Free for volunteer teams
Plan the roster for your next event together.
Set up your event, invite your team, and describe the shifts once. Everyone books the slots that suit them and gets a reminder before each one.
No sign-up, no email address.
- Free and non-commercial
- Nothing to install
- No tracking, no ads
Who it's for
Two sides of the same roster
Someone has to make the plan, and someone has to show up on the day. WirkSam is for both.
For organisers
You run the event
Everything you would otherwise keep in a spreadsheet and chase over email: who is covering what, and which slots are still empty.
- Set up an event yourself. Nobody has to approve it.
- Invite your team by email or with one share link.
- Describe a task once and all its shifts are created from it.
- See at a glance which shifts are still short of people.
For volunteers
You lend a hand
Your shifts are in one list instead of a spreadsheet or a reply-all thread, and you get a reminder before each one.
- Open the invitation, sign in, and you're in.
- Say when you're free before the shifts are handed out.
- Book what fits, cancel in good time if plans change.
- A reminder before every shift, on the channel you use.
How it works
From an empty calendar to a covered event
Four steps, whichever side you are on.
Create the event
A name and the dates it runs. It's yours, and it stays private until you decide otherwise.
Invite your people
Paste a list of addresses, or send one share link. You pick each person's role.
Generate the shifts
Describe a task once (days, hours, length, headcount) and every shift is worked out for you.
Publish and watch it fill
Your team books the slots that suit them. You see the gaps as they close.
Then print the roster, or pull a report on how the work is spread.
Features
Everything a roster needs
Generate the shifts, share one plan, keep track of who is coming, and remind them in time.
Describe the pattern once
You set the days, the daily hours, how long a shift runs, and how many people it needs, and the shifts are created from that.
- If the hours don't divide evenly, choose whether to drop the remainder, shorten the last shift, or stretch it.
- Different hours on one date? Add an override without touching the rest.
- A live preview lists every shift before it's created. Click one to leave it out.
One plan, and everyone sees the same one
Your event's tasks as a list, as cards, or on a calendar, with the open places shown on every shift.
- Search and filter by category, location, or date.
- Hide the shifts that are already full to see what still needs covering.
- The app shows one event at a time, so nobody reads the wrong roster.
Your commitments in one list
Everything you signed up for, soonest first. Only you or an organiser can cancel a booking.
- Filter by what's coming up, this month, or everything.
- Cancel in two clicks and the slot reopens for someone else.
- Subscribe from your own calendar app and your shifts sit alongside the rest of your week.
Reminders that actually reach people
A roster only works if people remember their shifts. WirkSam sends a reminder before each one, on the channel you actually read.
- Email, browser push, or Telegram, chosen separately for each kind of notification.
- Everything also lands in an inbox inside the app.
- You can turn any of it off.
Next year, not from scratch
Copy an event you have already run onto new dates. The tasks, shifts, and times come across, and the original stays as it was.
- Set the new dates once and everything moves with them, landing on the same weekday as last time.
- Tick only the tasks that are coming back and leave the rest behind.
- Last year's sign-ups don't carry over, so the copy starts with empty shifts.
And the rest of it
Roles that match reality
Each event has an owner, organisers, and members. You can promote someone, hand the event over, or step back, and the event is never left without someone in charge.
Availability up front
Collect who can be there when, and see the whole team's availability at a glance before you start assigning shifts.
Calendar subscription
A private link puts your booked shifts into Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, or Outlook and keeps them up to date.
Reports and printing
See how the work is spread across your team, and print a clean roster per task or for the whole event.
Public events, if you want them
Keep an event private, or make it public so anyone signed in can ask to join. Your organisers still decide who gets in.
German and English, light and dark
The whole app is available in both languages, with a light and a dark theme, and works on a phone as well as on a laptop.
About
A small project, run in the open
WirkSam was built for church events and community service, where the roster is usually a spreadsheet passed around by email until nobody knows which copy is current.
The name is a German pun: “wirksam” means effective, and “zusammen” means together. Volunteering works best when people work together, hence WirkSam.
Private by default
A new event is visible only to the people you invite. You can make it public if you want, and even then your organisers decide who gets in.
We store very little
Your name, email address, profile picture, and the shifts you booked. There is no tracking or analytics, and the only cookies are the ones that keep you signed in.
GDPR, properly
Run from Germany under German and EU law. You can request a copy of your data, have it corrected, or delete your account, which removes your personal data for good.
Free, and honest about it
There is no paid plan and no advertising. WirkSam is a private, non-commercial project, provided as is, with no guarantee that it is always available.
The full detail is in the small print: Privacy PolicyTerms of ServiceLegal Notice
Questions
Frequently asked questions
The short answers to what people usually ask before they start.
What is WirkSam?
WirkSam is a free web app for planning volunteer shifts. Organisers set up an event and describe the tasks, and the shifts are created from that. Volunteers book the slots that suit them and get a reminder before each one. It was built for church events and community service, but works for any event run by volunteers.
Who is WirkSam for?
For anyone who has to staff an event with volunteers: congregations, church festivals such as Pfingsten or Kirchentag, youth groups, clubs and associations. Organisers plan the shifts and keep track of them, helpers sign up and see their own shifts in one place.
What does it cost?
Nothing. There is no paid plan and no advertising. WirkSam is a private, non-commercial project.
Do volunteers need an account?
Yes, a free one, so that each booking belongs to a person and the reminders reach them. Signing up takes an email address and a password. Somebody who was invited opens the link, signs in, and is part of the event.
Who can see my event?
Only the people you invite. A new event is private: you add people by email or with a share link. If you make it public, anyone signed in can ask to join, and your organisers still decide who gets in.
How do reminders work?
WirkSam sends a reminder before every shift by email, browser push notification, or Telegram. Each person picks the channel for each kind of notification and can turn any of them off. Everything also lands in an inbox inside the app.
Can I see my shifts in my own calendar?
Yes. A private subscription link puts your booked shifts into Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, or Outlook and keeps them up to date when something changes.
Can I reuse last year's event?
Yes. Copy an event onto new dates and its tasks, shifts, and times come along, landing on the same weekdays as before. The sign-ups do not carry over, so the copy starts with empty shifts.
What happens to my data?
WirkSam stores your name, email address, profile picture, and the shifts you booked. There is no tracking and no analytics, and the only cookies are the ones that keep you signed in. It is run from Germany under the GDPR: you can request a copy of your data, have it corrected, or delete your account for good.
Can I try it without signing up?
"Try a demo event" sets up an example event with tasks, shifts, and a few teammates, seen either as an organiser or as a helper. You need no email address for it, and the demo is deleted after an hour.
Which languages does WirkSam support?
German and English. The whole app is available in both, in a light and a dark theme, and works on a phone as well as on a computer.
Can I run WirkSam myself?
Yes. WirkSam is open source under the MIT licence, and the code is on GitHub at github.com/Blaxzter/wirksam. It runs with Docker Compose, and on your own installation you decide who may register.
Get started
Ready to plan your next event?
Sign in, create your event, and invite your team. Nobody has to approve you first.