Free · Certificate included

Volunteer Risk Management

Protect the people you serve, your volunteers, and your organization from harm.

36 min Intermediate 8 modules Pass 80%

For: Executive directors and nonprofit managers

What you’ll learn

Run the four-step risk-management cycle: identify, assess, control, and monitor
Score risks on a likelihood × impact matrix and prioritize what to treat first
Use screening, policy, waivers, and insurance as layered risk controls
Understand what the Volunteer Protection Act does — and the gaps it leaves open
Build an incident-reporting habit that turns near-misses into prevention

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Course outline

1
What risk management really means
More than 75.7 million people volunteered through an organization in America in a single recent year, contributing nearly 5 billion hours of service.
5 min Quiz Interactive
2
The risk-management cycle
Risk management isn’t a one-time project — it’s a cycle you run again and again.
6 min Quiz Interactive
3
The risk matrix: likelihood × impact
You can’t fix everything at once, so you have to prioritize.
6 min Quiz Interactive
4
Screening and policy as risk controls
Once you’ve assessed a risk, you control it.
5 min Quiz Interactive
5
Waivers, liability & the Volunteer Protection Act
Two legal tools come up constantly: waivers (a volunteer or participant signs away certain claims) and the federal Volunteer Protection Act of 1997 (VPA).
6 min Quiz Interactive
6
Insurance: transferring the risk you can’t prevent
Some risk you reduce; some you accept; and some you transfer — that’s what insurance is.
5 min Quiz Interactive
7
Incident reporting & monitoring
The "monitor" stage of the cycle lives or dies on one habit: reporting incidents and near-misses.
5 min Quiz Interactive
8
Putting it together: a risk plan that fits on a page
You now have the whole toolkit. Let’s assemble it for Riverside Mentors, a small nonprofit pairing adult volunteers one-on-one with at-risk teens. Walk the cycle…
4 min Interactive

Sources & further reading

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.