Essential Policies & Procedures for Volunteering

Clear policies, procedures & paperwork are necessary for the safe and effective running of volunteering groups & projects. But for many volunteering groups (especially smaller, newer, or entirely volunteer-led groups), it can sometimes be hard to know where to begin, with groups growing quickly and taking on more volunteers, more activities and more funding without having had time to put clear policies and systems in place. This can create real risks — for the volunteers themselves, for the people the group supports, and for the organisation’s reputation and funding relationships — while also meaning good will and energy is sometimes lost through avoidable misunderstandings.

Might this be a risk for your group?

• Do you know the difference between Policies & Procedures that are essential versus those that are just ‘nice to have’?
• Do you understand why and how these documents & practices form the basis of good volunteer management and a happy volunteering experience?
• Are you aware that the work volunteers do can change the sorts of policy, procedure & paperwork needed?
• And where do you go to find the guidance, information or templates you might need to create the right documents & practices?

This course will give you the answers to all these questions and more, so that you can feel confident in your knowledge about what YOUR volunteering group needs to succeed and how to go about getting it in place as quickly and easily as possible. This workshop is designed to be learner-led, interactive and practically useful. It provides you with space to pause, compare notes with peers from other similar groups facing similar challenges, and leave with practical next steps, links to resources & useful contacts.

In this workshop you will learn how to

• Explain, in your own words, how & why written policies and procedures protect both volunteers and the organisation.
• Identify the key & essential policy /procedure /paperwork that every group should ideally have, whatever its size.
• Recognise good practice and common pitfalls, drawn from real scenarios and shared peer experiences.
• Assess where your own organisation currently stands (using a simple self-audit tool) in comparison to good practice guidelines.
• Leave with a plan of action and at least one concrete, time-bound task to strengthen volunteer management in your own organization.

We hope you can join us!

Joining information will be sent out the day before the session.

Click here for instructions on how to create a Training Account.  You can also view the Training FAQ’s here.