Case Study: American Physical Society achieves 100% higher volunteer engagement with OpenWater

HowAPS IncreasedVolunteer Engagementby 100%with OpenWater

The American Physical Society (APS) needed a better way to manage more than 200 honors and recognition programs that were being run through manual processes across departments. Without a central platform, APS faced inefficiencies, inconsistent submission and review experiences, and growing administrative burden in overseeing nominations, eligibility checks, conduct disclosures, and annual awards totaling about $1 million.

OpenWater unified APS’s recognition programs into one streamlined system, automating application tracking, volunteer onboarding, and disclosure management while standardizing workflows across the organization. With OpenWater, APS saved hundreds of administrative hours, reduced costs by eliminating external tools, and doubled annual volunteer participation to over 1,000 reviewers and committee members.

American Physical Society