This resource was developed by Volunteer Toronto.
A volunteer is anyone freely sharing their time to support your community and cause. Volunteers could be members of your community (clients, supporters, relatives, etc.), people who live nearby, or people with a past connection. Many volunteers contribute because they want to give back or make a difference. To benefit from this motivation and meaningfully engage volunteers, it’s important to clarify and distinguish volunteer roles.
Understanding Unpaid Labour
Volunteering is unpaid labour. Most nonprofits and charities started because people came together to support their community or address a cause. They did so without expectation of pay, and today the nonprofit sector still makes an impact thanks to volunteer efforts.
Therefore, it’s important that this labour is not exploited. Volunteers support the ongoing work of paid staff and are not a suitable replacement for employee work. An effective way to ensure resources are in place to support volunteers is to hire a paid volunteer engagement professional who can provide a structured approach to volunteer involvement. In many organizations the volunteer headcount far exceeds the paid staff workforce, so adequate budgeting should be afforded for strategy, systems, recognition, and more.
Building Volunteer Roles
Effectively supporting volunteers starts with appropriately planning roles. A well-planned role includes specific responsibilities and duties, and avoids language like “other duties as assigned.” If it’s not clear what a volunteer will be doing, then a volunteer isn’t needed.
To get started planning and building a role, ensure you have the answer to the following questions:
1. What will the volunteer do? What are the tasks, activities, and functions of the role?
2. When will the volunteer do it? How often do you need the volunteer? When will they volunteer with you and how frequently? How long do they need to commit?
3. Where will volunteering take place? Will training take place in the same location? How is the space accessible?
4. How will they volunteer? What skills and abilities will they need to use? Will they be using any tools that are unique for the role? Will specific training be required?
5. Who will volunteer? Are there people who already have the skills, knowledge, and/or experience for the role? Is the role attractive to a particular audience?
6. Why will they volunteer? Does this role meet a specific need? Is the value of role clear to the volunteer and the organization? Will this role make an impact?
After answering these questions, you can build a
position description. This is a useful tool to clearly define the volunteer role, and inform a
posting for finding volunteers.
Volunteer Engagement in Unionized Environments
If your workplace is a unionized environment, the collective agreement may have specific language around volunteer engagement. In particular, there may be a distinction that people who are not in the bargaining unit (members of the union) are forbidden from doing the work of bargaining unit members. Since volunteers should never replace, displace or undermine paid staff roles, the collective agreement can help further protect both volunteer and employee designations.
Learn more.Determining Boundaries and Expectations
As you build each volunteer role, define and name specific boundaries. This can help prevent volunteers from overstepping their roles, while also clearly delineating between volunteer and employee efforts. Concise boundaries enable volunteers to understand what is expected of them and what is appropriate for them to do or not do.
Examples of clear volunteer boundaries include:
- Example: Volunteers cannot touch or enter the personal space of clients.
Rationale: Staff are trained on physical interactions, and are thus protected by organizational insurance accordingly.
- Example: Volunteers cannot communicate with clients outside of their shifts.
Rationale: Protecting privacy is essential, and the organization only provides the specific service to clients within the shift/program.
- Example: Volunteers cannot medically diagnose clients.
Rationale: This boundary may extend to staff as well, unless you have medically trained professionals on staff who fulfill this role, and reduces risk of misdiagnosis.
- Example: Volunteers cannot support more than x number of clients at a time.
Rationale: Limiting volunteer support may actually protect volunteer energy, especially in roles with a high risk of vicarious trauma and compassion fatigue.
The purpose of boundaries and clear expectations is to ensure a space where volunteers feel safer and supported by your organization’s structures. Breaking these boundaries must be tied to real consequences, as doing so jeopardizes the potential for volunteers to contribute meaningfully and could impact your community, clients, and mission.
