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
