Volunteer Agreement

Confidentiality Policy for Employees, Volunteers, and Board Members

Respecting the privacy of our clients, donors, members, staff, volunteers and of the NOPI itself is a basic value of NOPI. Personal and financial information is confidential and should not be disclosed or discussed with anyone without permission or authorization from the Executive Director and/or Board President. Care shall also be taken to ensure that unauthorized individuals do not overhear any discussion of confidential information and that documents containing confidential information are not left in the open or inadvertently shared.

Rationale
Confidentiality is the preservation of privileged information. By necessity, personal and private information is disclosed in a professional working relationship. Part of what you learn is necessary to provide services to the applicant or client; other information is shared within the development of a helping, trusting relationship. Therefore, most information gained about individual clients through an assignment is confidential in terms of the law, and disclosure could make you legally liable. Disclosure could also damage your relationship with the client and make it difficult to help the person.

Before you begin your assignment as a team member/volunteer, you should be aware of the laws and penalties for breaching confidentiality. Although the agency is liable for your acts within the scope of your duty, giving information to an unauthorized person could result in the agency's refusal to support you in the event of legal action. Violation of the state statutes regarding confidentiality of records is punishable upon conviction by fines or by imprisonment or by both.

 

Confidentiality Policy

Employees, volunteers, and board members of NOPI may be exposed to information which is confidential and/or privileged and proprietary in nature. It is the policy of NOPI that such information must be kept confidential both during and after employment or volunteer service. Staff and volunteers, including board members, are expected to return materials containing privileged or confidential information at the time of separation from employment or expiration of service.

Unauthorized disclosure of confidential or privileged information is a serious violation of this policy and will subject the person(s) who made the unauthorized disclosure to appropriate discipline, including removal/dismissal.

All information concerning clients, former clients, our staff, volunteers, financial data, and business records of NOPI is confidential. “Confidential” means that you are free to talk about NOPI and about your program and your position, but you are not permitted to disclose clients’ names or talk about them in ways that will make their identity known. No information may be released without appropriate authorization. This is a basic component of client care and business ethics. The board of directors, staff and our clients rely on paid and volunteer staff to conform to this rule of confidentiality.

NOPI expects you to respect the privacy of clients and to maintain their personal and financial information as confidential. All records dealing with specific clients must be treated as confidential. General information, policy statements or statistical material that is not identified with any individual or family is not classified as confidential. Staff members are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of information relating to other staff members and volunteers, in addition to clients.

Failure to maintain confidentiality may result in termination of your employment or other corrective action. This policy is intended to protect you, as well as NOPI, because in extreme cases, violations of this policy also may result in personal liability.

 

Certification

I have read NOPI’s policy on confidentiality and the Statement of Confidentiality presented above. I agree to abide by the requirements of the policy and inform my supervisor immediately if I believe any violation (unintentional or otherwise) of the policy has occurred. I understand that violation of this policy will lead to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of my service with NOPI.

Non-Solicitation Agreement

Whereas Volunteer and NOPI have entered into or are about to enter into a Volunteer relationship for their mutual benefit; and,

Whereas a condition of entering into and/or continuing such Volunteer relationship, NOPI has required Volunteer to enter into this Agreement;

Therefore, in consideration of the premises and other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which is hereby acknowledged, the parties agree as follows:

1. Definitions. Whenever used in this Agreement the word “Clients” means any entity provided services to by NOPI’s volunteers, Volunteers, or staff whether potential, paid, or pro-bono.

2. Non-Solicitation. Volunteer acknowledges that they will acquire considerable knowledge about, and expertise in, certain areas of NOPI’s operations and they will have knowledge of, and contact with, customers and suppliers of NOPI and its Clients. Volunteer further acknowledges that he or she may be able to utilize such knowledge and expertise, following termination of his or her service with NOPI, to the serious detriment of NOPI in the event Volunteer should solicit business from customers of NOPI or its Clients.

Accordingly, Volunteer agrees that:

(a) Non-Solicitation of Customers. The Volunteer will not, for a period of one (1) year after termination of his or her contract, directly or indirectly, approach any customer or business partner of NOPI or its Clients for the purpose of providing services substantially similar to the services provided by the NOPI or its Clients; and

(b) Non-Solicitation of Volunteers. He or she will not, for a period of one (1) year after termination of their contract, directly or indirectly, approach, solicit, entice or attempt to approach, solicit or entice any of the other Volunteers of NOPI or its Clients to leave the employment of NOPI.

