Sign Volunteer Agreement Template Made Easy

Sign volunteer agreement template

so good afternoon everyone and happy National Volunteer Week welcome to this afternoon's free webinar on how to draft a great volunteer agreement my name is Mei Tanner and I'm joined by my colleague Kayla Hughes and we're lawyers injustice connects not-for-profit law program hi everyone we'd like to start by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which May and I presenting today the people of the Kulin nation in Victoria and the people of the pollination in Tasmania we pay our respects to their elders past present and emerging and to add any Aboriginal people from other communities who may be joining us for this webinar today we acknowledge that this land was is and always will be Aboriginal land thank you for joining us today for our special edition webinar to mark National Volunteer Week and also the launch of our updated resources which include a revised volunteer agreement which has now lots of tips and tricks to help your organizations this week obviously we're celebrating volunteers and volunteer involving organizations and we wanted to offer something practical that will help you put in place a clear and respectful relationship with your volunteers so we're going to talk about what a volunteer agreement can do for your organization and its volunteers and walk you through some of the key issues that you might want to cover in yours whether you're a new not-for-profit looking to start a new volunteer program or update some of your processes or a charity with a long-standing volunteer agreement in place considering whether you might need to update it we hope that we can answer your questions today so just a bit about us just as Connect is a national social justice charity that provides free legal help to people and community groups and you can read more about justice clinics initiatives on our web site we are a volunteer involving organization ourselves so I'd like to take this opportunity to give a big shout out to our team of dedicated volunteers who offer their skills expertise and time to help justice connect May and I are from a specialized legal program of Justice connect focused on helping community sector organizations called not-for-profit law and we'll come back to how we might be able to help you at the end of this webinar so today we're very excited to announce the launch of our updated national volunteer guide and template volunteer agreement and this volunteer agreement now includes as may mention some handy tips to help you get the most out of the document and we'll take you to our website and where you can find these again at the at the end of the webinar so May can you talk us through what we're going to cover today yes so today we're going to be looking at two fundamental questions about volunteer agreements firstly we will examine why an organization might need a volunteer agreement and what this document can do for your organization and your volunteers from a legal standpoint so why is it that we use this document and then we'll move on to talking about the key topics that you might want to include in your volunteer agreement I do need to point out that today's webinar is legal information today only and not legal advice and a couple of housekeeping matters will end the webinar at 1:00 p.m. and we will stay available for an offline Q&A session for a short time afterwards using the question pane that some of you have typed yes into that you can hear the sound that's there at the right hand side of your screen if we don't get on to all of your questions and we've got a huge number of participants today we will let you know how to get in touch with us at the end of the session also the slides and a recording of the webinar will be sent to you in coming days and if you've got friends or colleagues that have missed the webinar we'll also be putting that up on the website for some time so as we move into this first question about whether you need to have a volunteer agreement and what it's for it's important to point out that it's not actually a legal obligation to have a volunteer agreement unless that is in the terms of a funding agreement or a contract with your organization so make sure that your funders or others don't require that from you before you make your own decision but in this section we're going to have a look at when and why you might want to put a volunteer agreement in place if it's not a legal obligation for you Cayla this is the one question that we get asked a lot in various different forms especially in our training sessions engaging volunteers is hard enough we don't want to scare them off with loads of paperwork do we really need a volunteer agreement yeah that's right there is a sentiment we hear from our training clients that volunteering used to be more straightforward and now there's a lot of paperwork that seems to be getting in the way but essentially you can think of a volunteer agreement as a risk management strategy and as Maine mentioned it's not normally a legal requirement to have a volunteer agreement but having what one might actually help you avoid legal problems in the future for example having an agreement can help you your volunteers and you understand their roles rights and responsibilities as we'll see the agreement should set out what expectations you have of your volunteers and what they can expect from you in return it can also help your organization manage safety obligations to your volunteers by setting up boundaries for what the volunteer role entails and explaining both your organization's of safety obligations for the volunteer and the things that volunteer needs to know to make sure that they and others are kept safe and it can be an important place to make it clear that the person has a volunteering relationship with the organization and that this is different from the employment relationship for example this means that the volunteer will not be paid for their work and that either party can walk away from the arrangement at any time I'm finally it's a place where you can set out arrangements for other specific issues like who will own any intellectual property created and how the volunteers should treat confidential information for