. |
| Journey | How new sign-ups move from interested to active, how long that takes, and who is ready to serve. |
| Sign-up sources | Which forms and channels bring new people in. |
| Reliability | The no-show rate for the dates you pick. |
Your data
How do I bring my current list over?
Upload a CSV from your spreadsheet or old tool and match the columns. Getting your data out is just as easy: it’s your organization’s data.
- Import a CSV. Upload your spreadsheet or an export from your old tool and match its columns to Nehemiah’s, custom fields included.
- Merge duplicates. Combine two records for the same person into one.
- Export to CSV. Download your people list, form responses and any report table.
- Take everything with you. Owners and admins can download a full copy of the organization’s data from Settings.
- Calendar feeds. Each volunteer gets a personal feed for Google or Apple Calendar.
- Your website. Embed your sign-up form with a snippet, or print its QR code on a flyer.
Roadmap
What’s coming next?
A few messaging features are built and waiting on outside setup or approval. We label them plainly until they’re live.
What’s included in early access Nehemiah for free clinics Nehemiah for churches
Sources
FAQ
Questions people ask
Does it replace my volunteer spreadsheet?
Yes. Import your list from a CSV file (you match the columns), merge any duplicates, and Nehemiah becomes the record of who your volunteers are, what they’ve completed and when they serve. You can export your data to CSV whenever you like.
Getting your data in and out Does it replace SignUpGenius?
For ongoing volunteer programs, yes: Nehemiah adds onboarding, paperwork by role, recurring schedules and follow-up to sign-ups. For a one-off sign-up sheet or collecting payments, SignUpGenius is still a good fit; Nehemiah doesn’t take payments.
Nehemiah vs SignUpGenius Does it work for more than one organization?
Yes. One staff login can belong to many organizations, each with its own volunteers, roles and settings, and a volunteer can serve several organizations with one portal login.
Is there a mobile app?
There’s nothing to install. Nehemiah works in any phone or desktop browser, and the volunteer portal is built for phones first.
Does Nehemiah connect to our other tools?
Not directly. There are no built-in connections to church management systems, donor CRMs or background-check vendors today. You can import and export CSV files, embed your sign-up form on your website, and give each volunteer a calendar feed for Google or Apple Calendar.
Getting your data in and outTell us about your volunteer program.
We’ll show you Nehemiah running with your own roles, schedule and paperwork.