Written by James McBryan

Would you like to see a mobile application for logging volunteer hours? Is mobile technology (for smart phones and tablets like the iPad and HP touchpad) the wave of the future? Would having a mobile option for tracking volunteer hours encourage and promote volunteerism? Would mobile time tracking make the lives of those coordinating volunteer projects easier?

Paper time-sheets are a thing of the past. There’s no nicer way to put it - the use of paper time-sheets is costing your organization time. This time could be better spent recruiting volunteers, or finalizing details on projects, or giving volunteers some valuable one-on-one feedback.

All data from paper time tracking must eventually be entered into spreadsheets or a database if you want to use the information in reports for funders. These steps are unnecessary when using online time tracking tools like Track it Forward.

Here are some good reasons for using mobile technology to logging volunteer hours:

• All ages (especially youth) are increasingly making use of smartphones and tablets, rather than logging into laptop or desktop computers.
• One of the few advantages of paper is that it’s portable and can be carried around with you - the same is true for mobile.
•  Hours logged in real time are more accurate.
• Mobile apps have an appealing “cool factor” that could provide incentive to your volunteers.
• The use of QR codes could be incorporated into mobile time tracking, making the entire process easier.
• Empowers volunteers to log hours on their own.

Examples of mobile time tracking (not for volunteers):

http://mobileoffice.about.com/od/smartphoneapps/tp/android-time-tracking...

Examples of mobile time tracking (for volunteers):

http://www.volunteerspot.com/

Do you have a need for mobile volunteer time tracking? Write to us and tell us about it!