Friends, Colleagues, LEADERS!
I have the pleasure of expounding on the many joys that come with using the website and App called MobileServe. I will start by saying that our club is quite large – we have just under 150 Leaders in our club. The numbers dictate that we have systems in place to make our jobs possible. To track hours we used to have an elaborate series of google docs that each Leader had to update – and as you can imagine it was rife with mistakes, a lack of accountability, and – perhaps most importantly, it took a great deal of time to check and verify. Another issue that frequently knocked on our door was signing up for events – we had to deal with paper sign ups getting lost, wasting paper, and GAH! It was so much time and energy draining our time. I began researching options to see if there was an easier way…
Luckily, at Blue Ridge Leaders’ School, the senior division is offered sessions on ideas, resources, and more throughout the week. During one such session, there was a presentation on MobileServe – I was instantly intrigued and after many questions assessing the capacity to deal with a club like us – I had an epiphany.
“Eureka, I have found it!”
I wanted to share some of that joy with you all, knowing that BRLS is pushing clubs to try it out. MobileServe serves our club extremely well and I want to tell you about some of the finer points to help you feel ready to explore.
1) Everything you need in one convenient place!
I am consistently thankful that all of our needs are located in one place. Leaders can log their service hours, sign up for events, check where their friends are volunteering, and more. Advisors can schedule events, specify location, time, and volunteer slots, verify service hours in different ways, set goals for Leaders – it’s almost everything we wanted and something we didn’t know we wanted until we saw it.
2) Accountability
I don’t know about you, but I have always felt a bit uncomfortable with signing off on hours when I wasn’t sure they had actually volunteered. Especially for events we didn’t sponsor ourselves. If one of my Leaders volunteers at their local church, how do I know that they actually did that? I trust my l=Leaders a great deal, but when you have 150 Leaders – you can’t assume that everyone is doing everything perfectly. MobileServe allows volunteers to get verification in 3 different ways – email verification from a supervisor, a supervisor signature, or a geo-location verification. It’s all on your phone and super easy to take on – and it removes the stress of having to hunt down each Leader to ensure they are being 100% honest.
3) Goals
In our club, and in many of yours I expect, there is an hour requirement associated with being in the club. For those clubs that don’t this part is still worth reading – don’t fret. Essentially – the advisor can set hour goals for the club. You can set monthly goals, yearly goals and more. Additionally – you can set goals for individuals or for the whole club. Often, we have to cater to different expectations and extenuating circumstances – MobileServe offers that flexibility and allows us to push our Leaders however we see fit. I am super thankful for this feature.
4) DATA!!!!!
For real though ya’ll – this is so cool. You can see real time data and it is fascinating. I have used the data from the dashboard in several board meetings, parent meetings and emails, and to provide incentive to our Leaders. You can see where your Leaders are volunteering, who has the most hours, what types of volunteering they are doing, the amount of hours compared to the amount of $$ those hours are worth to the community. It is SO nice. I going to dive into a specific part of it in my next point – but currently as of 1/12/18 our club has volunteered around 7,000 hours in our community. 41% of that has been in YMCA programs, 25% has been direct community service, 24% has been from documenting Leaders’ Meetings and Trainings, and various other things. It’s really cool to see the breakdown.
5) Leaderboard
Lord knows – teens love a good contest. Our Leaders have taken on a challenge this year with what we call a “House Cup.” Yes – it is exactly what it sounds like. Our Leaders earn points for their House by doing different things – attending meetings, social events, rallies, earning fitness hours, turning things in on time, family challenges and by being on the Leaderboard. The leaderboard shows us the Leaders who have volunteered the most hours in our club. It is a glorious tool and a great way to value those who have volunteered in such a large capacity.
6) SUB-Orgs
This will be mostly beneficial to those clubs that have more Leaders involved. This feature allows you to group your Leaders into small sections. We divide our Leaders into 7 families or houses. An executive board member is in charge of each group and they have access to admin abilities for their families. It is so helpful for delegation purposes and it empowers the execs to take ownership of their families. It would be super hectic for us if this feature didn’t exist.
7) Customer Service – SUPER!
Er-Mah-GERD. I can’t tell you how many times I have used the little “chat” help button on the website and on the App. Callie has been SO HELPFUL. Every time I have a question, she is quick to respond with an answer or promise to figure out what’s going on. They are kind and doing a great deal to make the user experience exceptional.
8) MobileServe is Growing and Constantly Improving
In just a year, MobileServe has improved SOO MUCH. It feels like every time we offer a suggestion or ask for a new feature they tell us they are working on it or that they will do their best to implement it. We have provided a lot of feedback over the course of the year – it is not a perfect app, certainly – and they want to serve us and meet our needs. I am so grateful for a group that consistently aims to improve.
Soooooo, with all of that in mind – I must say that I believe MobileServe to be an EXCELLENT app for Leaders Clubs. It is versatile, convenient and constantly improving. I am by no means an expert on MobileServe, but I would be happy to chat about it with advisors considering the transition. If you have questions about the App – I highly recommend setting up a demo on their website (https://info.mobileserve.com/mobileserve-demo-request-main). A representative from the company will chat with you for about 30 minutes, give a rundown, and answer all of your questions – that was what finally sealed the deal for me. I then set up another demo with my exec board – you should have heard them – “OOOOOOHHHHHH, AAAAHHHHHH”
At your service,
Ben Pruitt
Regional Teen Director
Chapel Hill-Carrboro YMCA and Durham YMCAs
YMCA of the Triangle