How SignUpGenius Coordinated 3,500 MS Volunteers

"The successful use of SignUpGenius for the BP MS 150 and the lift it brought to our volunteer engagement team has led us to incorporate the use of this tool for all events in our region going forward."

Melanie Zumdieck, Marketing Engagement Specialist, National Multiple Sclerosis Society

The Challenge: Managing Volunteers Across 150 Miles of Texas Trail

You might not expect the National Multiple Sclerosis Society to be behind one of the largest cycling fundraisers in North America. But for 32 years, the society has organized the BP MS 150, an annual two-day bike ride through Texas dedicated to raising money for MS research.

The scale is staggering. About 13,000 cyclists participate each year. The most recent event raised $20.3 million for MS research. And keeping the ride running smoothly requires coordinating 3,500 volunteers across dozens of locations spread over 150 miles of trail.

For Melanie Zumdieck, a marketing engagement specialist for the society, that coordination had become a real problem. The team was relying on inefficient spreadsheets and an in-house system that didn't allow volunteers to choose their preferred locations or shift times. Roles weren't filling the way they needed to, and managing changes was a manual, time-consuming process.

"We were pulling our hair out trying to keep it all organized," says Zumdieck.

The society needed a better way to match thousands of volunteers to specific roles and locations, at scale, without the administrative chaos.

The Solution: A System Volunteers Could Actually Use

The National MS Society turned to SignUpGenius to replace its patchwork of spreadsheets and workarounds. The platform gave volunteers something they didn't have before: the ability to self-select their preferred locations and shift times.

That shift made a significant difference. Instead of manually assigning roles and fielding constant change requests, the volunteer engagement team could build out their sign ups, open them to volunteers, and let the system do the work.

Key features that supported the BP MS 150:

• Location-based sign ups that allowed volunteers to choose the trail stop or station that worked best for them
• Automated email reminders to reduce no-shows across a large, distributed volunteer pool
• Centralized volunteer information that gave the team a single view of who was signed up, where, and when
• Easy schedule updates that reflected changes in real time, without staff having to manually notify individuals

With those tools in place, the team spent less time managing logistics and more time focused on the mission.

The Impact: Simpler Coordination, Stronger Engagement

The improvement wasn't just operational. It changed how the volunteer engagement team thought about using technology across their work.

Volunteer sign-up rates improved as volunteers gained more control over the process. The ability to choose shifts based on location and availability made it easier to say yes, and harder to fall through the cracks.

For Zumdieck and her team, the results were clear enough that SignUpGenius became a long-term part of how they work.

"The successful use of SignUpGenius for the BP MS 150 and the lift it brought to our volunteer engagement team has led us to incorporate the use of this tool for all events in our region going forward," Zumdieck says.

That kind of adoption, expanding from a single event to organization-wide use, is a strong signal that the platform solved a real problem.

About the National Multiple Sclerosis Society

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society mobilizes people and resources to drive research, provide services, and promote a world free of MS. The BP MS 150 is one of the largest charity cycling events in North America, raising tens of millions of dollars over its three-decade history to support MS research and programs. Learn more at nationalmssociety.org.