A Guide to Working with volunteer fundraisers

Having people freely give their time to help charities raise money, whether that’s directly collecting money, organising events, or making connections with local businesses, is one of the most significant ways of involving people and communities in your cause and can bring about long-term support.

There can be a range of people, or groups of people, who do voluntary activity for charities. As well as people helping to put on community events or collect money, you might also have a company whose employees do a programme of activity to support a cause, or a high profile celebrity or major donor who also acts as an ambassador or patron for your charity.

If people are doing this without material benefit or payment, then they are still volunteers for your cause, although your charity may have different policies and ways of working with companies or celebrities to make sure they are appropriately supported.

While it’s fantastic to have people volunteering for your charity, there are certain things for you to be aware of to ensure any activity they do follows all the right rules. 

It’s also important to think about how your charity can best support people who volunteer for you so they get the best experience possible and feel valued.

For the purposes of this guidance, a volunteer is someone who, without payment or other material benefit, raises money or engages in fundraising activity for a charity or other philanthropic or benevolent institution. (The reimbursement of reasonable out of pocket expenses incurred by a volunteer is not a material benefit).