Indy Premier Soccer Club

Interview with Matt Schlake, Director of Events at IPSC

Indy Premier Soccer Club (IPSC) is a full-service soccer organization that offers a diverse menu of soccer programming.

IPSC annual Halloween Classic tournament hosts over 400 soccer teams from across the midwest at eight different facilities. The tournament is a fundraiser and showcase for Indy Premier’s Soccer Club.

Parents of the participating players contribute a minimum of 4 hours of volunteer work. Between parents, additional volunteers, and staff, a team of over 665 people work together pre-event and throughout each tournament day to make the event a success.

Challenge

Prior to using Bloomerang Volunteer, Matt Schlake, Director of Events at IPSC, and his team managed and scheduled the annual tournament using spreadsheets and SignUpGenius. “When teams signed up to join the organization they agree to do ‘x’ number of volunteer hours per child, we tracked hours manually by printing spreadsheets,” said Matt.

Using these tools, they didn’t have the data they needed to track staff and communicate quickly. “Going through databases, searching for things and trying to match phone numbers to move people around was costing a lot of time and effort.” Matt admitted that the lack of visibility and a tedious communication process was stressful and inefficient.

When miscommunications and delays happened, it also contributed to volunteer frustration. “Volunteers showing up to the wrong site would have us having to play phone tag with each other from site to site,” said Matt. This made volunteers feel like their time was wasted.

Solution

For 3 years, IPSC has chosen Bloomerang Volunteer as their event volunteer scheduling & communication tool to reduce administration time and keep organizers & volunteers informed and connected in the midst of constant change.

88% Of Time Saved

“With the Bloomerang Volunteer app, we can take care of a volunteer’s issue in under five minutes, saving 45 minutes and frustration. Reducing a day of frustration and keeping our volunteers happy is essential. Bloomerang Volunteer takes the frustration out and being organized and being able to access things all in one spot during the event”

95% Shift Attendance Rate Across Eight Venues

“We had 95% to 100% of volunteers show up to their shifts last year. I was at our largest site last year and we only had one person not show up all weekend, which typically I would have over ten. We had an iPad with the Bloomerang Volunteer app at all eight sites with a site coordinator to check in volunteers when they arrived.”

Scaled Event Up By 50%

“Not only were we able to combine our smaller events, but we were able to grow from 250 teams to 350 teams in a year. Bloomerang Volunteer allowed us to organize, schedule and communicate with volunteers more efficiently.”

“With Bloomerang Volunteer event set up is very simple. All we do is load in the Schedule slots and the times and the locations, send out a link to the entire membership and then they are able to sign up as they please and we can just see everything as it fills up.”