A volunteer policy from role description to farewell
What a non-profit's volunteer policy should cover, from role descriptions and expenses to supervision, thanks and ending a volunteer's time well.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Non-profit businesses in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
Some of the hardest-working people in a non-profit are never on the payroll. They run the Saturday soup kitchen, coach the under-twelves, drive patients to clinic appointments and sit on the board. In many small organisations they are not just helpers; they are the organisation.
Yet volunteers are often managed by habit rather than by policy. Someone is told to "come on Tuesday", nobody explains what the role involves, expenses are paid when someone remembers, and when a volunteer stops coming nobody asks why. A short written volunteer policy, backed by a handbook that volunteers actually receive, turns good intentions into a reliable way of working. This article sets out what it should cover, stage by stage.
Who your volunteers are
The National Council of Nonprofits notes that many charitable non-profits have no paid staff and are run entirely by volunteers, and that the vast majority of non-profit board members are volunteers. That last point is easy to forget. Your volunteer policy applies to the chairperson as much as to the person stacking chairs after an event, even if the details differ.
The Council also says volunteers do not expect pay but do expect to be treated with respect, trained as needed, supervised and given feedback. It notes that many non-profits run background checks on volunteers and use a volunteer handbook. And it observes that volunteers are among the most loyal donors, which is reason enough to treat them well.
The lifecycle, stage by stage
NCVO, the UK's national body for voluntary organisations, organises its guidance on involving volunteers around a lifecycle: planning; recruiting and welcoming; supporting and managing; thanking and developing; and ending volunteering well. Its framework is a useful skeleton for a policy anywhere.
Planning
NCVO's planning stage covers role descriptions, paying volunteer expenses, a volunteer policy and insurance. In practice:
- Role descriptions. Write one for each kind of volunteer role: what the volunteer does, when, who they report to and what they will not be asked to do. A role description protects the volunteer as much as the organisation.
- Expenses. Decide what is reimbursed, such as transport or materials, how claims are made and who approves them. Paying volunteers' out-of-pocket costs covers how to record those claims.
- Insurance. Check with your insurer whether volunteers are covered while working for you, including when they drive.
- Screening. Decide which roles need background checks, especially any involving children or vulnerable adults.
Recruiting and welcoming
NCVO's welcoming stage centres on a volunteer agreement and an induction. The agreement sets out what each side can expect: the organisation's commitments on training, supervision and expenses, and the volunteer's commitments on reliability, confidentiality and conduct. It should make clear that it is not an employment contract. The induction introduces the organisation, its people, its safety rules and the volunteer's role.
Supporting and managing
Every volunteer should know who to go to. Regular, informal check-ins work better than formal reviews: a few minutes after a shift to ask how it went, what could be better and whether the role still suits them. This is the supervision and feedback the Council says volunteers expect.
Thanking and developing
Thanks should be specific and regular, not only at an annual event. Development means offering volunteers new skills or responsibilities when they want them: a regular volunteer may become a team leader, or move onto a committee.
Ending volunteering well
Volunteers leave for good reasons: they move, change jobs or need a break. Sometimes the organisation needs to end a volunteer's involvement. Either way, ending well matters. Thank them, ask what they would change, return or collect keys and equipment, and close their access to any systems. Where a volunteer has to be asked to leave, follow the procedure the policy sets out, so that it is fair and consistent.
What goes in the handbook
| Section | Contents |
|---|---|
| Welcome | The organisation's mission and how volunteers fit in |
| Your role | Role description, supervisor, hours |
| Expenses | What is paid back and how to claim |
| Safety | Emergency contacts, safeguarding rules, incident reporting |
| Conduct | Confidentiality, social media, representing the organisation |
| Support | Who to talk to, how feedback works |
| Leaving | How to step back, and what to hand in |
Agreements, signatures and records in Achekam
The volunteer agreement is a document worth having signed and filed. In Achekam, any document can be sent for electronic signature, with signature and initials fields placed on it, signers in order or all at once, an expiry date and reminders. The signed PDF and a completion certificate are filed back into Documents. You can send an uploaded PDF, a document composed from text blocks with merge fields, or a saved template, so one agreement template serves every new volunteer.
There is one step to plan for. An envelope with a signer from outside the business must be linked to a client or a CRM lead before it is sent. Volunteers are outside signers, so the volunteer needs to exist as one of those records first; agree in your procedure which you will use and who creates it. The same signing tool serves board decisions, as described in signing board resolutions electronically.
Keep the handbook, the policy and each volunteer's signed agreement in Document Centre, the folder-based store where files can be uploaded, previewed, tagged, archived and searched. When the handbook is revised, upload the new edition as a new version; the earlier ones are kept, so you can always see which edition a volunteer signed up under. When a volunteer leaves, archive their folder rather than deleting it.
Draft it this month
NCVO's guidance on involving volunteers walks through each stage of the lifecycle. Write role descriptions for your three most common volunteer roles, draft the agreement as a reusable template, and ask two long-standing volunteers to read the handbook before it goes out.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
