Welcome to VolunteerWiki!

This resource has been developed by Volunteer Edinburgh with support from partners, to give volunteer managers access to high quality, reliable and up to date information on managing volunteers.

Whether you are just starting out involving volunteers or you have been managing volunteers for many years, we aim to cover a wide range of volunteer management issues and give you access to the knowledge that you need. To make life even easier we have example policies and forms which anyone is free to download and use.

Content

• Involving Volunteers
• Creating a Volunteer Role Description
• Developing a Volunteer Policy
• Recruiting Volunteers
• Recruiting Trustees
• Social Media and Recruitment
• Selection and Screening
• Volunteer Agreements
• Volunteer Inductions
• Volunteer Training
• Volunteers and Extra Support Needs
• Support Workers and Volunteering
• Supporting Neurodiverse Volunteers
• Volunteering and Employability Development
• One-Off Team Volunteering
• Supporting Volunteers
• Young Volunteers
• Insuring Volunteers
• Using a Car for Volunteering
• Impact Measurement in Volunteering
• Equality and Diversity in Volunteering
• Volunteer Expenses
• Volunteer Risk Management
• Volunteer Criminal Disclosures PVG Scheme
• Volunteers and Criminal Records
• Dynamic Model
• Volunteers and Data Protection
• A Sample Privacy Notice
• Volunteer Exits
• Volunteers and Health and Safety
• Volunteering and UK State Benefits
• Dealing with Volunteer Complaints
• Volunteer Problem Solving Policy
• Childcare for Volunteers
• Involving Volunteers from Outside the UK
• Involving Refugee Volunteers
• When Does a Volunteer Become an Employee?
• Measuring the Cost and Value of Volunteers
• Defining Volunteering and Internships
• Covid-19/Coronavirus resuming activities

Templates and examples

• Volunteering Policy (pdf)
• Volunteer Role Description (pdf)
• Volunteer Agreement (doc)
• Volunteer Information Form (doc)
• Equalities Monitoring (doc)
• Volunteer Exit Questionnaire (pdf)
• Volunteer Task Description (pdf)
• Volunteer Risk Assessment Checklist (doc)
• Reimbursement of ‘Out of Pocket’ Expenses (HNS Scotland)
• NHS Scotland Volunteering – Exploring Best Practice
• Volunteer Induction Checklist (doc)
• S&S form (pdf)
• Health & Safety Policy (doc)
• Confidentiality Policy and Agreement
• Safeguarding of Children and Vulnerable Adults Policy (pdf)
• Safeguarding Policy short version - Jock Tomson's (pdf)
• Wellness Action Plan (WAP)(pdf)
• Volunteers’ Self Appraisal - Health and Wellbeing (pdf)
• Guidance for Support Staff attending with Volunteers - Gorgie City Farm (pdf)
• Incident Recording Form (doc)

Additional Learning

• Guide To Delivering Behaviour Change Projects In Community Settings Through Volunteers (Breast Cancer Now)
• Evaluation of Volunteer Home Support Project (CHAS)
• Value of Volunteering Wheel
• Case Study: Evaluating the Festival City Volunteers
• Emergency Volunteer Management from the Wildfires in California
• Guide to Wellness Action Plans (WAPs)
• Digital Communication and Community Engagement

References to legislation

Although most good practice in involving volunteers translates the world over, throughout VolunteerWiki there are, where appropriate, references to legislation. It is important for users to note that such legislation applies to the United Kingdom and users in other territories should ensure compliance and reference to legislation applicable in their location.

Who are our partners?

The information contained within VolunteerWiki has been developed by Volunteer Edinburgh with support from Volunteer Glasgow.

How do I contribute?

The ambition of Volunteer Edinburgh is that VolunteerWiki builds into the “go to” place for volunteer managers to get good quality, reliable advice. For that ambition to be realised we want experienced and trusted partners to contribute.

We use a trusted partner model for contributors because we want to maintain the high quality of the information that VolunteerWiki contains. If you are an experienced volunteers manager, ideally in Scotland, then we would be very happy to hear from you.

One-off contributor

If you would like an article (that how we refer to the individual entries on the wiki) submitted then that can be simply done by emailing a word document and we will add it for you. We do reserve the right to alter the content to keep the “voice” of the consistent. However if we do suggest changes we will ask your permission before we make it live.

Regular contributor

If you would like to be a regular contributor then we can give you a log in. This will allow you to make changes to any part of the wiki. With such power comes responsibility so we will ask you to complete a simple agreement with us. Even when you make an entry with a user account it gets verified before publication. This is part of the standard programme that we are using and enables us to track changes and contributions.

If you are interested in becoming a contributor please contact javier.tejera@volunteeredinburgh.org.uk.

What happens if I disagree with something on the wiki?

This is very much about building a community of knowledge and inevitably there will sometimes be differing views. Rather than be prescriptive “this is how it should be done” we’d rather present alternative views and let the reader decide which is correct for them.

So, for example, one volunteer manager might think application forms are a barrier and a waste of time. Another may think they are essential for the roles they are advertising. Both viewpoints are equally valid and it is about presenting the alternate views and alternate set of circumstances where the user of the wiki can decide what is correct for them.

Of course there are times when legislation has to be followed and there is no grey area.

Help us to improve VolunteerWiki

If you would like to donate to us please click on the donate button below and you will be redirected to a secure PayPal window where you can make your donation.

The donations we receive will help us to cover the cost of maintaining and updating VolunteerWiki, a free and highly valuable volunteer management resource, helping organisations to improve their volunteer involvement practices.