Volunteering

Volunteer Ireland is the National Volunteer Development Agency, an independent and non-profit organisations that inspires, promotes, supports and facilitates volunteer-charity work activity in Ireland. Volunteering is a term that covers many different activities: it could be visiting an elderly person, planting trees, assisting a charity with its finances and administration, helping someone to read or write.

Volunteering is a serious commitment and although anyone can do it, before you ask to volunteer you should think about:

Why you want to volunteer.
What type of voluntary work you would like to do.
What skills or experience you can offer.
How much time you can give.
Other practicalities, such as when and where you want to volunteer.

It is important to remember that volunteers have rights and responsibilities. As a volunteer, your rights are:

To know if, and how, you are being selected.
To be given meaningful work to do.
To know what is expected from you.
To be offered appropriate training.
To be thanked and have your voluntary contribution recognised.
To receive supervision and support.
To get something out of the work for themselves.
To know who to go to if there is a problem.
To be reimbursed for out-of-pocket expenses incurred when volunteering.
To make mistakes and learn from them.
To be made aware of any disciplinary and grievance procedures.
To be treated fairly and not to experience discrimination.
To have safe working conditions, including insurance cover.
To be informed about, and given the opportunity to play an active part in, the organisation as a whole.
To be able to say ‘no’ and to leave without feeling guilty.

As a volunteer, your responsibilities are:

To respect the values and aims of the organisation.
To be committed.
To be reliable and give the organisation sufficient warning if unable to turn up.
To be punctual.
To attend essential training and support sessions.
To undertake the work to a high standard.
To be honest if there are problems.
To respect confidentiality.
To leave when asked and/or when no longer enjoying the volunteering experience.

Volunteer organisations have also rights and responsibilities towards people who volunteer. Their responsibilities are:

To ensure the volunteering experience is a rewarding one.
To ensure equal access and not to discriminate.
To define clear, meaningful roles for volunteers.
To have policies and procedures for volunteers.
To provide all necessary information to volunteers.
To be available for volunteers.
To provide training where necessary.
To thank and value volunteers.
To provide insurance cover.
To inform volunteers of any legal liabilities.
To supervise and to provide support.
To reimburse out-of-pocket expenses.
To provide a safe working environment.

Their rights are:

To look for certain qualities and skills in volunteers.
To select only volunteers who are suitable for the work.
To draw up a volunteer agreement or ‘contract’.
To ask for tasks to be done in a particular way.
To ask for commitment.
To ask for reliability.
To ask for punctuality.
To deal with disciplinary and grievance matters.
To ask volunteers to leave if their involvement hinders the organisation achieving its goals.