(c) Presentment to any New Employer, Customer, or Client. Volunteer agrees to give a copy of this Agreement to any new employer, customer or client prior to their first day of work so that the new employer or client can evaluate whether they may be in violation of this Agreement. Volunteer and NOPI both believe that this step will help prevent any future conflict under this Agreement and Volunteer promises faithfully to exercise this requirement under this Agreement.

2. Restrictions Reasonable. The Volunteer acknowledges that all restrictions in this Agreement are reasonable in the circumstances and hereby waives all defenses to the enforcement thereof by the NOPI. In the event that any provisions of this Agreement shall be deemed void or invalid by a court,

the remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect and the Volunteer hereby confers upon such court the power to replace such void or invalid provisions with such other enforceable and valid provisions as shall be as near as may be to the original in form and effect.

3. Irreparable Harm. The Volunteer acknowledges that breach by him or her of the terms and conditions of this Agreement may cause irreparable harm to NOPI, which may not be compensable by monetary damages. Accordingly, the Volunteer acknowledges that a breach by it of the terms and conditions of this

Agreement shall be sufficient grounds for the granting of an injunction at the suit of the NOPI by a court of competent jurisdiction.

4. Notices. Any notice required by this Agreement or given in connection with it, shall be in writing and shall be given to the appropriate party via email.

5. No Waiver. The waiver or failure of either party to exercise in any respect any right provided in this agreement shall not be deemed a waiver of any other right or remedy to which the party may be entitled.

6. Entirety of Agreement. The terms and conditions set forth herein constitute the entire agreement between the parties and supersede any communications or previous agreements with respect to the subject matter of this Agreement. There are no written or oral understandings directly or indirectly related to this Agreement that are not set forth herein. No change can be made to this Agreement other than in writing and signed by both parties.

7. Governing Law. This Agreement shall be construed and enforced according to the laws of the State of Massachusetts and any dispute under this Agreement must be brought in this venue and no other.

8. Headings in this Agreement. The headings in this Agreement are for convenience only, confirm no rights or obligations in either party, and do not alter any terms of this Agreement.

9. Severability. If any term of this Agreement is held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid or unenforceable, then this Agreement, including all of the remaining terms, will remain in full force and effect as if such invalid or unenforceable term had never been included.

 

eWorkplace Policy & Procedures for Volunteers, Staff, and Contractors

The purpose of this policy is to describe the level of privacy and confidentiality that users of NOPI eWare (any software or technology platform provided and/or supported by NOPI, including Canva, G-Suite, Jotform, Salesforce, etc.) can expect. This policy covers all NOPI-issued accounts (independent contractors, employees, volunteers, vendors, etc).

NOPI is committed to the concept of privacy and, to the greatest extent possible, strives to protect the privacy of electronic material, communications of NOPI employees, contractors, and volunteers.

However, individuals using NOPI eWare should be aware that there are circumstances under which the content of such resources may be reviewed by NOPI officers or employees in the scope of their job responsibilities or by third parties as directed by NOPI or as required by law.

NOPI eWare is intended to be utilized to conduct NOPI business. Individuals having concerns about the confidentiality of their personal non-work-related communications or data are encouraged to use non-NOPI resources for those purposes.

A. eWare, Authorization and Ownership
NOPI is a virtual workplace that is not located in any one physical space. Our eWorkplace enables individuals to work with NOPI from any place in the world at any time. We embrace technology to facilitate team connection and collaboration. As such, NOPI provides access to its eWare to contractors, employees, volunteers, and vendors for the purpose of conducting NOPI business.

NOPI owns all information created, received, or stored on any electronic device or software
communication provided or supported by NOPI. All software in use by NOPI is officially licensed
software.

B. Privacy NOPI
eWare users should have no expectation of privacy, with respect to any aspect of their use of NOPI’s eWare, including but not limited to the Internet or email, including personal information or messages created, received, or maintained on NOPI’s eWare. From time to time, NOPI may need to access any
and all information on its eWare, including computer files, email, text and voicemail messages. NOPI
may, in its sole discretion, inspect all files or messages on its eWare - not an individual’s personal files or messages - at any time for any reason. Some of NOPI’s eWare requires the use of a password. Passwords do not confer any right of privacy upon a NOPI eWare user.

C. Deleted Information
All NOPI eWare users should understand that any information kept on NOPI’s eWare may be
electronically recalled or recreated regardless of whether it may have been “deleted” by a user.

Users who delete information or messages should not assume that such information or messages are confidential.

D. Confidential Information
NOPI protects confidential information from both the organization and its clients. Therefore, eWare users are expected to use good judgment when using or transmitting Confidential Information using NOPI eWare. Confidential Information should not be accessed through NOPI eWare in the presence of unauthorized individuals nor be left visible or unattended on any eWare.