Volunteer Program

[ddw23]

Hello to all!

I was wondering if anyone will instruct me on how to start a volunteer program within my church. I know I need to identify skills, but I don't know the preliminaries. Are there grants available for this type of program? If so, how do I locate them? Are there any IRS issues? Insurance issues? Legal issues? I've become weary searching the web. I hope someone can give me some good instruction. Thanks to all!!

[scotty]

You are going to have to provide much more detail. Stipulations are different with each program. What you will need for that program will depend on the services offered by it

[ddw23]

I would like to have a group of church members where I attend to serve as volunteers within the community representing our church. I want to make our presence known to the community and I thought this would be a good start. I want to be able to reimburse mileage and possibly pay for a meal during their volunteering. I also want to have appreciation dinners if not once a year, once every 2 years. Our membership is roughly 200 including children.

I don't want to include non-members to serve in the program at this time.

I'm not sure how much more specific I need to be since I've never set up a program before. So I hope I've given you a general idea that you can work with.



Thank you for responding and responding so quickly!!!

[scotty]

I would say a yearly appreciation dinner is plenty. Gas and food while volunteering is usually a part of the sacrafice.

If your group is going to set up its own functions to volunteer for then what is required of you legally will, again, depend on what your doing. For instance, I ran a Citizens on Patrol program in my community as a crime detterent. Now, if one of my people had crashed into someone or a mailbox or something while on patrol, they were responsible because I had a waiver drawn up they had to sign saying so. That way nobody could sue my program.

If your volunteers while in the process of volunteering cause damage they or your program could be liable by your states laws. You might also check with your churches insurance company. If your program is represented by your church then they could be held liable. Either way they could be a better source of information for your local and state laws.

If you are "loaning" your group to a community program or project that is being hosted by another qroup or org. then all liabilities fall on them. (again, according to Arkansas state law)

[ddw23]

Yes, we will be "loaning" individuals from the group to volunteer for community programs or projects hosted by other groups or organizations. So I need to find out what our state law says about such. And sounds like you are saying I shouldn't be concerned about incentives that would be resourced via a grant, (if there are grants for such). And with that in mind, maybe "program" is not the correct terminology.

I was trying to find a "cushion" for them to keep them encouraged to volunteer but you're right, it is part of the sacrifice. And through the process, if it wins a soul to Christ, it's all worth it.

I'll research to find out what the law in this state says.

Thank you so much for your help!

[scotty]

Sure thing,

Get some shirts made with your church name and info and a catchy logo for them to wear while volunteering.. that will help spread the word of who you are..

[ddw23]

Good idea. Thanks.