Volunteer roster app
A free volunteer roster app for community groups
Set your regular shifts once, add your volunteers, and FairTurns shares the shifts out by who has had the fewest turns. Everyone checks the same link, so the coordinator stops being the roster.
Free, with no limit on people or dates. No card.
Most volunteer rosters run on one person’s memory
It’s Sunday night and the coordinator of the neighbourhood centre is going through her phone. Helen can’t do Monday after all. Bruce is in Cairns until the 20th. Someone new filled in the form a month ago and was never put on. The roster is a spreadsheet only she can edit, and the version on the noticeboard is three weeks old.
Volunteers don’t mind giving their time. What wears them down is not knowing when they’re on, being asked every week because they always say yes, or turning up to find two others already there. A roster everyone can see fixes most of that before a single text is sent.
FairTurns is a free volunteer roster app built for exactly this: regular shifts that repeat on their own, a fair way of handing them out, and one page that every volunteer can open on their phone without an account. It suits op shops, events, community gardens, food relief, meal rosters and any group from five people to a few hundred.
What the roster app does for a volunteer group
Shifts that repeat on their own
Click a day, set “9 till 12:30” and choose Every week on Monday, Every second Saturday or Every last Friday of the month. FairTurns keeps the dates 3 to 12 months ahead.
The right number on each shift
Give each role a headcount, such as Front desk needing 2, so every date has the places it needs. A volunteer can be limited to the roles they’re trained for.
Fill shares the turns out
Press Fill and each empty place goes to whoever has had the fewest turns in that role. It never moves anyone already on, so you can run it again whenever new dates appear.
Away days from the volunteers
Each volunteer marks the days they can’t do: one date, a stretch of up to 92 days, or a regular rule like every first Sunday. Fill leaves them off. It’s free.
People without email
Add volunteers by name only and they can be rostered and printed like anyone else. Paste a list of fifty names in one go.
One link for everyone
Switch on the public roster and share the link in your newsletter or group chat. It shows names and dates only, never email addresses.
Set it up
- 01
Create your group
Create an organisation and a team for each area, such as Front desk or Toy library.
- 02
Add the roles
Make a position for each job with how many people it needs.
- 03
Add volunteers
Invite by email, share a join link, paste a list, or add people by name.
- 04
Set the shifts
Click a day in the calendar, set the times and choose how it repeats.
- 05
Fill and share
Press Fill for the next three months, check it, and share the public roster link.
When you want it to run itself
Pro emails each volunteer who has accepted an invitation a reminder before their shift. They can reply “I can’t make it” from the email without signing in, and FairTurns puts the next person in line on and asks them. You can also set a newer volunteer to Less often for a role while they find their feet.
A$1 a month per organisation, paid 1 to 5 years at a time. See Pro and pricing
Good to know
- Roster about four to eight weeks ahead and run Fill again each month. Most volunteers can tell you what they’re doing in March, not in September.
- Volunteers don’t pick their own shifts: you put them on, and they mark the days they’re away. It’s a roster, not a sign-up sheet.
- There’s no swap button. A volunteer who can’t make it tells you, or on Pro says so from the reminder email.
- FairTurns doesn’t record hours worked or police and working-with-children checks. Keep those where you keep them now.
Questions
Is the volunteer roster app really free?
Yes. The roster, Fill, Redistribute, away days and the public link are free, with no limit on volunteers, teams or dates. Pro adds reminder emails, replies and automatic cover for A$1 a month for the whole organisation, paid 1 to 5 years at a time.
Do volunteers need to download anything?
Volunteers open the roster in any web browser on their phone, tablet or computer. The public link needs no sign-in, and an account only matters if they want to mark their own away days or get Pro emails.
How does it decide who gets each shift?
Fill gives each empty place to whoever has had the fewest turns in that role, skipping anyone who is away or already busy at that time somewhere else in your organisation. You can put people on by hand first and Fill works around them.
What happens when volunteers leave or join?
Use Redistribute. It takes off anyone you untick, hands their shifts out, and moves as few people as it can. It names every person who gains or loses a date before anything changes.
Can older volunteers without email be on it?
Yes. Add them by name only, set their away days for them, and print the roster for the noticeboard. They get no emails, and they appear on the roster like everyone else.
Free templates and guides
Volunteer roster template
A volunteer schedule with shifts, roles, a contact column and a spot to tick in on the day.
How to make a volunteer roster
Roles, headcounts, away days and a roster people can check: a volunteer roster that lasts the season.
How often should volunteers be rostered?
Do the sum, watch for burnout, and set a gap between turns that keeps people coming back.
Similar rosters
Event volunteers
Gate, car park, raffle and pack-down shifts for a fête or festival, on one page every helper can open.
Op shop and charity shop roster
Counter, sorting room and key-holder shifts for an op shop, with long trips away handled.
Food bank and community meals
Pick-up drivers, packers and a kitchen lead for food relief, with the right people on each job.