How do I track where a volunteer sign-up came from?

Add ?src= to the link you share: newsletter:october, campaign:creek-cleanup, qr:flyer, link:church-bulletin. Each card in your pipeline then reads “came in via newsletter: october,” and the CSV carries the same column. Sign-ups with no tag say which page of your site they came from.

Can a QR code on a flyer feed our volunteer sign-up?

Yes. Point the QR code at your volunteer page with ?src=qr:flyer (or qr:farmers-market, one per place you post it). Every sign-up from that code is marked, so you learn which corners of town actually bring people in.

How do we know whether someone who signed up ever showed up?

Once a sign-up joins your sphere and checks in at a gathering, their card gains a “Since then” line with their volunteer-journey stage and gathering count: “In the sphere · Rooting · 3 gatherings.” If the sphere already has them but the card still says reached out, it asks whether to mark them joined.

Can we use recruitment source data in a grant report?

Yes. The pipeline CSV carries a “came in via” column and a “since then” column for every sign-up, so a quarter sorts by source in a spreadsheet in seconds: how many came from each channel, how many joined, how many checked in. Every export leaves a receipt in your export log.

What happens to a guest who RSVPs from our website without an account?

After you save the gathering’s debrief, every guest who checked in gets one email: thanks for showing up, up to three roles with room, and a single link into your volunteer form. Once per address, never to anyone who already has a member account, and never a second time for the same person.

For organizers·6 min read

Volunteer recruitment sources: know where your volunteers come from and who stays

Volunteer source tracking built into the sign-up: tag a newsletter, a flyer’s QR code, or a campaign link, read “came in via” on every card, follow a person through the volunteer lifecycle from sign-up to first check-in, and turn a one-time guest into a regular with one note after the debrief.

For volunteer coordinators, coalition leads, and anyone writing the recruitment section of a grant report.

Every organizer has a hunch about which outreach works. The newsletter? The flyer by the co-op? The friend who keeps posting your events? A hunch is fine until you have a Saturday to fill and two hours to spend. This guide shows how a Revel Sphere volunteer page tells you, on every card, where each person came from, what happened after they said yes, and how a guest at one gathering becomes someone who keeps coming.

Volunteer recruitment sources, built into the link

Your volunteer page already knows which page the form sat on. To learn the channel, add one short tag to the link you share:

?src=newsletter:october: the monthly newsletter.
?src=campaign:creek-cleanup: a campaign page or a petition thank-you.
?src=qr:flyer: the QR code on a printed flyer. Use one tag per place you post it.
?src=link:church-bulletin: anything else with a name.

The tag travels with the person into the form and onto their card as “came in via newsletter: october.” Only a short, known set of channels is accepted, so a visitor can never write free text into your pipeline. Anything unrecognized falls back to the page name. The CSV download carries the same column, so a quarter’s worth of sign-ups sorts by source in a few seconds.

Read your volunteer pipeline by recruitment source

After a month, the cards in your Signals tab tell a story. Filter to Joinedand scan the “via” lines. If the newsletter brings five sign-ups and three joined, and the flyer brings eight and none did, you learned something a hunch could not. Numbers beat adjectives: “11 from the newsletter, 4 joined” is a sentence you can plan a Saturday around.

The volunteer lifecycle: following a sign-up to their first check-in

A sign-up is a promise. The “Since then” line on each card is what happened to it: the volunteer lifecycle, or what organizers call the ladder of engagement, read one person at a time. Once the person joins your sphere and checks in somewhere, the card reads their stage in the volunteer journey: Sprouting for the first gatherings, Rooting as a rhythm forms, Blooming when they are a regular, Resting when life takes a season. Their gathering count sits beside it.

If the sphere already counts them as a member but the card still says reached out, the line adds a gentle nudge: “mark them joined?” Nobody has to remember to close the loop by hand.

Volunteer retention after a first event: the Saturday guest becomes a regular

Many of your best future volunteers first meet you as a guest: someone who saved a spot on your public site for one gathering with no account at all. They show up, they help, they go home. The warmest moment to say “there’s a place for you here” is the same week.

So it happens by rule, in one note. When you save the gathering’s debrief, every guest who checked in gets a single email:

Thanks for showing up, with the gathering named.
Up to three standing roles with room right now.
One button, Keep going with us, into your volunteer form, tagged with the gathering, so the card later reads “via event: saturday-creek-work-day.”

The rules keep it kind. Checked-in guests only. Once per address. Skipped for anyone whose email already belongs to a member account, because they have the member path. Saving the debrief again never sends twice. The email speaks in English or Spanish, and you can edit its words from the admin.

What to do with your recruitment source data

Double down on the channel that fills Saturdays. If the newsletter brings people who join, give it the best photo and the clearest ask.
Fix the channel that brings sign-ups but no joiners. A flyer that brings eight sign-ups and no joiners may be promising something the roles do not match. Read their “drawn to” lines.
Watch the “via event” cards. They are people who already showed up once. Reach out within the week; the memory is still warm.

Questions people ask

How do I track where a volunteer sign-up came from?: Add ?src= to the link you share: newsletter:october, campaign:creek-cleanup, qr:flyer, link:church-bulletin. Each card in your pipeline then reads “came in via newsletter: october,” and the CSV carries the same column. Sign-ups with no tag say which page of your site they came from.
Can a QR code on a flyer feed our volunteer sign-up?: Yes. Point the QR code at your volunteer page with ?src=qr:flyer (or qr:farmers-market, one per place you post it). Every sign-up from that code is marked, so you learn which corners of town actually bring people in.
How do we know whether someone who signed up ever showed up?: Once a sign-up joins your sphere and checks in at a gathering, their card gains a “Since then” line with their volunteer-journey stage and gathering count: “In the sphere · Rooting · 3 gatherings.” If the sphere already has them but the card still says reached out, it asks whether to mark them joined.
Can we use recruitment source data in a grant report?: Yes. The pipeline CSV carries a “came in via” column and a “since then” column for every sign-up, so a quarter sorts by source in a spreadsheet in seconds: how many came from each channel, how many joined, how many checked in. Every export leaves a receipt in your export log.
What happens to a guest who RSVPs from our website without an account?: After you save the gathering’s debrief, every guest who checked in gets one email: thanks for showing up, up to three roles with room, and a single link into your volunteer form. Once per address, never to anyone who already has a member account, and never a second time for the same person.

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