example so we'll touch on some of these points as we look at what you should include in your volunteer relation your volunteer agreements right so Kayla you've given us some pretty good reasons for having a volunteer agreement and those are all about making the volunteer agreement essentially clear but to sum that all up and answer that question of do we need a volunteer agreement essentially it's a form of risk management having a volunteer agreement so it's up to your organization to decide whether you need a more detailed written agreement like our volunteer agreement template or perhaps you might use a simpler one-page document that sets out some key points that you'd like to get across to volunteers or you might even decide that having a volunteer agreement is not important for your organization at this stage so to help you make that decision and to help you decide what to put in your agreement let's have a look now at some of the nuts and bolts of what you might put in great well first of all it's important to point out that you can really draft your volunteer agreement how you like because by nature it's not intended to be legally binding it's not really a legal document we know it can be difficult for the people running volunteer programs busy not-for-profits to find their time to put documentation like a volunteer agreement in place and it can be overwhelming to know where to start so to make things easier for you remember we've included a template volunteer agreement on our website and in our national volunteer guide and and you're welcome to use that and adapt it to your own needs but today we're going to take you through six key things to consider when drafting your agreement or perhaps reviewing an existing one you've got in place so the first key point in drafting a volunteer agreement and Keo you've already touched on this is to define the volunteering relationship another key question we're often asked is if we use the language of agreement volunteer agreement does that mean it's a contract and that the document is legally binding so it's true that we do I can use the word agreement to mean contract but when we draft a volunteer agreement one of the fundamental things is it's really important to make it clear that this is not like a contract of employment and you're not setting up a legally binding relationship whether you call the document volunteer agreement or you decide to call it something else it's the substance of agreement of the agreement that's important in defining the relationship as a volunteering relationship and for example not an employment relationship not only not a relationship of of contract a contractual relationship so our volunteer agreement makes this pretty clear right up the front you'll see when you download the agreement in clause 1 it says you are a volunteer we also have a statement to say that the volunteer agreement is not a contract and it's not intend to be legally binding some organizations give feedback feedback sometimes that this seems like quite legal language and but it's there to remind the volunteer and the organization of the very nature of the volunteer relationship so the parties can walk away at any point in time and that's why we're so clear about it from the beginning another point that we make clear in defining the relationship is in clause 9 of our template agreement and here we explain that while we might reimburse a volunteer for out-of-pocket expenses or provide other benefits like training or free food or accommodation or event entry clothing equipment this shouldn't be considered as pay given for work done because we don't want any confusion that this might be an employment relationship every now and then we do see cases come up where a person will argue that they're not a volunteer but an employee and that they therefore have access to certain rights like pay or workers compensation insurance so these clauses are there to help clarify that this is squarely a volunteer relationship so the second point that we recommend you cover in your volunteer agreements is defining the role and setting expectations so you can use the volunteer agreement to include a description of the volunteers role or alternatively you could attach the role description in a separate document it's also a good idea to include as two at hours and time commitment or roster details and location to help set expectations around the role you might also set out the things that the volunteer can expect from the relationship for example induction training a safe environment respect for their privacy perhaps insurance coverage and you can see more ideas in Clause 2 of our template agreement on the other hand it's also reasonable to set out what the organization asks at the volunteer so for example that they support the organization's objectives participate in the induction and training and comply with the organization's policies and procedures again there is a more exhaustive list in our template agreement that you can draw from one keeping that it's a good idea to make clear here is the boundaries of the volunteering role so in our template we make it clear that the volunteer is only to perform the duties they are authorized to perform and must always operate under the direction and supervision of the organization staff or volunteer managers and obey reasonable directions and instructions and the reason why it's particularly important is that in some states and territories an organization will be legally responsible for certain harm caused by a volunteer while they're performing their role but not for harms that have occurred when the volunteer was acting out not acting under the instructions or supervision of the organization so it's important that the volunteer themselves understands that they could be personally legally responsible in those particular situations and that takes us to a broader question around safety so point three is be clear about safety all not-for-profits have a duty of care to keep their volunteers safe from harm and this is just part of general negligence laws depending on whether your organization has employees and contractors as well as volunteers you might also have additional safety obligation under work health and safety laws there's a lot