Advisen Topical Report:
The Myth of Volunteer Immunity
Sponsored by CNA
Volunteers are often the engine of success for a nonprofit organization. They are the essence of charity work and help to make real the missions of thousands of organizations worldwide. Those donating their time to charitable causes typically do not consider the consequences of being accused and held personally liable of negligence during the course of performing their duties. The government recognized this, as well as how important volunteerism is to the nonprofit sector, and subsequently passed volunteer immunity laws on both the state and federal level providing volunteers with a degree of protection from civil liability.
While immunity laws provide volunteers with some protection they are not complete solutions. Many in the nonprofit sector mistakenly believe that volunteer protection statutes provide complete protection from civil liability in addition to protecting the nonprofit entity. These are myths that could lead to potentially disastrous consequences.
This new Advisen report, sponsored by CNA, examines the protection afforded by volunteer immunity laws, the exposures often excluded by these laws and other volunteer protection mechanisms that should be in place.
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