How to Easily Make a Volunteer Application Form in WordPress

How to Create the Ultimate Volunteer Application Form in WordPress (2023)

Are you looking to grow your volunteer program and get more people involved with your cause? Having a well-designed volunteer application form on your website is crucial for attracting and recruiting the right individuals.

With WordPress and modern form builder plugins, creating a volunteer application form is easier than ever – no coding required! In this guide, we‘ll walk you through the entire process of setting up an optimized volunteer form on your WordPress site.

Why Use WordPress for Your Volunteer Forms?

WordPress is the most popular website platform in the world, powering over 40% of all sites on the internet. It‘s especially well-suited for non-profits and organizations, thanks to its ease of use, flexibility, and extensive library of plugins and themes.

Using a WordPress form plugin like WPForms, you can quickly set up a volunteer application form and embed it anywhere on your site. WPForms comes with pre-built form templates, drag-and-drop form fields, and advanced features like conditional logic, multi-page forms, SPAM protection, and more.

Some key benefits of using WordPress + WPForms for your volunteer recruitment:

• No technical knowledge required – build and customize your form with visual, code-free tools
• Fully responsive forms that look great on any device
• Ability to collect and manage volunteer data directly in your WordPress dashboard
• Extensive integrations with popular email marketing and CRM platforms
• Built-in SPAM protection and secure data storage
• Conditional logic to create smart, interactive application forms

By following this guide, you‘ll be able to harness the power of WordPress forms and optimize your entire volunteer recruitment process. Let‘s dive in!

Step 1: Install and Activate WPForms

The first step is installing the WPForms plugin on your WordPress site. WPForms is a freemium plugin, with a limited free version available and a Pro version that unlocks all features and form templates.

For volunteer recruitment, we recommend using the Pro version for access to the pre-built Volunteer Application Form template and advanced functionality.

To install WPForms Pro:

1. Purchase a WPForms Pro license and download the plugin ZIP file
2. In your WordPress admin dashboard, go to Plugins > Add New
3. Click "Upload Plugin" and select the WPForms ZIP file you downloaded
4. Install and activate the plugin
5. Go to WPForms > Settings and enter your license key to validate your Pro account

Step 2: Create a New Volunteer Application Form

With WPForms activated, you‘re ready to create your volunteer application form.

1. Go to WPForms > Add New to start a new form
2. In the setup window, name your form and search for "volunteer" to access the pre-built Volunteer Application template
3. Click "Create Form" to launch the drag-and-drop form builder

The form template includes common fields needed for volunteer recruitment, like contact information, availability, skills, experience, etc. You can use this as a starting point and customize it to fit your unique needs.

Step 3: Customize Your Form Fields

Now it‘s time to refine your form and tailor it to your volunteer program. With the WPForms builder, you can drag-and-drop new fields, rearrange existing ones, and delete any fields you don‘t need.

Consider the volunteer information that‘s most important for your organization to collect. You might add fields for:

• Emergency contact details
• Specific skills, training, or certifications
• Volunteer experience with your organization or similar groups
• Preferred volunteer roles/areas
• T-shirt size for volunteer uniforms
• References or background checks
• Liability waivers or documents to sign
• A CAPTCHA to protect against spam applications

Be thoughtful about the types of fields you use. For example, use Radio Buttons or Dropdown menus for questions with mutually exclusive answers. Use Checkboxes for questions that allow multiple selections. And take advantage of WPForms‘ Smart Phone Field to ensure you‘re collecting valid phone numbers.

Step 4: Use Conditional Logic for Smarter Forms

Many organizations need to ask different questions based on how an applicant responds. For instance, you may have specific fields for student volunteers vs. adult volunteers, or a separate waiver for volunteers under age 18.

WPForms Pro includes powerful Conditional Logic that lets you show or hide fields based on a user‘s selections. This way, applicants only see relevant questions.

To set up Conditional Logic:

1. Click on a field in the form builder to open its Field Options
2. Go to the Logic tab and select "Enable Conditional Logic"
3. Define the rules for when that field should be shown or hidden (e.g. "Show this field if Age is Under 18")
4. Save your changes

With smart conditional logic, you can create a concise, clutter-free volunteer form that adapts to each applicant.

Step 5: Customize the Form Notifications

By default, WPForms sends an email notification to the admin whenever a form is submitted. But you‘ll likely want to customize this for your volunteer forms.

In the form builder under Settings > Notifications, you can set up multiple form notification emails:

• Admin Notification – Goes to the designated admin. Customize the subject line and message, include all or select form fields, and choose a reply-to address (like your volunteer coordinator).

• Applicant Notification – Sent to the applicant as an autoresponder. Thank them for their application, set expectations on next steps, and provide any other important details.

• Additional Notifications – Add notifications to other email addresses, like your volunteer managers or recruitment team. You can set up multiple notifications with different recipients and messages.

Well-crafted email notifications help keep your team organized and informed, while providing a smooth experience for your volunteer applicants.

