Starting a new program

[Heather]

Hello,

We are starting a short-term mission program and would love to talk with anyone about their process and how they track their volunteers. We have lots of questions, but don't want to reinvent the wheel.

Our questions are:
1. How many trips do you send a year and what is your busiest season?

2. What is your ideal group size and how many days do most usually go for?

3. What resources do you provide for your team leaders?

4. Do you use a specific software for tracking teams and individuals?

5. Do you set up individual accounts for people or ask them to pay as a group?

6. How many staff do you have working on each trip? What are their titles?

7. Do you offer a variety of accomodation options? What are they? Or do you have your ones that you own?

8. What is the typical cost per person per day? Do you have a formula you use to figue out these costs? What do you normally keep for overhead/administrative costs?

9. Do you do an evalauation? What type of follow up and how do you keep them interested throughout the next year, specifically through prayer and giving?

Thanks in advance for your time and help,
Heather

[David]

Do you use a specific software for tracking teams and individuals?
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I have found the Goldmine is a great tool for tracking all my inquiries and contact information. It allows for all kinds of notes and you can send group e-mails etc. It is a commercial package which sells for about $150. It will also track all you donors etc.

You can attach Word docs, excel spreadsheets and pictures directly to the records for quick recall.

A couple tabs and several fields can be customized to your choices, but that is harder.