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.
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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.
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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.
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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.