Written by James McBryan

Why is it needed

Volunteer agreements are simply a way to set expectations of what the volunteer can expect from the organization and what the organization hopes to see from its volunteers. Agreements vary in length but contain generally the same information: confidentiality, attendance, training, the organization’s procedures, and policies etc. Volunteer agreements are not the same as contracts and should not be viewed that way.

This article walks through how to create a volunteer agreement and some sample agreements to get ideas. However, we provide free templates as well, so why not just use those?

If your organization is brand new or you’ve never had a formal agreement for new volunteers to sign, then now is your chance to do that. Here are some basic things to get started with:

• Organization's responsibility - examples include

  • Onboarding and training necessary to fulfill the role successfully

  • Provide a safe environment

  • Treat volunteers with equality

  • Reimburse out-of-pocket expenses

• Volunteer’s responsibility - examples include

  • Fulfill role expectations

  • Arrive on-time

  • Provide notice in a timely manner when not available to meet task or time commitment

  • Adhere to organization policy and procedures

• Supervision - Who can the volunteer go to for help, support, and questions

• Protecting Intellectual Property - keeping organization information private

• Acknowledgment - acceptance of the agreement and a spot to sign for both the volunteer and the organization

Sample agreements in different forms

As you'll see in these samples, there are different formats, lengths, and context that you can have in your volunteer agreement. Check out what we've found for ideas of things to put in your volunteer agreement, or if you haven't done so already, just download our editable templates specifically created for volunteer work.

Online form (using survey monkey) - https://thenaca.wufoo.com/forms/kr3kj730vpshfz/

Digital PDF - https://www.unlv.edu/sites/default/files/24/HR-Forms-VolunteerAgreement.pdf

Basic Paper Document - https://www.volunteer.ie/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Volunteer_Agreement.pdf

Eloborate Paper Document - https://www.england.nhs.uk/south/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2016/09/ppg-confidentiality.docx

Make sure that you don't forget to include a copy of this agreement in your volunteer handbook. If you haven't created one yet, get ideas from our scrubbed list of all the volunteer handbooks on the web.