Built for church volunteer teams
Volunteer scheduling that fills itself in
Spreadsheets and group chats, replaced by a scheduler that proposes the roster, asks the right people, and chases the gaps for you.
Early access for a limited number of churches. Have an invite code?
- Set up in one sitting
- iPhone, Android and web
- Your whole church, one place
Grace Church
Good morning, Sam
Next time you serve
in 4 days
Sun 4 Oct · 10:00
You already have a system. It runs on you.
Every church schedules volunteers somehow. The cost is rarely the scheduling — it is the chasing, and it always lands on the same person.
Saturday night, now
Serve Team (43) · Saturday 21:47
Mark
Not this week sorryGrace
👍Mark
Did anyone answer?The same Sunday, in Orcastrate
Sun 4 Oct · 10:00
Sunday Morning
- Ushers3 of 3
- Worship5 of 5
- Kids2 of 2
Nobody was chased. Two declines were refilled automatically.
The spreadsheet nobody else opens
One person holds the roster, so one person holds every change — and when they are away, nothing moves.
You are the one who nags
“Can anyone do Sunday?” into a group of forty. Three people answer. You message the rest individually, again.
You find out too late
Someone cannot make it, tells nobody, and the gap turns up at 9am with the doors already open.
The same five people carry it
The willing get asked because they say yes, until they burn out and quietly stop replying too.
Meet Finn
Finn keeps your rota on course
Finn is the scheduling assistant inside Orcastrate. He asks the right people, reminds them, and finds someone else when somebody can't — and he never overrules a choice you made yourself.
Wherever Finn did something, a small robot says so — so you always know what a person did and what the app did.
Why Finn?
An orca's tall dorsal fin keeps it steady and on course. It's the part you see above the water while the work happens below — and no two are alike: researchers recognise each orca by its fin. That's Finn: steady, mostly out of sight, and set up for your church.
One empty spot, start to finish
This is what Finn does for every empty spot — without you opening the app.
Monday
Asks the best-matched person who is free
Tuesday
No answer yet — sends a reminder
Wednesday
“Still need your answer” — and says it goes to someone else tomorrow
Thursday
Offers it to the next person instead
Sunday
Filled, confirmed, and nobody had to chase anyone
Services further out are left alone until their own week comes round — because a Sunday eight weeks away is not a problem anybody needs to solve today.
For Sunday morning
The bit everyone forgets to plan for
Live now
Run the service live
One person drives; everyone else follows on their phone and sees what is on now. Jump out of order, add something unplanned, nudge the person who needs a warning.
Ushers checklist2 of 3
- Doors unlockedJoy Mensah · 09:12
- Welcome desk set upPieter de Boer · 09:20
- Candles boughtBeforehand
A shared checklist
One shared list per team, ticked off with the name and the time, so nobody checks the toilets twice.
October
Your month at a glance
Volunteers see the days they serve in their team's colour, and block out the ones they can't.
After the service
Hear how it went — before someone burns out
After serving, volunteers say in one tap how it went: Good, Okay or Not great, with a word if they like. Only their team leaders read it, so a quiet “I’m exhausted” reaches someone before they stop turning up.
Asked every few weeks, or whenever a leader asks — on the Home screen, never as a notification.
What the volunteer sees
How was serving?
Sun 4 Oct · Ushers
What their team leader reads
How it went
Sun 4 Oct · Ushers
- LPLena ParkNot great · A lot on my plate
- PBPieter de BoerOkay · Tired
- JMJoy MensahGood · Good team
For the coordinator
Stop being the bottleneck
Dates and a draft roster, without the typing
Weekly services keep themselves scheduled weeks ahead, and each date proposes its own roster — weighing who is set up for the role, who is free, who served most recently and how often each person asked to serve. You adjust the two you care about; your picks are never overwritten.
Gaps fill themselves
Someone declines and the next best match is asked straight away. No broadcast, no “anyone?”, no waiting for you to notice.
You hear about problems early
When Finn genuinely runs out of options he tells you — with the real reason nobody could be asked, not a guess.
Certificates, if you need them
Attach a VOG or safeguarding check to the roles that require one and the scheduler simply never offers those roles to someone whose record has lapsed. Off entirely until you set it up.
Last-minute drop-outs, covered
Someone cannot make it on Saturday evening? Everyone who offered to step in at short notice is asked at once, and the first yes takes it.
Your week, once, on Monday
One message at the start of the week: services still short, people asking to join, and what Finn handled for you last week. Then it leaves you alone.
For volunteers
Easy enough that people actually reply
Accept or decline in seconds
Right from the notification, even on a watch — or with one tap in an email, for anyone who doesn’t use the app. Answering takes a moment, which is the whole reason people actually answer.
Away dates, and how often
Set unavailable dates once and they are never offered them. Say once a month or every week, and the scheduling respects it. No message to you, no reason required.
Plans change
Can't make it after all? Say so — the team leader is told and someone else is asked. Already arranged a swap? Hand it over, and they confirm with one tap.
See who else is on
The question everyone asks every week, answered before they ask it — with the running order for the date.
Your church's data is your church's
A rota says a lot — who belongs, who serves, who is away. We treat it that way.
We never sell your data
Not to advertisers, not to anyone. Your data is not the product — the app is.
No ads
No advertising. We only keep track of how the site is used — which pages, from which site, in which browser — to make it better.
Kept in Europe
Stored in the EU, and anyone can delete their own account from inside the app.
The questions people actually ask
Get your Saturday night back
We're piloting Orcastrate with a limited number of churches, who get early access and help shape what it becomes. If yours would like to join, get in touch.
Ask about the pilot