Professional Ethics in Volunteer Management
Ethical standards are one of the hallmarks of a profession. One of CCVA’s core strategic priorities is to inspire and encourage practitioners to apply an ethical lens to their work with volunteers. To that end, CCVA determines the core ethical values and principles for this field, and offers a number of resources for leaders of volunteer engagement and educators. We offer free sessions to those who want to hone their skills as ethical practitioners.
Those who lead and support volunteers must be committed to the following core ethical values:
- Citizenship
- Respect
- Accountability
- Fairness
- Trust

Contact us to arrange a webinar or workshop related to ethics in volunteer administration.
"Thank you for your presentation on applying ethics to our work with volunteers. You gave us a clear and concise method that is readily applicable. The four questions to consider with the scenarios were really helpful. Of course, the chance to chat with peers was gold. This method allows us to take the emotion out of decision-making. That may be my biggest takeaway. We can mitigate that "knot in the stomach feeling" with this process, and know that we have given our best efforts to find the path of least harm."
Jennifer Imai
Volunteer Engagement Professional
Portland, Oregon, USA
Candidates for the CVA certification are required to affirm their intent to uphold these ethical standards.
Managers and leaders of volunteer involvement should base their decision making on these five core ethical values in order to:
be accessible to diverse groups
operate ethically with all stakeholders
maintain the public trust
sustain a helping environment
minimize the risk for legal actions
promote continuous improvement
Additional Resources and tools
Simple, clear and concise, at a glance resource of the values and principles – This is a great tool to post near your desk to refer to in a pinch.
A resource to help you work making a decision using the Professional Ethics in Volunteer Administration Core Values and Principles.
Globally, professional ethics is becoming more important to those who lead volunteers. In 2001 a “Universal Declaration on the Profession of Leading and Managing Volunteers” (PDF) was developed by an international working group at the Association for Volunteer Administration conference in Toronto. This document echoes many of the core values listed above, and articulates beliefs about the role of effective volunteer management which are widely shared throughout the world.
If you are interested in a workshop on the Professional Ethics in Volunteer Administration, please contact us.