One of our trustees has decided that she wants to come and volunteer with our project, and get involved in contact with the clients. We don't actually have a vacancy for a project volunteer at the moment, but she refuses to believe that.
She also objects to having to apply and go through our usual selection process, as she believes she has a right to take on any role she wants. The project role is very different from the role of trustee, and I'm not sure she would be suitable. Is she even allowed to be in both roles at once?
Dr Stuart replies:
It is possible for trustees also to be involved as volunteers in other roles within the same organisation. There is some useful guidance on the issue from NCVO that talks about different 'hats' that trustees might wear, and this exercise from their website does mention that trustees might also be wearing a 'volunteer' hat, at times: click here to find the "hat wearing" exercise.
There is also a paragraph in 'The Good Governance Guide' (also from NCVO) that mentions the issue, and I will copy it below:
"Trustees can, and sometimes do, play several roles in their charity. In addition to their volunteer role as a member of the governing body, they act as volunteers in other ways, for example, running fundraising events, doing the accounts, or delivering the service provided by the charity.
If you have a number of different roles, it is important to be aware of when you are acting in a particular role. In your role as a trustee, you are responsible for setting objectives for the chief executive officer's work plan, but if you are in another volunteer role, you must be prepared to take direction from the person with responsibility for supervising that area of the charity's work. For example, if your charity runs a community centre that has a paid manager, when you are in your role as a trustee the manager will be accountable to you, but when you work as a volunteer helping to run the community centre's creche, you will be accountable to the centre's manager."
So, a trustee can also be a volunteer - but that isn't to say it's always a good idea. This sounds like one of those situations where the difficulties are more to do with the individual involved than with anything legal or structural. You say that there isn't actually a vacancy for a project volunteer at the moment, but that the trustee has decided to be one, anyway.
She might not think that having an extra person to manage would place any burden on you, but I think it needs to be make clear to her that volunteers have to be managed - supervised, supported, reimbursed expenses, all the usual - and so an extra person makes extra work.
She might argue that her contribution will outweigh that, but if there isn't a role there for her, then I don't know how clear that contribution would be. (Do your volunteers normally have a specific role, or a specific project to carry out? Or is it a bit more 'organic'? I think if you usually have quite clear roles, it would be easier to argue that there isn't a vacancy, so here's hoping!) She also needs to understand that your screening and selection procedures exist for a reason, and that she can't automatically take on any role she fancies by virtue of already being involved with the organisation.
Has she already started turning up to volunteer? If she's already started, that would make it tricky, as you'd have to ask her to stop. But if she hasn't, I think you need to be firm and tell her that your resources won't accommodate an extra volunteer at the moment.
It might be a good idea to talk to the chair of your board, to see if they can have some influence on her. Perhaps it would also be a good idea for the board to think about drawing up a policy on how they will proceed if one of them is interested in a volunteering vacancy, to avoid situations like this in future.
