Description

Non-Profit Volunteer Release and Waiver of Liability

Non-Profit Volunteer Release and Waiver of Liability Preparation Form (Coming Soon) – We recommend that you gather the information in this form prior to accessing the online questionnaire.  Doing so will help you efficiently create your custom Non-Profit Volunteer Release and Waiver of Liability.

Summary

Non-profit charitable organizations often rely on volunteers to perform a variety of tasks that are critical to the non-profit’s mission. Some of these tasks may involve a risk of injury. For example, volunteers may assist with:

• Leading sports or recreational activities for children.
• Preparing and serving meals in homeless shelters.
• Providing medical services in low-income communities.
• Performing construction-related work for disaster relief projects.
• Driving clients to appointments.

Details

Depending on the nature of the organization and the types of activities its volunteers perform, non-profits may face substantial risks, including liability for a volunteer’s personal injury and other claims. Therefore, a non-profit should take steps to:

• Educate its volunteers about the need for safety and protect them from harm.
• Minimize the likelihood and impact of claims and resulting damage to the non-profit’s reputation.
• Protect its funds and ensure the non-profit uses those funds for the its mission rather than to defend legal claims.

Release of Liability and Waiver of Rights

This document is a release of liability and waiver of rights agreement (commonly referred to as a release or a liability waiver) for a non-profit to use when it has volunteers help with a program, event, or activity. The law does not require non-profits to obtain volunteer releases. However, releases are an effective protection against liability when the parties use them as part of a broader risk management approach. Some insurers also require non-profits to obtain releases from their volunteers, particularly if volunteer services involve inherently dangerous activities. By signing the release, the volunteer agrees to:

• Assume the risk of injury inherent in the volunteer activity.
• Absolve, exculpate, and forgive the non-profit in advance of liability arising from the ordinary negligence of the non-profit (and its employees, agents, and other representatives).
• Relinquish its rights to a claim against the non-profit.

Risk Management

A non-profit should use volunteer releases as part of a comprehensive risk management program that includes:

• Taking reasonable precautions to create a safe work environment.
• Establishing a process and creating rules for supervising and monitoring volunteers.
• Preparing a volunteer handbook and other policies that protect volunteers and address the types of risks to which they may be exposed.
• Conducting volunteer orientation and training to:
  • educate volunteers about the non-profit’s mission, programs, policies, and procedures; and
  • provide volunteers with any safety training (such as instructions on how to operate equipment or requirements to work in pairs) and other knowledge needed to perform their volunteer activities.
• Providing information to volunteers on how to report any problems they encounter while performing volunteer activities.
• Securing appropriate insurance to cover the non-profit’s volunteer activities.

Drafting Considerations

This document provides a general template to assist in drafting a release. The authors drafted this document broad terms to cover a wide range of circumstances and favors the non-profit seeking the waiver. A non-profit may want to include other details in its release, depending on the type of volunteer activities involved. For example, a release could:

• Require that volunteers report any safety concerns.
• Recommend that the volunteer obtain medical insurance.
• Include a confidentiality provision if the volunteer will have access to sensitive or personal information (for example, about the non-profit’s beneficiaries).

Attorneys generally attempt to keep releases as short and informal as possible. Attorneys also attempt to write releases with clear language so that non-lawyers can fully understand the waiver. A clearly written waiver allows volunteers to sign the release without additional explanation or discussion and helps to avoid later questions of contract validity or enforceability.

Recordkeeping

Non-profits should retain all original, executed volunteer releases in a secure location so that they can quickly access the documents when necessary. To determine the retention period for volunteer releases, a non-profit should consider:

• Best practices, which is generally five to seven years after the volunteer’s service ends.
• If the volunteer activity was part of a program sponsored by government funds or other grants, any retention period required by the government contract or grant.

Assumptions

This release assumes that:

• A non-profit organization seeks the release. However, many of the concepts in this release may also apply to the use of volunteers by other types of organizations.
• The release is given by a US person in favor of a US entity, and the volunteer services take place in the US. If the non-profit is organized or operates in or any part of the volunteer services takes place in a foreign jurisdiction, this release may need to be modified to comply with applicable laws in the relevant jurisdiction.
• This release is not given in connection with terminating a contractual arrangement or settling a pending lawsuit or in an employment context. For parties to use a sample release agreement:
  • when the parties to a commercial contract are terminating or have terminated the contract (or a portion of it) and agree to deliver a mutual release of claims,
  • when settling a lawsuit; and
  • by an organization for employees engaged in employer-sponsored activities.
• This document is not industry-specific. This release does not account for any industry-specific laws, rules, or regulations that may apply to certain transactions, products, or services.
• This document does not account for the differences among individual state laws. This release is jurisdiction-neutral. For example, this document does not:
  • reflect the charitable immunity protections that may be available in a few states; or
  • address state laws where pre-injury releases of liability for future negligent acts may be deemed unenforceable (such as in Virginia).

When drafting a release, non-profits should seek the advice of a lawyer with relevant expertise in the appropriate jurisdictions. This document can be purchased as a stand along document or as part of our Non-Profit Compliance Package.