Many organisations find it helpful to have a ‘volunteer policy’ in place to summarise in a single document how they will recruit, involve and support volunteers. Volunteer policies can add value to all types of volunteer-involving organisations, from community groups to larger Arts Trusts. When developed well, volunteer policies are useful to volunteers in setting out what they can expect from the organisation and to volunteer co-ordinators in helping them to provide good quality and consistent support to volunteers.

A volunteer policy is the foundation on which your organisation’s involvement of volunteers should be based. It forms the basis of your entire volunteer programme, giving cohesion and consistency to all the elements in your organisation that affect volunteers (recruitment, expenses, health and safety and so on). It is the key to involve a diversity of volunteers, because it helps to define the role of volunteers within the organisation and how they can expect to be treated.

• A volunteer policy demonstrates an organisation’s commitment both to its volunteer programme and to its individual volunteers. By having a policy in place, you are showing that care and thought has gone into the volunteer programme.
• It helps to ensure fairness and consistency. Dealing with volunteers means dealing with a diverse range of people. Being able to refer to a written policy ensures that decisions are not made on an ad hoc basis, and that all volunteers are treated equally and fairly.
• A policy enables volunteers to know where they stand. It offers them some security, in that they know how they can expect to be treated, and where they can turn to if they feel that things are going wrong.
• It also helps ensure that paid staff, senior management and trustees fully understand why volunteers are involved, and what role they have within the organisation

Guidelines in writing a volunteer policy

There is no set format for volunteer policies. Each organisation has its own unique needs that should be reflected in its policy.  Most organisations prefer to have a short volunteer policy that refers to other separate documents (covering health and safety, for example). This is probably the best option, as a long document can be very overwhelming. Try viewing the policy as a statement of intent, with the day to-day the basic practical details covered in separate policies or in a volunteer handbook. There may be no blueprint for the perfect policy, but there are some specific issues that should always be addressed.

Please see below some examples of policies, application forms and equal opportunities monitoring forms.

Glasgow Film Volunteer Policy

Bath Film Festival Volunteer Pack