Starting a Volunteer Program or Project
Developing and Implementing Volunteer Policies
If you are starting a new volunteer program at your agency or planning a new volunteer
service project, it’s important to develop some clear policies guiding your expectations
for volunteers and letting them know the support you will offer to them. Your volunteer
policies and procedures should correspond to your general organizational guiding
practices. However, for volunteers it is especially important to address issues
such as:
- Risk management
- Liability issues
- Supervision
- Communication and feedback
- Volunteer personnel matters such as:
- travel reimbursement
- attendance
- codes of conduct
You also need to “start with the end in mind” when developing your new volunteer
project. You will want to be able to document your successes and learn from your
mistakes. So, think about how you will put in place data tracking tools so that
you can collect information on volunteer numbers, volunteer hours, and other measures
specific to your project. See the Evaluation section under the
Getting & Keeping Volunteers page for more information.
Days of Service
If you are looking to implement a new short-term service project, why not considering
partnering with the Iowa Commission on Volunteer Services and holding your event
on one of the statewide or nationwide Days of Service? Days of Service volunteer
projects provide opportunities for volunteers to participate in short-term service
activities for a greater cause. These days are a great way for organizations to
attract new volunteers who could become regular contributors. To find out more about
the specific Days of Service celebrated by the ICVS, please visit
our page with details regarding each day.