Fact Sheet: Working with Volunteers

Fact Sheet: Working with Volunteers

Volunteers provide the backbone to many non-profit organizations. Issues that must be considered when taking on volunteers include:

Recruitment

Typically, people decide to volunteer for an organization because they want to contribute to a good cause, they want to develop new skills, and/or they want to make new friends. Keep these reasons in mind when developing your recruitment announcements. Look to schools, other voluntary organizations, community centers, the local media, religious centers, libraries and clubs as places to recruit.

Training

All new volunteers will require not only basic training in how to meet their responsibilities, but also an overview of your organization's mission, values and daily work routine. In order for volunteers to remain interested in their work, it is also important to provide them with ongoing opportunities to learn.

Boundaries

Where a volunteer's responsibilities begin and end must be clearly delineated; otherwise, conflicts between volunteers and paid staff can arise. Just like paid workers, every volunteer should have a written job description.

Record-keeping

Record-keeping not only helps you to learn from your experiences and to improve the management of your volunteer force, it also provides valuable documentation in case you need to let a volunteer go. You should keep records of volunteer contact information, emergency hours, tasks assigned, tasks completed and hours worked.

Insurance

Like paid employees, volunteers must be insured. Check your organization's policy and make sure that you have liability insurance, in case a volunteer harms someone else while performing his/her duties, as well as workman's compensation in case a volunteer is injured. If your organization uses volunteer drivers, then they must also be insured.

Rewards

Even though volunteers work for free, they expect to get something positive out of their experience. Make sure that your organization shows its appreciation of its non-paid workers. Special volunteer luncheons, volunteer of the month awards and volunteer social events all go a long way to showing that you appreciate your non-paid workers.