Volunteer/Charity Work

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

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