Principles of the Charter
In signing up to Glasgow’s Volunteering Charter, your organisation is making a commitment to the following values and principles:
- Freedom and Choice – everyone should be free to choose to volunteer their time, energy and skills for the benefit of their community – without compulsion and without any unreasonable restrictions.
- Mutual benefit – Every opportunity will identify how people will benefit from their participation in volunteering, and how their role will contribute both to the organisation and to wider community social objectives.
- Volunteering and Paid Employment – We recognise that huge areas of activity in society are entirely reliant on people’s volunteering efforts. Increasing volunteering opportunities need not – and should not – detract from efforts to increase employment opportunities. In designing and developing appropriate volunteering opportunities in the context of policies such as public service reform and community empowerment, we will use a clear set of values and principles including those contained in the original 2010 joint STUC/Volunteer Scotland Charter.
The existing joint STUC/ Volunteer Scotland Charter has since been updated as of February 2019 to take account of a new context and the expressed need and demand for clear and unambiguous principles for assuring volunteer legitimacy and preventing exploitation. The key goal is to ensure good relations between workers and volunteers, and to ensure that other stakeholders achieve consensus on the validity of volunteer roles (STUC 2019).
You can view and download the STUC/ Volunteer Scotland 10 Principles for assuring legitimacy & preventing exploitation of workers & volunteers Charter by clicking on this link HERE
- Inclusion – Volunteer involving organisations will actively seek to make opportunities as accessible as possible, and will monitor the diversity of their volunteers.
- Out of pocket expenses – People should not be financially disadvantaged by volunteering.
- Collaboration – Both volunteers and paid staff should contribute to development of volunteering policies and procedures, co-designing and production of new roles and opportunities too!
- Appropriate resourcing – Organisations will plan and budget effectively for volunteers’ support, out-of-pocket expenses, training/development, inclusion, and recognition.
- Support – people volunteering will be provided with support appropriate to their role and needs.
- Quality – organisations will develop volunteer management processes and practice that support a positive, high quality experience.
- Healthy Environment – People that are volunteering have a right to a safe, secure and healthy environment, free from harassment and discrimination; and to a clear mechanism for the resolution of any concerns/disputes.
- Recognition – The contribution of people volunteering and the value they bring to communities and services will be publicly recognised and celebrated.
