Volunteer Policy

Purpose of this policy
The Volunteer Policy identifies and sets out the principles by which CPRE North Yorkshire works with volunteers, the benefits it gains from its volunteers and benefits that volunteers expect to gain. This policy sets out the minimum standards for recruitment, induction, and appointment of volunteers to ensure that both volunteer and charity expectations are met. It provides for fair and equal treatment of its volunteers and a framework for implementation at national, country, and regional level.

Who the policy applies to?
The policy is for volunteers that work with and provide support to within CPRE North Yorkshire. It is useful for organisations and individuals with whom CPRE North Yorkshire has partnership relationships. The policy will be provided to all CPRE North Yorkshire volunteers.

Who are CPRE North Yorkshire volunteers?
CPRE North Yorkshire, the countryside charity, works to enhance, promote and protect our towns and countryside including the communities within it. We couldn’t do this without support from people like you, and we’re committed to protecting your data and privacy.
We want you to feel assured that any information you give us through your volunteering is secure and safe. This policy outlines the data we collect, how we may use it and how we keep it safe.

‘We’ or ‘us’ means;
CPRE North Yorkshire CIO, ‘The Countryside Charity’ (Campaign to Protect Rural England) Registered Charity 1174989. A CPRE North Yorkshire volunteer is someone who freely chooses to give their time to undertake tasks and activities to help the charity achieve its aims, without payment or the expectation of payment. The arrangement is voluntary on both sides. Either party can bring this to an end.

CPRE North Yorkshire seeks and values the following attributes that volunteers bring:
• a genuine interest in helping people
• a non-judgemental attitude
• a willingness to listen
• understanding, commitment and reliability

Thereby, adhering to the CPRE’s values of approachable, non-judgemental, inspiring, and passionate. The Charity is not able to accept applications from those who are not willing to commit to CPRE’s aims and objectives or from those that the charity considers to be unsuitable for the role.

Keeping your information safe
We take appropriate physical, electronic and managerial measures to keep your information secure, accurate and up to date. Should you contact us about your personal information, we’ll require you to confirm your identity before we can discuss this with you.

Why we collect information about you

We collect information about you:
• For use during any suitability assessment for the volunteering role you have applied for
• For our legitimate interests, for example by sending you an email newsletter to keep you updated about volunteering with CPRE North Yorkshire

We seek to ensure that our information collection and processing is always proportionate. We’ll notify you of any material changes to the information we collect, or to the purposes for which we collect and process it.

The information we collect about you
The personal information we collect, process and retain on Assemble about you may include:

• Name and contact details including address, email, telephone number
• Date of birth
• Emergency contact details
• Information you have given us through your application and suitability assessment
• Details of referees provided by you and copies of any references we obtain
• Bank account details for paying travel expenses

How we collect and use your information
Personal information will be collected from you directly and from relevant third parties where you have provided your consent, for example your referees.
We’ll collect this information:

• When you apply for a volunteering role and during the suitability assessment process
• Throughout your volunteering activities
• For a relevant period after you finish volunteering

Disclosing your information to other organisations
We use Assemble, an online volunteer management system to process your information. Assemble is the data processor and you’ll be asked to agree to Assemble’s terms and conditions when you first log in to your account or when you apply for a volunteering role. CPRE remains the controller of your data and is ultimately responsible for it. Your data is not transferred outside of Europe.
Where there is a legal obligation to do so, we will share your information with authorities such as the police.

How long we keep your information
We retain your personal information for as long as it is required as explained above. This will usually be for the entirety of your active volunteering and for a period of up to 7 years afterwards to comply with our legal obligations. Information gathered during your suitability assessment, such as your reference details, is deleted after 6 months.

Equality and Diversity
CPRE North Yorkshire is committed to building a diverse organisation that is responsive to the needs of people and our members. The charity is also committed to equal opportunities at all stages of recruitment and selection. Short-listing, interviewing and selection of volunteers should always be carried out without regard to protected characteristics: age; disability; gender reassignment; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity; race; religion or belief; sex; and sexual orientation.

When you apply for a volunteering role, you can choose to share sensitive personal data with us. This includes your nationality, ethnicity, gender, disability, sexual orientation, age and religious beliefs.

Assemble anonymises equality and diversity data on submission of your volunteering application. This means it cannot be viewed by system administrators and does not form part of your volunteering record or suitability assessment.

We use this data to report on the diversity of volunteers to improve our recruitment practices to ensure our volunteering opportunities are inclusive and accessible to everyone.

Your rights
You have the right to:

• Ask for a copy of the information we hold about you
• Have any inaccuracies in your information corrected
• Request the deletion of personal information we hold about you
• Ask us to change how we process your information
• Object to us processing your information

We reserve the right to decline or limit your request where we have legal reasons to do so.

Expenses
CPRE North Yorkshire endeavours to reimburse volunteers reasonable out-of-pocket expenses, however, the decision to reimburse expenses is made at the Trustees’ discretion, based on their assessment of the requirements of the charity, the available budget and the volunteer’s own needs.

The value and benefits that volunteers bring to CPRE North Yorkshire
CPRE North Yorkshire recognises that volunteers are an enormous resource in helping to meet its aims. They bring a wealth of expertise, knowledge, experience and skills to the charity. Specifically, volunteers:

• deliver much of the face-to-face work with people
• enrich the quality of programme delivery
• provide a unique and different relationship with people that cannot be provided by paid staff
• provide contacts and networking opportunities that help promote and raise the profile
  of the charity
• offer specialist knowledge in a variety of areas
• provide an interface between the charity, the local community, funders and other partners upon whom the charity relies

The benefits to a volunteer of supporting CPRE North Yorkshire
Supporting CPRE North Yorkshire provides volunteers with:

• the ability to make a difference to the lives of individual people, local communities and thereby making a contribution to society and countryside as a whole
• an opportunity to be part of a high profile, well-respected national charity
• personal development opportunities and experiences
• networking opportunities and interaction with other volunteers, supporters, and CPRE staff.

Getting in touch
Please get in touch if you have any questions regarding this policy. You can do this:

• By writing to us: Data protection lead, CPRE North Yorkshire, P.O. Box 189, YO7 9BL
• By emailing us at: info@cprenorthyorkshrie.co.uk
• By contacting our supporter care team at: 07983 088120

What to do if you have a complaint
If you have a question or complaint, please contact our data protection officer. If you’re unsatisfied with the outcome, you may then inform The Volunteering Development Manager – North – Cassa Townsend on T: 020 7981 2800 | DD: 07936 369411 or via email CassaT@cpre.org.uk.