We’ve noticed there’ve been quite a few searches for volunteer policies on the site and we were wondering whether it was a topic it was worth us producing a guide about.
Would be great to know:
a. If that would be useful for people; and
b. What thoughts/experiences people in the community have of working with volunteers in a way that meets your orgs values (we were particularly thinking about principles such as shifting power, valuing different knowledges more equally and distributing resources more equitably, but really just want to hear any ideas people might have).
Hi Kiran - this would be an incredibly useful resource for us! I’ve only just joined the org but will try and come back to your second question as soon as I can.
Hiya, this would be super helpful! I work for a small charity that runs a helpline giving emotional support to people around self-harm (can be a person self-harming, anyone that knows someone who self-harms, or anyone who has had thoughts about or previous experience of self-harm). We are about to recruit for our next round of volunteers, and looking through the legal requirements re volunteer HR and admin, it’s pretty minimal. Volunteers seem to have no legal rights, so it would be great to see a guide that covers:
Legal requirements (i.e contract templates, suggestions on policies)
Valuing volunteers
Managing conflict between volunteers and staff (especially re power dynamics)
& I love your points on shifting power, valuing different knowledge, and distributing resources.
We are a majority lived experience staff team, and many of our volunteers will also have experience of mental ill-health and self-injury. They do intensely emotional and political work, and so holding space for them consistently and in a clear, boundaried way feels especially important.
Keen to also hear suggestions from other orgs if there are similarities.
Hi Jess
Thanks so much for your post. Am really interested in how you guys work. You mentioned in another post, about remote working, that you had practices that met your values but that these weren’t formalised into official policies. Wondered if that was similar in terms of how you work with volunteers. And if so if you’d be up for sharing some of those informal practices here?
Will also ask around a couple of orgs where volunteers have lived experience of the issues and see if anyone’s up for sharing practices/policies on here
Thanks again for your sharing your thoughts and questions
Kiran