Every nonprofit eventually faces a difficult conversation about volunteers. Someone who started strong begins missing shifts. A trusted long-term volunteer can no longer safely perform his or her current role. A well-meaning person turns out to be a poor fit for the clients they serve. These situations are uncomfortable, but handling them professionally protects your […]
When a volunteer faces an allegation — whether for negligence, property damage, or harm to a client — your organization must respond immediately, regardless of whether the allegation has merit. Legal defense costs are real even when no wrongdoing occurred, and the financial and reputational strain of an unresolved claim can disrupt programs, erode donor […]
The right background check depends on what a volunteer will actually do. A volunteer who sorts donated goods in a back room carries a different risk profile than one who transports seniors to medical appointments or mentors children one-on-one. Treating every volunteer the same way — with either no screening at all or identical checks […]
When nonprofits talk about protecting their volunteers, “accident” and “liability” often get used in the same breath — as if they describe the same thing. They don’t. The gap between them is exactly where real financial exposure lives, and it’s a gap that many organizations don’t discover until something actually goes wrong. So what is […]
Community events are among the most visible, energizing things a nonprofit does — and among the most liability-dense. Whether it’s a Juneteenth celebration, a neighborhood cleanup, or a public health fair, these events put volunteers in direct contact with large numbers of people, unfamiliar environments, and situations that don’t appear in any job description. When […]
Many nonprofits conduct a solid onboarding orientation — and then nothing. Volunteers return week after week, season after season, and the safety guidance they received on day one quietly fades. The risks don’t. Maintaining safety awareness across a volunteer workforce when you’re already stretched thin is one of the more stubborn operational challenges in nonprofit […]
Disaster season arrives on a schedule. Hurricane season runs from June through November. Wildfire risk peaks in late summer and fall across much of the country. Every year, the window to prepare opens — and closes — whether your organization is ready or not. The volunteers who power your programs are often among the first […]
