An employee may sometimes volunteer for a nonprofit, but a nonprofit cannot avoid wage obligations by calling ordinary employment “volunteer work.” The actual activity, expectations, and circumstances control. Department of Labor guidance distinguishes charitable volunteering from covered commercial activity and employee work. [1]
Genuine volunteering requires genuine choice
Consider whether the activity serves a religious, charitable, civic, or humanitarian purpose, occurs freely without coercion, and is performed without expectation of compensation. An employer’s request can become coercive when staff reasonably believe refusing will affect their jobs.
Do not relabel the regular job
Employees generally cannot volunteer the same type of services they are employed to perform for the nonprofit. Work the employer permits or accepts can remain compensable even if it was not formally requested. [1] [2]
For example, an hourly bookkeeper processing the nonprofit’s payroll on a weekend is not necessarily volunteering simply because the office calls it a fundraiser weekend. A genuinely optional, different charitable activity requires its own analysis.
Public-agency rules are not a universal nonprofit exemption
Regulations specifically addressing public-sector volunteers should not be applied automatically to a private nonprofit. Likewise, being tax-exempt does not establish that every worker and activity is outside the FLSA.
Document the arrangement
Identify the activity, duties, hours, supervisor, expected compensation, reimbursements, and how participation is kept optional. If it is employee work, record and pay it correctly, including applicable overtime.
Check coverage as well as the volunteer label
DOL distinguishes enterprise coverage from individual coverage. Commercial activities of a nonprofit can create enterprise coverage, while employees engaged in covered interstate activity can have individual protection even when the nonprofit’s charitable operation does not meet enterprise requirements. Donations are not simply treated like commercial sales for every coverage calculation. [1]
A fundraiser can therefore require more analysis than announcing that all staff are volunteers for the day. Identify whether employees are performing their regular work, whether they replace paid staff, how hours are controlled, and whether participation is truly optional. Expense reimbursement or a token payment also should be reviewed on its actual terms rather than assumed to settle employment status. Keep paid work and genuine voluntary service clearly documented without asking workers to waive statutory wages through a label.
See paid sick leave and FMLA and premium-pay coverage for other situations where the pay rule depends on the actual employment category rather than the organization’s preferred label.
Primary sources
- Fact Sheet 14A – Non-Profit Organizations and the Fair Labor Standards Act
- 29 C.F.R. 785.11: Work suffered or permitted
Sources checked: October 31, 2026.