Charity Volunteers
The following volunteer documents are also available in addition to those below:
- Charity Fundraising and Finance: Charity Fundraising by Volunteer Groups - Volunteer Fundraising Groups: Rules for Working with a Charity
- Charity Fundraising and Finance: Charity Fundraising by Volunteer Groups - Guidance Notes: Volunteer Charity Fundraising Groups
Charity Volunteers is part of Corporate. Just £38.50 + VAT provides unlimited downloads from Corporate for 1 year.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does a volunteer agreement need such careful wording?
Because the wrong wording creates an employment relationship. Mutual obligations, required hours enforced as duties, payment beyond genuine expenses or perks with monetary value can turn a volunteer into a worker or employee, with minimum wage, holiday and unfair dismissal rights following. A good volunteer agreement describes hopes and arrangements rather than binding obligations. The long and short form agreements here are drafted on that basis; resist the urge to make them stricter.
Long form or short form volunteer agreement: which do we use?
Match the role's footprint. The short form suits occasional, low-risk helping: event stewards, one-off drivers, casual gardening. The long form earns its place where the role is regular or touches risk: working with beneficiaries, handling money, representing the charity publicly or using its systems and data, where expectations, confidentiality and safeguarding references need spelling out. Both stay on the right side of the employment status line.
What can we safely pay or provide to volunteers?
Reimbursement of genuine out of pocket expenses against receipts, travel, meals on duty, necessary equipment, and training needed for the role. What crosses the line: round-sum allowances, payments untethered from actual costs, rewards with monetary value and anything resembling wages, all of which invite worker status and can affect the volunteer's own benefits. Run claims through the volunteer expenses policy and claim form here so the boundary polices itself.
Some of our volunteers help from home. Does that need anything extra?
A little structure, yes. Home-based volunteering raises three things worth covering: data protection when charity information lives on personal devices, health and safety expectations for the volunteer's working setup and communication so remote volunteers stay connected to supervision and support. A short policy handles all three without bureaucratising goodwill. The Volunteer Home Working Policy for charities in this sub-folder is scaled for exactly that.