Step 6: Configure Your Form Settings

Before you publish your form, take a few minutes to review the form settings and confirm everything is properly configured:

• Form Name – Give your form a clear, descriptive name so it‘s easy to identify
• Submit Button Text – Customize the text on the submit button, like "Apply to Volunteer" or "Complete Application"
• Anti-Spam Protection – Enable the built-in anti-spam feature or connect to a 3rd party service like Google reCAPTCHA for stronger protection
• Confirmations – Choose what happens after the form is submitted. You can show a success message, redirect to another page, or build a custom confirmation to display their submitted data.

Other settings to consider:

• User Submissions – Give users the option to save and continue their application later
• Form Abandonment – Capture incomplete applications and follow up with those leads
• Limit Form Entries – Set a cap on the number of volunteer applications you‘ll accept

Be sure to click Save after making any changes to your form settings.

Step 7: Integrate with Your Email Marketing or CRM Platform

Want to automatically send your new volunteer applicants into your email list or donor management software? WPForms integrates with all the most popular marketing and CRM platforms, including:

• Mailchimp
• Constant Contact
• HubSpot
• Salesforce
• Dropbox
• Zapier

Integrating your volunteer form with other tools you use helps to streamline your workflows, so no applicants slip through the cracks. You can set up integrations under the Marketing tab in the form builder.

Step 8: Add Your Form to Your Website

The final step is to publish your volunteer application form on your website. With WPForms, you can quickly embed a form anywhere on your site using a block, shortcode, or widget.

To add your form to a page or post:

1. Edit or create a new page/post in WordPress
2. Click the Add Block button and search for "WPForms"
3. Select your volunteer form from the dropdown list
4. Update or publish the page

We recommend placing your form in a prominent location, like on your site-wide header/footer, your main Volunteer page, and on campaign-specific landing pages. The more visible your form is, the more applications you‘ll receive!

You can further optimize your form by:

• Adding a compelling heading and description to encourage signups
• Including photos/videos of volunteers in action
• Highlighting the need for volunteers and impact of your program
• Featuring testimonials from current volunteers
• Adding trust symbols like BBB or GuideStar seals
• Using contrasting colors or graphics to make your form stand out

Be sure to test your published form to ensure it‘s working properly. Fill out and submit a test application, then verify the form confirmations and notifications are triggering correctly.

Step 9 (Bonus): Optimize Your Form with A/B Testing

Want to take your volunteer recruitment to the next level? Consider running A/B tests on your application form.

A/B testing (also called split testing) is when you create two slightly different versions of a form and show them to different halves of your traffic. Then you compare the results to see which version performs better.

With the WPForms Conversational Forms addon, you can easily run A/B tests on your volunteer application. Test different form layouts, fields, button text, imagery, etc. to optimize your form for the highest conversion rates.

Some elements to test:

• One-page form vs. multi-step form
• Required vs. optional fields
• Placing form in content vs. popup
• Adding social proof or trust signals
• Personalizing forms with merge tags

Check your A/B test results in the WPForms dashboard, then use the winning form going forward. Continuously experimenting and iterating on your forms is a great way to improve your volunteer recruitment over time.

Manage Volunteer Applications Like a Pro

By following this guide, you now have a professional, high-converting volunteer application form embedded on your WordPress website. But the work doesn‘t stop there!

To get the most from your shiny new form, it‘s important to have a system for managing your incoming volunteer applications. Here are some tips:

• Create an automated follow-up sequence for new applicants, with key info on next steps and ways to get involved right away
• Use smart tags to personalize your email communications for each volunteer
• Assign new applications to the right volunteer coordinator for screening and placement
• Integrate your form with background check services or document signing tools as needed
• Regularly clean your volunteer database and archive outdated applications
• Survey your applicants and volunteers to collect feedback on how to improve your recruitment process

With a stellar volunteer application form and a well-defined management process, you‘ll be able to grow your volunteer program with ease.

Advanced Form-Building Tools to Explore

Want to take your volunteer forms even further? Here are some other powerful features in WPForms to try out:

• Form Locker – Password-protect your volunteer form or limit signups to logged-in users only
• Form Permissions – Give specific WordPress user roles access to view or edit volunteer form entries
• User Journey Reporting – Track how applicants interact with your forms and optimize for UX
• Offline Forms – Let volunteers complete applications offline or with spotty internet access
• Post Submissions – Automatically send form data to 3rd party webhooks or APIs

WPForms is constantly releasing new features and addons to make form building easier and more flexible. Be sure to check out their blog and docs for more tips and tutorials.

Level Up Your Volunteer Recruitment

Creating a high-quality volunteer application form is an important first step in attracting enthusiastic, qualified volunteers to your program. With WordPress and WPForms, building that form is simple!

For best results with your volunteer recruitment, remember to:

1. Choose an easy-to-use form building tool like WPForms
2. Customize your form fields to collect all the essential volunteer information
3. Use conditional logic to streamline your form and create a tailored user experience
4. Craft helpful confirmation messages and email notifications for applicants and admins
5. Embed your form prominently throughout your website
6. Integrate your form with your email marketing, CRM, or other tools
7. Test and optimize your live form to maximize conversions

Looking for more helpful guides? Learn how to build a multi-step donation form in WordPress or compare the best form plugins for WordPress.