Volunteer Etiquette and Professionalism

What you’ll learn

• Be the reliable, committed volunteer coordinators can count on — and communicate clearly when plans change
• Dress and conduct yourself appropriately, and respect staff and the chain of command
• Protect confidentiality, keep healthy boundaries with clients, and post responsibly on social media
• Represent the organization well in public and recover from mistakes with grace and accountability

Course outline

1. 1

   Reliability and commitment: showing up is the whole job

   Before the dress code, before the email tone, before any of it — there is one trait that separates a treasured volunteer from a headache: you do what you said you…

   6 min Quiz Interactive
2. 2

   Dress and conduct: looking the part, acting the part

   The moment you put on a name badge, you become a face of the organization.

   5 min Quiz Interactive
3. 3

   Communication and email basics

   Much of volunteer coordination happens by email, text, and group chat.

   6 min Quiz Interactive
4. 4

   Respecting staff and the chain of command

   Every organization has a structure — a coordinator, a supervisor, paid staff, perhaps a director.

   5 min Quiz Interactive
5. 5

   Confidentiality, client boundaries, and social media

   Volunteers often see things outsiders never do — a client’s name, their circumstances, their struggles.

   7 min Quiz Interactive
6. 6

   Representing the organization and handling mistakes

   Whether you’re at a booth, answering a phone, or just wearing the shirt at the grocery store, you carry the organization’s reputation with you.

   6 min Quiz Interactive

Sources & further reading

• Emily Post Institute — Etiquette for Volunteering
• National Council of Nonprofits — Codes of Ethics / Values Statements for Nonprofits
• Johns Hopkins University — Volunteer Code of Conduct and Confidentiality Agreement
• Project Management Institute — Social Media Participation Guidelines for PMI Volunteers
• Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) — Civility & professionalism in the workplace