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Risk Management

An effective risk management program is much more than conducting police records checks or putting policies in place. To assist organizations in implementing policies and develop risk management tools to support their efforts we have gathered a variety of forms and templates that can be adapted for in-house use. The materials are to be used as a guideline only and we encourage that organizations review and revise them for their particular needs. The tools can either be reviewed on-line and printed from the screen or can be downloaded as a PDF file.

If your budget for resources on screening is limited (and whose budget isn't?), the following resources will get you off to a good start:

1. By Definition: Policies for Volunteer Programs, by Linda Graff. A great resource of sample policies and recommendations on how to write them.

2. Beyond Police Records Checks, by Linda Graff. A great tool to further develop your risk management program.

3. Better Safe...Risk Management in Volunteer Programs & Community Service by Linda Graff. Provides background on risk management, an easy-to-apply risk management model, and hundreds of tips and tricks to make volunteer programs safer and more productive. Packed with ready to use worksheets, checklists, and sample forms. Linda Graff's products are available on her website: www.lindagraff.ca.

4. Safe Steps, by Volunteer Canada (handbook as well as workshop). Based on ten steps that are crucial for implementing an effective risk management program.

5. Best Practice Guidelines for Screening Volunteers: Finding the Right Match, by Public Safety Canada.

6. Volunteer Management, Mobilizing all the Resources of the Community, by Steve McCurley and Rick Lynch. A wonderful general resource for anyone who is interested in volunteer management.

7. BC volunteer centres provide excellent resources on risk management and screening. A list of volunteer centres can be found on our links page.

(Volunteer Vancouver's library has a number of excellent resources and offers an introductory course to volunteer management www.volunteervancouver.ca).

8. Sport BC has developed a number of valuable tools and also collected a wide variety of recommended resources on their website www.sport.bc.ca.

9. Two great general websites loaded with articles, resources and tons of links are www.energizeinc.com and the Canadian www.charityvillage.ca.

10. To download the complete text of Volunteers and the Law, visit http://www.publiclegaled.bc.ca/home/index.htm.

11. To network with other administrators of volunteers and gain access to professional contacts in BC and beyond, consider joining AVRBC (Administrators of Volunteers BC). For more information see www.avrbc.org.

12. And of course visit Volunteer BC's website www.volunteerbc.bc.ca for risk management information, our database, information on upcoming events and contacts in your region of the province.

Why Policies?

Every organization has rules, standards or guidelines, whether they are written or unwritten for carrying out its work. However call them policies and people tend to get nervous dreading the complicated and formal process that goes into formulating policies. The task of planning and developing policies seems daunting and is often left up to board members who will write and/or approve policies, imposing them on staff and volunteers who may or may not understand the rational for these policies. In many cases policies are created to respond to a crisis or a problem. However, planning and developing policies ahead of time can prevent crisis and problems from occurring in the first place, as the policies provide structure and guidance for staff and volunteers. In the true sense of the word, a policy expresses a position being taken or states a value or belief.

Written policies are key to reduce or eliminate risk, clarify rules and expectations, increase the effectiveness of programs, guide newcomers to the organization, provide standards of conduct, direction and delineate responsibilities and boundaries and offer continuity over time as new staff and volunteers join. Written policies create an equal playing field for all involved.

Policies will tell us what to do whereas a procedure tells us how to do it. Often a policy statement is accompanied by procedures. Even though it is ultimately the responsibility of the board of directors to approve policies for the organization, when it comes to volunteer programs, coordinators of volunteers are instrumental in formulating what policies are required to run an effective and safe volunteer program.

Sample Policies

In this document you will find an overview of the most common policies related to screening in volunteer programs. A checklist of policies ( PDF, 64KB) gives an overview of the most common policies required in a volunteer program. Each policy item will have a sample wording and some key aspects to consider when developing this policy. The samples are designed to assist you in developing your own policies and are for guidance only. It is key that your organization carefully discusses the need and purpose of each policy as well as the content to adjust the wording. Volunteer Canada's Safe Steps screening manual ( PDF, 280KB) contains an excellent check list to assist you develop a comprehensive risk management program.

Who is Responsible?

In an ideal world, each organization that runs a volunteer program would have a trained and experienced professional responsible for the management of the volunteer resources. Just like you would hire a qualified accountant to look after your finances or an experienced manager and leader as your executive director, the volunteer program requires a professional who can implement and oversee the full volunteer management cycle of planning, recruitment, orientation and training, supervision, evaluation and recognition. However, we recognize that in many organizations financial restraints may not allow for the hiring of part-time or full time administrator of volunteer resources. Instead a number of staff or even volunteers may take on one of more of the components of administrating a volunteer program. If that is your reality it is still key to ensure that there is always a clearly identifiable contact person and/or supervisor for the volunteer program. For more information on the skills and requirements and sample job description of an administrator of volunteer resources, please see the AVRBC Employer's Information Package (PDF, 100KB) or www.avrbc.org (Administrators of Volunteer Resources-BC) for more information.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the staff of these organizations for generously sharing their time, expertise and resources: