Writing a Volunteer Handbook
From Our Toolkit
A Volunteer Handbook serves to inform, educate, and support volunteers. Your handbook should be written for your volunteers and provide the information they need to support their role as a volunteer within your organisation.
What to include in your Volunteer Handbook
Every handbook needs to contain some universal content but overall it will be unique and tailored to your organisation:
- Warwickshire Community & Volunteer Action’s fact sheet 3c: The volunteer handbook – day-day practicalities provides a useful overview of the purpose of a volunteer handbook and a suggestion of the content to include.
- The Association of Independent Museum’s Successfully Recruiting and Retaining Volunteers provides a suggested list of contents on page 15.
Version control
It is important that the Volunteer Handbook is kept up-to-date. An easy way to do this is to compile a master copy in a ring binder, information can then be easily added or removed. The Handbook should also be accessible to everyone and it is therefore essential that a copy is located somewhere that everybody can get to. If your handbook is to be kept online and emailed to volunteers then you will need to decide on how to keep your volunteers updated as the handbook evolves.
Examples of volunteer handbooks from museums and archives:
- Leeds Museums & Galleries: Volunteer Handbook
- The National Archives: Volunteering at the National Archives Volunteer Handbook