As a non-profit organization, most of your workforce is probably comprised of volunteers. These individuals are devoting their time and energy to helping the community through your organization. Though these individuals are offering their services without expecting compensation, they still require supervision to ensure that their jobs are done correctly.
Furthermore, it is essential that your organization manages its volunteers to minimize the risk of harm to the community members you are attempting to serve and to the volunteers themselves.
Liabilities:
There are three types of volunteer liabilities that may affect your organization as follows:
Managing Volunteers:
After volunteers complete the training program, it is essential that your staff members continue to monitor and manage them throughout their tenure at your organization.
Ensure that your staff members feel comfortable delegating responsibilities to the volunteers and correcting them if they make mistakes. Furthermore, if a volunteer is acting inappropriately, advise the staff members to dismiss the volunteer before he or she inflicts harm onto another person or him- or herself.
Provide motivation to your volunteers to work hard for the community. Encourage them and praise them for giving it their all. In addition, provide them with a t-shirt, hat or poster as gratitude for their hard work.
Checklist for Supervising Volunteers:
To ensure that your organization is fully prepared for managing volunteers, determine if your non-profit has the following in place:
Find Out More:
Keeping the above tips in mind can go a long way in preventing claims and losses.
Download a copy of our “Common Exposures for Non-Profit Organizations” guide to keep as a reference and find out how to better protect your organization: