This Volunteering template has been produced by our Sustainable Volunteering Officer, Eleanor, to provide a suggested layout and content of Confidentiality and data protection guidelines to present to new and existing volunteers.

Adapt this document to correspond to your own guidelines, working practices, logo and policies.

If you have any questions about our Volunteering resources or cannot find something specific you are looking for, then please get in touch.

Confidentiality and Data Protection Guidelines for Volunteers

In the course of your volunteering here at [museum name], you may come into contact with and use confidential information. That information might be about people, such as names and addresses or even information about people’s circumstances, families, health and other private matters. It might be about technical, commercial or financial matters. We have to make sure individuals and other organisations can trust us, so it is vital that everyone understands what information they can and cannot share.

What we’ll do to help you:

  • Explain to you what information you can and cannot access
  • Give guidance on what you can and cannot share.

What you agree to do to help us:

  • You must not divulge any of our organisational information or any information we have regarding others to anyone outside of [museum name].
  • You must ensure that you lock away any personal data relating to an individual when you leave the office or your workstation.
  • If you are accessing information on our databases, you must not use this for any unlawful reason and you must not copy our information on paper or otherwise.
  • If you are photocopying information please ensure you take it all with you and do not leave items on the copier or in the photocopier room.
  • You must not send personal data by email or copy personal data to any type of removable media, e.g. USB stick.

We have a Data Protection policy which explains our rules and guidelines relating to working with personal information and help staff and volunteers ensure that they do not breach the Data Protection Act 2018.

No one should make assumptions about sharing confidential information with other employees, volunteers or organisations.  If you are not sure about what information you may or may not share then please talk to your supervisor. 

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