more information about this on our website but for the purposes of the volunteer agreement make sure that you set out what these obligations are it's also a good idea to point out what the volunteer needs to do to keep themselves and others safe for example complying with reasonable instruction where their supervisor and letting their supervisor know if they have any concerns about health and safety of themselves or clients or others and there's a lot more detail about this in that Clause 6 of the template agreement thanks May so we can't talk about safety without addressing insurance so this is another key point that we suggest you include do you have insurance that protects your volunteers in cases where they're involved in an accident while volunteering for you so that's the first question you need to ask volunteer insurance is a whole topic of its own which we won't cover in detail today but for the purpose of the volunteer agreement you might use this as an opportunity to explain to your volunteer whether you do have insurance cover for them and if so what it does and does not cover you might also want to include information about what a volunteer should do to make sure they can claim under that insurance for example reporting in an accident as soon as it happens and by including this kind of information the volunteer is going to be fully informed and can then decide whether they want to go ahead with the role or not you know knowing whether or not they're covered by organizations insurance number we have here is to consider consent so this is a point around whether your organization takes photos or videos of the work that your volunteers do if this is the case for your organization the volunteer agreement is a place where you can seek consent from your volunteers to use these photos and videos for marketing and promotion of your organization for example on your website social media in your annual report so you'll see that in our template agreement there is an extra space for the volunteer to sign to show that they agree or don't agree to having photos and videos of them taken and shared in this way an extra point I'd like to include here is don't forget about privacy law there might be some additional obligations under privacy law if you are using photos and videos of your volunteers in this way and we have a privacy guide on our website with more information about those requirements and finally point number six there may be situations where a volunteer involving organization wants to be very clear on certain rights and responsibilities or obligations between the organization and the volunteer for example if the volunteer is producing or creating material in their role so a logo artistic works perhaps training materials or even designing a pilot program the organization may want to be clear with their volunteer about who owns the intellectual property in the material that they're creating also if the volunteer is going to have access to confidential information in their role the organization would want to be very clear with them about their confidentiality obligations and one way to deal with these things is to include them in your volunteer agreement as we've done in our template but remember we've made sure it's clear that the volunteer is not a little interior greement is not a legally binding document so that it can't be mistaken for a contract of employment for example that means that if something goes wrong so for example the volunteer does disclose confidential information or decides it wants to keep the intellectual property that it's created that they've created and use it for their own personal gain your group may not have any legal recourse against the volunteer and as with the other points you need to decide whether this is particularly important to your organization or not so this is where things get a little bit more technical and if you would like to make these things legally binding on the volunteer you'd need to include them in what's called a deed now a deed is a legally binding document but it's different from a contract what makes a contract legally binding is that you have an exchange of promises for example in an employment contract a promise of a salary in exchange for the promise to do work now in a deed a volunteer can be legally bound to respect confidentiality or pass on their intellectual property rights to the organization with for example without getting anything in return so this is what distinguishes our deed from a contract there isn't this exchange of promises and to make a deed legally binding it has to be signed in in a special way so if you think this is particularly relevant to your organization and your volunteer roles and and what their activity is they're engaged in we have a free a template you can use and there's lots more information about the operation of a deed versus an agreement in our national volunteering guide on the website as well Kayla just as we addressed that point around the difference between a contract and a deed we've had a couple of questions come up that might be helpful to address with everyone the first one was do we need a signed agreement for every casual volunteer even if they only do one or two evenings every two months and we haven't really explicitly addressed the question of whether you should have your volunteers sign the volunteering agreement would you like to address that for us yeah absolutely it's one of our top tips in this next section so hopefully we can we can address that question and perhaps answer any outstanding questions after that so our top tips for drafting a great volunteer agreement I'll hand over to you made it to take us through the first one okay so the first point and I think we've made this clear throughout the session is that you need to be clear about the relationship and the nature of the relationship in the agreement and you can do this by using volunteer type language like we would be pleased if you would instead of you must like you might use in an employment contract so you need to distinguish the language in your volunteer agreement from the language that you might use as in an employment contract I should point out though that it's equally important to treat the person as a genuine