Blood Drive Sign Up Sheet (free, online)

How to set it up

The blood center brings the nurses and the equipment. You bring the volunteers who make the day run: people at the check-in table matching donors to appointment times, canteen helpers handing out juice and cookies and watching for anyone who looks faint, escorts walking donors from the chair to the canteen, and a setup crew to move tables in the morning. It's usually a six-hour window, so the sheet should be two or three shifts per job.

The mistake is collecting donor appointments on the same sheet as volunteer shifts. Donors register with the blood center, and mixing the two confuses everyone. This sheet is for helpers only. One tip: the canteen is the most important job and the least glamorous. Put it first, give it a friendly description, and staff it with two people at all times.

Questions people ask

Should donors sign up here too?

No. Donors register through the blood center's own system so the nurses have their information. Link to it from the page description and keep this sheet for volunteers.

How long are the shifts?

Two hours. A six-hour drive is three shifts per job. Canteen and check-in need two people every shift; escorts can be one during quiet hours.

What should canteen volunteers know?

Make sure every donor sits for fifteen minutes and eats something, and get a nurse if anyone looks pale or dizzy. Put that in the row description so people know the job matters.

Why not a paper sheet or a Google Form?

A paper sheet lives in one place and fills up with the first people who walk past it. A Google Form takes forty signups for a row that needed two, and you find out in the spreadsheet. An online sign-up sheet closes each row when it's covered, sends a reminder the day before, and gives every person a link to cancel so the spot reopens. See the side-by-side with Google Forms.