Just the shift signup. No CRM attached.
Zelos posts shifts, lets your team claim them and keeps the conversation on the task. Free for unlimited members and admins, with no supporter database to feed.
Volunteer scheduling inside a fundraising and donor platform
Fits nonprofits growing volunteers into donors.
Open shifts, task dispatch, notice board, and team chat
Fits teams who just need the rota filled.
No credit card · Unlimited members on every plan · Set up in under 5 minutes
How signup works in each app
Shifts against a supporter record
Volunteers apply through your forms, sign waivers and clear background checks, then self-serve shifts through a portal or the app. Their activity syncs back to the CRM, where the same person exists as a supporter you can cultivate.
A private team space with shift signup and chats
Members join your workspace once, fill in their own profile, then browse and claim what fits their skills and schedule, with a chat channel attached to every task.
What Bloomerang Volunteer is better at
If your workflow depends on the things below, Bloomerang is the right pick.
Volunteers who become donors
Bi-directional sync between the volunteer platform and the CRM means volunteer activity lands on the supporter record, so you can spot prospects, personalise outreach and track who gave after they served. That's the entire reason the product exists, and Zelos has no fundraising side at all.
Screening and waivers in the platform
Background checks run in-platform, with digital waivers and e-signatures as part of onboarding. Zelos assumes people arrive already cleared and handles no documents.
Scheduling that catches problems
AI-assisted matching on skills, roles, availability and interests, plus shift waitlisting, schedule conflict detection and Google Calendar sync. Zelos posts work and lets qualified members claim it, with no conflict checking.
One platform if you're already there
If you run Bloomerang CRM and Bloomerang Fundraising, the volunteer module is one login, one dataset and one vendor. That consolidation is worth real money and effort, and it's an argument Zelos can't make.
If these bullet points are non-negotiable, you're a Bloomerang customer.
What Zelos is sharper at
If you need shifts filled and nothing else, Zelos is a better fit.
Free, and running this afternoon
Zelos has a permanent free plan with unlimited members and admins, and you sign up and post a shift the same day. Bloomerang Volunteer starts at $119 a month billed annually, sold through a demo and a quote.
Your database size doesn't set your price
Bloomerang prices on the number of records you keep, so every volunteer you add is a contact on the bill. Zelos counts nothing — the free plan has no member limit and Pro is a flat fee whatever the roster.
No supporter record attached to your crew
A contractor pool, an events crew or a mutual aid rota doesn't need everyone to exist as a cultivatable supporter. Zelos holds a member profile and the work they did, which is less data to govern and less to explain to people who signed up to help, not to be fundraised at.
Any team, not just nonprofits
Zelos doesn't ask what kind of organisation you are and is used by events agencies, contractor pools and unincorporated groups alongside charities. Bloomerang is a nonprofit giving platform, and the volunteer module is built around that.
If you're drawn to this kind of simplicity, you should spin up a free project in Zelos right away.
a year, to get started
Bloomerang Volunteer starts at $119 a month, billed annually. Zelos is free for unlimited members and admins.
What you're actually buying
Both give you unlimited admin users. The difference is what else comes with it.
| Zelos | Bloomerang Volunteer* | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | Free | $119/mo, billed annually |
| Free plan | Yes, permanent | No |
| What sets the price | Nothing — flat fee | Number of contact records |
| Admin users | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| How you buy | Sign up online | Demo, then a quote |
| Donor CRM sync | No | Yes |
* From bloomerang.com/pricing, August 2026. Bloomerang Volunteer starts at $119/month billed annually; the full Giving Platform, bundling Fundraising, CRM and Volunteer, starts at $242/month. Pricing is based on the number of records you track, with unlimited users on every plan.
Zelos Pro is $1,188 a year against their $1,428 entry, so even at the paid tier the gap is real — and it widens as your record count grows. Nonprofits and education teams get additional discounts on Zelos Pro and Enterprise.
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Teams that pick Zelos over Bloomerang Volunteer
Volunteer programmes without a fundraising arm
If nobody in your organisation is cultivating donors, the CRM half of the product is cost and complexity you'll never use. Zelos is the coordination piece on its own, free.
