Case Study: Tallinn City Office rapidly mobilizes 2,000 volunteers to register 7,000 refugees with Zelos Team Management

How the Tallinn City Office refugee center embraced the help of 2000 volunteers

Tallinn City Office faced a sudden, unplanned influx of Ukrainian refugees at its Niine 2 registration center and needed to turn a grassroots volunteer response into a reliable, scheduled operation. To manage recruitment and shift coordination for hundreds of helpers working around the clock, the City Office adopted the Zelos Team Management volunteer management app to move from chaotic Facebook sign-ups to structured scheduling and communications.

Zelos Team Management provided recruitment links, shift scheduling, personal reminders and volunteer messaging that let coordinators quickly organize supervisors and teams for door, support and donation-center tasks. The impact was immediate: over 1,000 volunteers signed up within 24 hours, roughly 100 volunteers supported the center daily, the community grew to more than 2,000 volunteers, and the Niine center processed at least 7,000 refugees during its two weeks of peak activity — all while improving shift coverage, volunteer experience and operational oversight.

Tallinn City Office

Hannele Känd

Volunteer coordinator