Volunteer Hour Tracking and Scheduling Dashboard

Effective Nov. 1, veterans, the homeless, recent foster care youth and adults ages 54-64 in the USA are no longer exempt from work requirements to receive food benefits for themselves and their families through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). This is a result of the "big, beautiful bill."   People in these groups are now going to have to work for pay or volunteer with a credible nonprofit for 80 hours a month in order to receive their SNAP benefits (once they start being funded again).  It's likely many USA nonprofits are going to see an increase in requests to volunteer as a result. One of the challenges is that you are going to get people who show up on Monday of the last week of the month and say, "I need to get 80 hours of volunteering this week." That's impossible. Nonprofits: make sure you have information on your web site that notes your LIMITS on volunteering in terms of hours per week. How far in advance does a person need to apply with you to arrange 80 hours of volunteering in a month? And make sure staff know how to diplomatically, compassionately, respond to people desperate for volunteering hours that simply cannot be done in the amount of time requested at your nonprofit. But please also think about ways you can accommodate at least a few people needing up to 80 hours of volunteering over an entire month. You should talk to staff about this potential influx of volunteers and what it means for them in terms of supervising volunteers, filling out paperwork, etc. These folks are going to be people who urgently need these hours and are completely stressed out about it. They need compassion, even if you can't accommodate them - and especially if you can. A great idea I heard from a Habitat ReStore in Beaverton, Oregon: put up a white board that says, "Tasks for the Day" and have staff write things that need to be done. A volunteer writes his or her name next to the task they are going to do, and then they go do it. Then they come back to the board when they are done and mark it "done" and move on to the next task. Of course, the challenge is that staff have to come up with tasks. And be available to provide guidance for those tasks. I have [guidance on how to create tasks for volunteers - as well as ongoing roles for volunteers](https://www.coyotebroad.com/volunteer/volindex02.shtml). One more thing: if your nonprofit DOES accommodate people required to do community service, rather because of SNAP or the courts or classroom requirements, track how many volunteers you are involving as a result of these programs and find a way to define how much it is COSTING your organization to engage and support these volunteers. And make sure that cost is reported to your board, to your local elected officials and to your donors. Make sure they know that volunteers are never, ever cost free. More info about these SNAP work requirements from: [https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/work-requirements](https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/work-requirements) [https://kentuckylantern.com/2025/11/03/snap-work-reporting-requirements-are-expanding-what-kentuckians-should-know/](https://kentuckylantern.com/2025/11/03/snap-work-reporting-requirements-are-expanding-what-kentuckians-should-know/)