Grassroots and mutual aid groups
No budget, no annual contract, no interest in a supporter database. Zelos is free for unlimited people and unlimited organisers, and you can be running before lunch.
Event staffing and festival crews
Event crews mix volunteers with paid staff and contractors and turn over between events. They need dispatch and a chat channel per shift, not a donor pipeline.
Contractor pools and gig dispatch
Contractors are paid for the work and aren't supporters to cultivate. Post the job, let the right people claim it, coordinate in the task chat.
Sports clubs and leagues
Match-day shifts across a season, run by a parent committee. Nobody wants the canteen rota living inside a fundraising CRM.
Teams outside the United States
Bloomerang is built around US nonprofit fundraising, from tax receipting to donor stewardship. Zelos is used by coordinators in more than 40 countries and is GDPR-compliant by default.
From teams who picked Zelos
What teams who picked Zelos say
"It helped us a lot reducing the planning overhead. It is way more motivating for staff to pick their task than just getting assigned!"
Manuel W.
Coordinator, Events Services
"We were looking for a system to handle our concert staff. Zelos is really easy to access both for the administrator and the users!"
Niels Peter H.
Board member, Music
"The overall experience has been great, the customer service is amazing and I can't wait for all the new changes coming up in the app!"
Celia D.
Coordinator, Motion Pictures and Film
Free for teams of any size
No credit card, no trial expiration.
Pro starts at $99/month, never per person.
Nonprofit and education discounts on Pro and Enterprise.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Bloomerang Volunteer cost?
It starts at $119 a month billed annually, and the full Giving Platform — Fundraising, CRM and Volunteer together — starts at $242 a month. Pricing is based on the number of records you keep in the database, with unlimited users on every plan. Zelos Pro is $99 a month flat, and the free plan costs nothing at any size.
Can I buy just the volunteer part?
Bloomerang lists Bloomerang Volunteer as a product with its own price, so it appears you can. Their Fundraising product carries a note that it must be bought as part of a bundle with CRM, so it's worth confirming what applies to Volunteer before you assume. Zelos is only ever the coordination piece.
Is there a free plan or a trial?
Not that they publish. Buying starts with a demo and a quote, and billing is annual. The Zelos free plan is permanent, needs no card and has no member or admin limit.
Can my volunteers chat in both?
Yes — this is close. Bloomerang has group and one-to-one messaging, in-app broadcast and direct messaging, and email and SMS. Zelos has a chat channel per task, group chats and direct messages with push notifications. The difference is that Zelos attaches the conversation to the shift it's about, and includes all of it on the free plan.
Do both have recognition features?
Yes. Bloomerang has public and private leaderboards, milestone recognition and automatic appreciation emails; Zelos has points, badges and leaderboards on every plan including free. Neither has an advantage worth choosing on.
Does Zelos sync with a donor CRM?
No. Bloomerang's bi-directional sync between volunteer activity and the supporter record is the core of their product, and if turning volunteers into donors is the goal, that's a genuine reason to choose them. Zelos exports profiles and task data to CSV, and offers a REST API on Enterprise.
Does Zelos do background checks or waivers?
No. Bloomerang runs background checks in-platform and handles digital waivers and e-signatures as part of onboarding. Zelos assumes the people in your workspace are already cleared.
What about attendance and hours?
Both track them. Bloomerang has mobile check-in and check-out; Zelos logs shift start and end and reports planned against actual, exporting to CSV. Bloomerang captures arrival, Zelos captures the scheduled shift — different things if you need to know who actually turned up.
Do I need to be a nonprofit?
For Bloomerang, effectively yes — it's a nonprofit giving platform. Zelos doesn't ask, and is used by events agencies, contractor pools and unincorporated community groups alongside charities.
What's the catch with the Zelos free plan?
There isn't one, but there are limits. The free plan includes unlimited members, unlimited admins, unlimited custom profile fields, full self-signup, built-in messaging, push notifications, gamification, smart targeting and CSV export. The caps are 25 concurrent active tasks, a 100-task archive and 10,000 chat messages.
Can I use both?
Yes, and for some nonprofits it makes sense. Keep donors and fundraising in Bloomerang, and run a specific programme's shift signup and team chat in Zelos. The two only overlap on scheduling.
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