The problem
Funders want numbers: how many people came to the lunch club, the digital skills course or the toddler group, and how often. With 6 regular activities and about 60 sessions a quarter, tallying paper sign-in sheets at 10 minutes a session takes 600 minutes a quarter, 200 minutes a month. Taking 30 phone bookings a month at 4 minutes each adds 120 minutes: about 5.3 hours a month in all.
What the AI does
Bookwhen is an online booking system for classes, courses and events. Its Standard plan, at €19 (about $21£16€19A$31C$30) a month plus VAT, adds attendance tracking, a waiting list, reminder emails, memberships and passes, with up to 800 bookings a month and 5 team members. Put each activity on your Bookwhen page as a repeating event, free or paid. People book online, or a volunteer books them in when they phone, and on the day the session leader marks who came. At the end of the quarter, the attendance figures for the funder's report come from Bookwhen rather than a pile of sheets.
A worked example
A community center in Gateshead runs a lunch club, a toddler group, chair exercise, a digital skills drop-in, a youth club and a coffee morning, about 60 sessions a quarter, partly funded by a local trust that asks for quarterly attendance.
Before
About 5.3 hours a month tallying sign-in sheets and taking phone bookings
After
About 1.5 hours a month booking in callers and checking attendance marked on the day
What it's worth
About $76£57€68A$109C$107 a month in staff and volunteer time saved, against about $21£16€19A$31C$30 to $27£20€24A$38C$38 for Bookwhen. 3.8 hours a month saved (5.3 minus 1.5), valued at an assumed $20£15€18A$29C$28 an hour. Standard is €19 a month (about $21£16€19A$31C$30) excluding VAT, about $27£20€24A$38C$38 with it; Bookwhen shows prices in your local currency, so check the price in pounds. Card fees for paid sessions come on top.
How to set it up
- Check Bookwhen's pricing page for the price in pounds and choose Standard for attendance tracking and reminders.
- Set each activity up as a repeating event with its capacity and price (or free).
- Ask only the questions you need to book: name and a contact number or email. Leave health questions out.
- Show session leaders how to mark attendance on a phone or tablet, and test it at one session first.
- At the end of the quarter, pull the attendance numbers for each activity and check them against what leaders remember.
What goes wrong
- Lite (€12 a month) is cheaper but has no attendance tracking, reminders or waiting list. The free plan is for free events only, up to 50 bookings a month.
- If leaders forget to mark attendance, the funder's figures are wrong. Make it part of closing up after each session.
- Many lunch club members don't use email. A volunteer booking them in by phone keeps them included.
- Don't record health, disability or benefits details in booking forms. If a funder needs demographics, collect them separately with consent.