Churches run on volunteers, and volunteers run on good organization. Between Sunday morning shifts, VBS registration, mission trip fundraising and the food drive that always sneaks up in November, most church staff and lay leaders end up juggling five different tools just to keep everything straight.
You don't need five tools. Depending on what you're organizing, one of these does the job:
Here's a quick reference before we get into examples:
What you're organizing
Best tool
Nursery, greeter, and service volunteer shifts
Sign Ups
Retreats, VBS, conferences, banquets
Events
Service days and mission trips (with waivers)
Sign Ups + Forms & Waivers
Angel tree, food drive, coat drive
Sign Ups
Building fund, disaster relief, general giving
Fundraisers
Choir fees, mission trip deposits, class costs
Dues & Fees
Church merch, holiday markets, ticketed concerts
Online Stores
Pastor appreciation, benevolence, celebration gifts
Group Gifts
Individual mission trip or camp fundraising
Peer-to-Peer Fundraisers
Volunteer coordination
This one hasn't changed. A sign up is still the easiest way to recruit volunteers across your congregation. Post the shifts, share a link by email or on your church website, and let people pick what works for them. A few that come up constantly:
Nursery volunteer shifts
“(Online sign ups are) in high demand from the large companies we work with — Quicken Loans, Nielsen Company, Cox Communications to name a few. Most companies prefer an online method for employees to sign up. It actually increases participation rates and decreases the time our client spends on managing their event and team.”
From nursery volunteers to mission trip fundraising, here's which tool fits which job.
Worship service greeters and ushers
Meal trains after a birth, surgery or loss
Your sign up becomes the hub for that opportunity, and people can claim a slot on their own time instead of waiting for a phone call. Add reminder texts and emails so nobody forgets their shift.
Genius Tip
Send a reminder the day before a volunteer shift, not just the morning of. It gives people time to find a replacement if something comes up.
Event registration
If your church is running a retreat, VBS, or a conference, you're not just tracking headcount anymore, you're likely selling tickets, collecting registration fees, and gathering details like t-shirt sizes or dietary needs all in one place. That's what Events is built for. A few common examples:
Women's retreat with tiered ticket pricing
Vacation Bible School registration
A men's conference or 24-hour prayer vigil
A fundraising banquet with assigned seating
Events lets you cap capacity so it auto-closes when you're full, collect the same custom questions Sign Ups always has, and scan tickets at the door if it's a paid event. For something simpler, like an RSVP-only gathering with no ticket component, a sign up still works fine.
Outreach and service projects
People want to serve, they just need an easy way to find where. Sign Ups still handles this well: list your service opportunities, dates, and shift times, then share it with your congregation.
A day of service across multiple job sites
Food pantry or shelter shift coverage
Neighborhood cleanup or repair projects
Involving minors or going off-site?
Add Forms & Waivers to your sign up
If your service project is off-site or involves minors, pair your sign up with Forms & Waivers. It captures a signed waiver and emergency contact info at the same time someone signs up, so you're not chasing down paper forms before the trip.
Donation collection
This is where the old advice needs an update. Not every donation drive is the same, and the right tool depends on whether you're collecting items or asking for money.
For item-based drives, Sign Ups is still the better fit:
Angel tree, where each child or family member is a slot
Food drive or coat drive with specific item requests
Meal sign ups for a family in need
For anything where you're asking people to give money directly, that's Fundraisers:
Building fund or capital campaign
Disaster relief giving
General end-of-year giving push
Fundraisers adds a visible goal bar, lets donors choose from suggested giving amounts, and issues tax-deductible receipts automatically if your church is a verified 501(c)(3).
Recurring costs and fees
Some things aren't one-time asks, they're ongoing costs your church needs to collect on a schedule. That's Dues & Fees.
Choir or worship team fees
Mission trip deposits and payment plans
Small group or class material costs
Set the amount and frequency once, and payments run automatically instead of you sending a reminder every month. It also works well for anything with a payment plan, since people commit once instead of you tracking who's paid installment three.
Church merchandise and ticketed sales
If your church sells things, whether that's youth group t-shirts or tickets to a concert, Online Stores handles both without needing separate tools.
Youth group or VBS merch
Holiday market or craft fair items
Ticketed concerts or performances
Inventory tracking means sizes and quantities auto-hide once they sell out, and you can take payment in person with a card reader at the event itself, not just online ahead of time.
Pooled gifts and celebrations
Every church has a moment where a group wants to give together. Group Gifts handles the collection without someone fronting the cash or running a Venmo request chain.
Pastor or staff appreciation gift
Retirement or farewell gift
Benevolence gift for a family going through something hard
Wedding or baby shower gift from the church family
Contributors don't need an account, and the recipient picks their own gift card once the collection closes.
Individual fundraising support
Mission trips and camp costs often need each person to raise their own support, not just pull from a general fund. That's what Peer-to-Peer Fundraisers is for.
Individual mission trip fundraising pages
Youth camp fundraising with a team leaderboard
Scholarship fundraising for a student who can't cover the full cost
Each person gets their own page to share with family and friends, and a leaderboard keeps momentum going if you've got a whole youth group raising support at once. It's included on every plan, including Free.
Ready to put this into action?
Whatever your church needs to organize next, SignUpGenius helps you get started for free.
What's the difference between using Sign Ups and Fundraisers for a donation drive? Use Sign Ups when donors are giving specific items, like an Angel tree gift or a food drive item. Use Fundraisers when you're asking people to give money directly, since it adds goal tracking, suggested amounts and tax-deductible receipts for verified nonprofits.
Can we use SignUpGenius for a mission trip that needs both fundraising and a waiver? Yes. Use Peer-to-Peer Fundraisers so each participant can raise their own support, and add Forms & Waivers to collect signed waivers and emergency contact info from participants at the same time.
Do we need a paid plan to use Fundraisers, Events, or Dues & Fees? No. Every product, including Fundraisers, Events, Dues & Fees and Peer-to-Peer Fundraisers, is available on the Free plan. Paid plans add more custom questions, admins and communication volume, not access to the products themselves.
Can different ministries in our church each have their own sign ups and fundraisers? Yes. One account can manage multiple ministries, each with their own sign ups, events and fundraisers running independently, so your youth group and your outreach team aren't tripping over each other's registrations.
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