volunteer in your behavior with them the written agreement is one way to be clear about this but actions often speak louder than words so make sure that you're consistent right through from the written agreement that you have to the way that you supervise and treat your volunteers in your volunteer programs next tip Kayla so tip number two and this goes to the question around signing as well make sure your volunteers read and understand the agreement and to confirm this is actually the case that they have read it and they do understand it you can ask the volunteer to sign the document to show they've read it and also had an opportunity to ask questions if anything wasn't clear so signing the agreement in this way doesn't necessarily make it a contract but it is a great way of documenting that they have understood everything that's set out and we would always suggest you keep the original signed copy signed document and you give a copy of the signed agreement to the volunteer great thank you I think that addresses that question the third tip that we have is to review your volunteer agreement regularly and make sure that accurate accurately reflects your volunteer program your policies procedures that it's update up-to-date with the current laws and that it provides all the information that you need to or that you want to provide to all your volunteers while we're on that third tip there we've also heard a question about whether there are models of volunteer agreement that are in simple to understand language and I think that's a really important point and it's one that kayla made upfront in in that section about how to draft your volunteer your agreement you can use our template you can create your own draft I'm not aware of specific models or templates of volunteer agreement that use simple language if anyone else listening today has some pointers about that please feel free to type that into the question pane and we'll share that but it's really important to make sure that your volunteers whoever they are have understood the document that's what it's all about communicating clearly about the volunteer relationship absolutely and you know we have drafted our template our we hope in a very easy to understand plain language way but if you have any feedback about that please we'd love to hear from you and we've included those tips as well to help you explain why a particular clause or section appears in the volunteer agreement at all we've just today included you know six key topics based on the I guess the legal issues that we see coming up for volunteer involving community organizations there of course lots more you could add but we've taken you through the most important important causes from a legal perspective so if you want more information or have questions we can't get to today or perhaps more I guess complex or particular to your organization we are here to help and may do you want to take us through how we can do that absolutely so we have over 300 handy resources on our website to support you every day these are things like fact sheets videos checklists apps that step you through complex legal topics in plain language for eligible organizations our team also helps with legal inquiries online and on the phone and this is all also a free part of our service we can refer community groups to our 10,000 pro bono lawyers across 60 member law firms for free legal help we also advocate for changes to the laws that impact the not-for-profit and charity sector and ongoing government support and we also run a certified social enterprise that provides easy-to-understand legal training like today's session with any profits that we make helping us to provide other legal free legal help for community organizations and we've referred to few resources today and we've got lots more specifically relating to managing volunteers on our website and they can all be found under the people involved tile which is circled on the screen and as already mentioned a few times new updated national volunteer guide is being launched this week and it provides a comprehensive overview of all of the key legal obligations and issues organizations need to think about when managing volunteers and it includes practical examples you know case scenarios other template documents and lots of tips along the way to help you we also have some learning modules you might be interested in around recruitment of volunteers and an app that covers off on the key legal issues you your group needs to consider when managing volunteers along with some other free webinars that are on the website as well so please be sure to check all of that out and I don't think we can run a webinar at the moment without addressing the different circumstances that we're under at the moment with covered 19 be aware that we have also created a range of initiatives that justice connect to respond to covert 19 issues and we're providing legal help to people in community organizations affected by the pandemic at not-for-profit law we've published some free resources answers to frequently asked questions and also a series of free webinars on issues not-for-profits are facing including managing volunteers during covert 19 and you can find these all on our website so we're going to stick around now for around 15 minutes or so to answer any questions that have come up by the question pane we won't necessarily be broadcasting all of these to air so if you do need to leave us now thank you so much for joining us special webinar for national volunteering week we would appreciate if you could spend you know less than five minutes to complete a short survey which will be posting now by the question pane you can just click on the link we do really value your feedback it's important to us and we would rely on your comments and suggestions to keep improving our service but also demonstrating our impact to funders so we can continue to provide the legal helped that we currently do to the not-for-profit sector so thank you so much for that in advance yes so for those of you leaving us thank you again we'll put ourselves on mute while we answer some of these questions via the Christian pane and just a reminder you will receive a recording in the coming days thanks everyone for joining us