Free · Certificate included
Creating a Volunteer Handbook
Give volunteers one clear guide to your expectations, policies, and culture.
What you’ll learn
- Decide what every volunteer handbook should cover
- Write clear policies volunteers will actually read
- Keep your handbook current, acknowledged, and enforceable
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Create a free account →Course outline
- 1
Why a handbook (and what it really does)
A volunteer handbook is the one place where everything a volunteer needs to know lives together: who you are, what you expect, what they can expect from you, and…
5 min Quiz Interactive - 2
The anatomy of a handbook
Most strong volunteer handbooks share the same skeleton.
6 min Quiz Interactive - 3
The policies that protect everyone
A handful of policies do most of the protective work.
6 min Quiz Interactive - 4
Write it so people read it
The best policy is the one volunteers actually read and remember.
5 min Quiz Interactive - 5
Acknowledgment, sign-off & the paper trail
A handbook that sits unread on a shelf protects no one.
4 min Quiz Interactive - 6
Keep it alive: review, revise, re-share
A handbook is a living document, not a monument.
4 min Quiz Interactive
Sources & further reading
- National Council of Nonprofits — Volunteers — managing and protecting your volunteer workforce
- Energize, Inc. — Benefits of Policies for Volunteer Programs
- Galaxy Digital — Creating Effective Volunteer Policies and Procedures
- Nonprofit Learning Lab — Creating a Volunteer Handbook: Build Clarity in Volunteer Management
- Wagenmaker & Oberly — Volunteer Handbooks: Benefits and Best Practices
VolunteerBadge Academy courses are provided free for general educational and informational purposes only. Every course is researched from reputable, authoritative sources (cited on the course), but VolunteerBadge and ScreenForge Labs, LLC make no representations or warranties of any kind — express or implied — as to the accuracy, completeness, currentness, reliability, or suitability of the content for any purpose. Content may contain errors or omissions and may become outdated, and laws, regulations, standards, and best practices vary by jurisdiction and change over time. This material is not legal, medical, mental-health, clinical, financial, safety-certification, or other professional advice, and completing a course or earning a certificate creates no professional relationship, license, accreditation, or endorsement and is not a substitute for training, certification, supervision, or policies required by law, your organization, your insurer, or a licensing body. Always follow your organization's own policies and applicable law, use your own judgment, and consult a qualified professional (such as an attorney, licensed clinician, or medical provider) about your specific situation. In an emergency, call 911 (or, for a mental-health crisis, 988). To the fullest extent permitted by law, VolunteerBadge and ScreenForge Labs, LLC disclaim all liability for any loss or harm arising from reliance on this content or participation in any course.