Practice Guidance & Information
Volunteer practice related guidance and information to support you in developing and managing your volunteering programme.
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Volunteer Management & Best Practice
Creating a Positive Volunteer Induction
An induction is a way to introduce a new volunteer to your organisation. This helps them feel part of the team and helps you make sure they have all the information they need to have a great experience, so they can start to make a positive contribution.
Creating a Volunteer Agreement
A volunteer agreement makes it clear what the volunteer can expect from the organisation and what, in turn, the organisation expects from the volunteer. It usually sits alongside a role description and volunteer policy and you may wish to review it with the volunteer every few years.
Creating a Volunteer Role Description
A role description is basically a document that outlines what a volunteer will do, what they need to do the role and what the volunteer will get out of it.
Developing a Volunteer Policy
This is the main foundation that all the other building blocks for volunteering sit on. Your policy will outline clearly to all staff, volunteers and users of the service, why volunteers are involved, what they do and how they are supported.
Managing Challenging Volunteer Situations
If there’s no agreed procedure in place to manage problems when they come up, then it’s easy for even small things to grow out of control. Having guidance on what is acceptable, and explains how you will respond to a challenging situation, is important to protect everyone.
Promoting Positive Volunteer and Staff Relations
Often, volunteers will be involved alongside paid staff. Most of the time this works well and staff value the extra support volunteers bring. Ensuring staff understand the volunteer role and make them feel welcome and supported is important to ensuring volunteers have a positive experience.
Supporting your Volunteers
The terms ‘support’ and ‘supervision’ are often referred to as though they are the same. It is important for staff working with and alongside volunteers to understand that they have separate meanings in order to value the purpose and benefit of both.
Volunteer Leadership - A Balancing Act
This practice briefing by Helen Fleming examines the roles of volunteer leaders in UK charities, focusing on balancing organisational goals with volunteers’ motivations. Key themes include effective communication, collaboration, and drawing on volunteer experience to foster commitment.
Measuring Impact & Evaluation
Measuring the Impact of Volunteering
Where volunteers contribute to a specific project, you'll often be asked to capture information on how this went - here we set out ways to help you measure impact.
Recognition & Awards for Volunteers
Recognising and Valuing your Volunteers
Most volunteers don't expected to be rewarded for their involvement, but it is important that your organisation or group celebrates and values what the volunteers have done. Here are some ideas for how you might do this.
Safeguarding & Volunteer Safety
Guide for VIOs: Health and Care (Staffing)(Scotland) Act 2019
On 1st April 2024, the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) 2019 Act was enacted. This legislation is applicable to some volunteer involving organisations, particularly those who engage volunteers in the delivery of regulated care services.
Inclusion & Equality
Top Tips for Inclusion of Older Volunteers
These Top Tips for were produced by Volunteer Scotland and the National Inclusion in Volunteering Group. They have been developed to help you to support older people to volunteer in a meaningful and inclusive way.
Top tips for Involving Refugee Volunteers
These Top Tips for were produced by Volunteer Scotland and the National Inclusion in Volunteering Group. They have been developed as guidance when involving refugees in your volunteer opportunities. We hope that working through these suggestions will help you make your volunteering offer more inclusive.
Top Tips for inclusion of LGBTQ+ Volunteers
These Top Tips for were produced by Volunteer Scotland and the National Inclusion in Volunteering Group. They provide guidance for recruiting and supporting volunteers from the LGBTQ+ community.
Top Tips for Supporting Volunteers with Hearing Loss or Deafness
These Top Tips for were produced by Volunteer Scotland and the National Inclusion in Volunteering Group. They have been developed to support volunteers with hearing loss or deafness. Reflecting on these points could help you make your volunteering offer more inclusive.
Top Tips for inclusion of volunteers - The Common Areas
These Top Tips were produced by Volunteer Scotland and the National Inclusion in Volunteering Group. It's a great starting point to help you make your volunteering offer more inclusive.
Top Tips for inclusion, recruiting and supporting Disabled Volunteers
The following Top Tips have been created by Glasgow Disability Alliance, to raise important things which need to be considered to ensure a positive experience for all when recruiting and supporting disabled volunteers.
Top Tips for inclusion of volunteers with Vision Impairment
These Top Tips for were produced by Sight Scotland with lived experience input, as guidance when involving volunteers with vision impairment in your volunteering opportunities. These insights provide practical guidance on engaging with volunteers who have experienced sight loss and other types of vision impairments.
Top Tips for inclusion of volunteers with Mental Health and Wellbeing Issues
These Top Tips for were produced by Volunteer Scotland and the National Inclusion in Volunteering Group with input from Health in Mind. They have been developed to support inclusion and engagement of volunteers impacted by mental health conditions, or experiencing issues around mental health and wellbeing.
Top Tips for inclusion of volunteers with Dyslexia
These Top Tips for were produced by Volunteer Scotland and the National Inclusion in Volunteering Group. They have been developed as guidance with the recruitment and supporting of volunteers with dyslexia. Reflecting on these points could help you make your volunteering offer more inclusive.
Top Tips for inclusion of volunteers with a History of Problem Drug Use
These Top Tips for were produced by Volunteer Scotland and the National Inclusion in Volunteering Group. They have been developed as guidance with the recruiting and supporting of volunteers with a history of problem drug use. Reflecting on and implementing these top tips could help you make your volunteering offer more inclusive.
Top Tips for inclusion of disabled volunteers and carers
These Top Tips for were produced by Volunteer Scotland and the National Inclusion in Volunteering Group. They have been co-produced with disabled people who are volunteering as part of their efforts to reach their ambitions of personal development, learning, volunteering and work. Reflecting on these points could help you make your volunteering offer more inclusive to disabled people and/or carers for people with disabilities.
Top Tips for inclusion of Women from diverse backgrounds to volunteer in your group or organisation
These Top Tips for were produced by Volunteer Scotland and the National Inclusion in Volunteering Group. They have been developed to ensure that women who do not feel safe or confident in mixed spaces are not excluded from volunteering.
Make Your Mark in Volunteering Inclusion Toolkit
This toolkit is designed to support voluntary organisations in Scotland to make their volunteering programmes more inclusive, and includes information and guidance, case studies and a series of reflective exercises and challenge-framed questions.
The toolkit was designed as a living document to be regularly updated with best practice and case studies.
Volunteer Wiki
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, it aims to cover a wide range of volunteer management issues and give you access to the knowledge that you need.