Before you involve volunteers, take time to think about how they can best support your organisation. Define clear, appropriate roles before recruiting so each opportunity works for both the volunteer and your organisation. Volunteers should have a positive, rewarding experience while helping you deliver your mission. Volunteers should complement the work of paid staff, enhancing organisational capacity and services without replacing essential paid roles.

A volunteer policy sets out how your organisation involves and supports volunteers. It helps everyone understand what to expect and makes sure volunteering is consistent, fair, and well managed.

It usually covers things like how volunteers are recruited, the roles they can do, the support and training they receive, and key areas such as health and safety, safeguarding and expenses. It also explains how feedback is shared and how any issues are handled.

In short, it provides a clear framework that helps create a positive experience for volunteers while supporting your organisation to work well with them.

• Best Practice Resource: Writing a Volunteer Policy
• Example Volunteer Policy from The Amber Trust (external link)
• Example Volunteer Policy from St Raphael's Hospice

When starting a project involving volunteers, there are various things that you will need to think about and have in place before recruiting. Our "Planning a project involving volunteers" resource gives you a comprehensive overview, but what is relevant for your project/organisation will vary.