Volunteer software for episodic events
An episodic event is one intense, time-boxed window with a surge of volunteers across many sites – then it's done. Most volunteer tools are built for ongoing weekly programmes. PurposeTech is built for the surge. PurposeTech matches people and time.
9,000+
Confirmed shifts in a single national appeal
7,000+
Volunteers in a single appeal
1,000+
Collection sites coordinated
5+
Years in production
The surge is a different problem
Generic volunteer-management tools are built for the ongoing case – a steady roster of the same people every week. An episodic event is the opposite, and it needs software built for it.
Ongoing programmes
- Steady, predictable numbers week to week
- The same volunteers in the same roles
- Slow to set up, built to last
- What most volunteer tools are designed for
Episodic events
- A surge of volunteers in one time-boxed window
- Many sites, many first-time volunteers
- Stood up fast, then cloned for next time
- What PurposeTech is built for
PurposeTech has coordinated more than 28,000 confirmed volunteer shifts across national street appeals – more than 9,000 of them in a single appeal – and has been in production for over five years. For Breast Cancer Foundation NZ it coordinates 7,000+ volunteers across 1,000+ collection sites each year.
One category, many names
Different sectors and countries call it different things. They are all episodic events.
What PurposeTech does for the surge
Set up fast with AI
Describe your campaign and the platform builds your pages, sign-up forms, shifts and emails. Most organisations can open registration the same day rather than waiting weeks.
Multi-site rostering and check-in
Coordinate hundreds of sites and thousands of shifts from one dashboard. Volunteers book, cancel and rebook themselves, and check in on the day.
Live coverage dashboards
See which sites are staffed, which have gaps, and where to move people – in real time, so you can fix a shortfall before it becomes a problem.
Pay only for participation
You pay only for volunteers who participate in a shift. No-shows, cancellations and duplicate registrations do not count.
Clone last year's setup
An episodic event repeats. Clone last year's campaign – sites, shifts, forms and emails – and reopen it for the next one in minutes.
Any sector, any country
Charities, councils, festivals and community groups all run episodic events. Pricing is available in NZD, AUD, USD and EUR.
Three ways episodic events show up
Each of these is a specific instance of the same category, with a platform tuned to it.
Street Appeals
Poppy, daffodil and pink ribbon appeals, flag days and nationwide collection days, with thousands of volunteers across hundreds of sites on a single day.
Street appeals platformEvent Volunteering
Festivals, beach clean-ups, fun runs, planting days and community fairs, with branded registration and interactive site selection for each location.
Event volunteering platformDisaster Recovery
Civic response and community-led recovery, standing up a volunteer intake in minutes and coordinating skilled people across affected regions.
Disaster recovery platformTrusted by leading charities
28,000+
confirmed shifts across our national appeals
7,000+
volunteers across 1,000+ sites in one appeal
$300k+
raised by Child Cancer Foundation in 2025
$109k
Assistance Dogs NZ's first six-figure campaign
Episodic events FAQ
What counts as an episodic event?
An episodic event is a time-boxed campaign with a surge of volunteers across many locations at once – a street appeal, flag or collection day, festival, beach clean-up, fun run, civic day, or disaster response. It runs for a defined window and then ends, unlike an ongoing weekly volunteer programme.
How fast can we go live?
Fast. Describe your campaign and the platform's AI sets up the pages, sign-up forms, shifts and emails, so most organisations can open volunteer registration the same day rather than waiting weeks for a build.
Do you work outside New Zealand?
Yes. The platform is sector- and country-neutral. It supports campaigns run by charities, councils, festivals and community groups, with pricing available in NZD, AUD, USD and EUR.
How does pricing work for an episodic event?
You pay only for volunteers who participate in a shift – no-shows, cancellations and duplicate registrations do not count. Plans start at NZD 500 a year, and you can clone last year's setup to run the next campaign.
Running an episodic event?
Describe your campaign and get set up fast. PurposeTech matches people and time.