The Legal Basis of the Relationship with Volunteers
Volunteering is not regulated by a separate statute in Georgia: there is no special law on volunteers, and the relationship between an organisation and a volunteer therefore rests legally on the general constructions of the Civil Code — above all, the mandate contract performed gratuitously. The framework is flexible: under Article 319 of the Code, subjects of private law are free, within the limits of the law, to conclude contracts and to determine their content, and they may conclude contracts that are not provided for by law but do not contradict it. The volunteer agreement is built precisely on that freedom: it is neither an employment contract nor any mandatory statutory form — it is drafted on the model of a mandate contract, without remuneration. What the freedom does not remove is the need for precision: because no ready-made statutory form exists, everything the parties do not write into the agreement will be filled by the default rules of the Code, and those defaults are not always what a volunteer programme intends.
The Mandate Model and Gratuitousness
Article 709 defines the contract: under a mandate contract, the mandatary is obliged to perform for the mandator one or more acts entrusted to him, in the name and at the expense of the mandator. In the volunteer setting this means that the organisation (the mandator) entrusts defined activities to the volunteer (the mandatary), and the volunteer acts in the organisation's name and at its expense. Remuneration is governed by Article 710: the mandator is obliged to pay the mandatary remuneration only in the cases provided for by the contract or by law; remuneration is deemed tacitly agreed where, according to the circumstances, the performance of the act is expected only against remuneration; and where the amount is not determined, a customary remuneration is deemed agreed — or a scale-based one where a scale exists. For a volunteer agreement this is the decisive point: if the contract provides no remuneration and the circumstances do not point to payment, the relationship remains gratuitous — and that status should be expressed explicitly in the agreement, so that no presumption of payment arises later.
Property Questions and the Reimbursement of Expenses
Property discipline is settled by Article 716: property that the mandatary acquired in performing the entrusted act at the mandator's expense and in his own name, or that the mandator transferred to him for the performance of the act, is deemed, in the mandatary's relations with his creditors, to be the mandator's property. In volunteer practice this means: everything acquired at the organisation's expense, or transferred by the organisation to the volunteer for the task, remains the organisation's property. The reimbursement of expenses must be treated separately. Covering the cost of transport, food or materials for a volunteer is not remuneration, and in the agreement it should be formulated exactly that way — as expense coverage. If periodic monetary payments carry the hallmarks of remuneration, there arises the risk of recharacterisation of the relationship — including as an employment relationship — and that risk is neutralised by correct drafting of the agreement, which separates reimbursement from any payment for work.
Termination, and the Volunteer Compared with the Employee
Article 720 resolves the termination of the mandate contract in the most liberal way: the parties may terminate it at any time, and any agreement to waive that right is void. If the mandatary terminated the contract at a moment when the mandator was deprived of the possibility of securing his interests otherwise, the mandatary must compensate the damage caused by the termination, unless he had an important reason for it; and if the mandator terminates, he must reimburse the mandatary all necessary expenses incurred in performing the entrusted act, and — where the contract was for remuneration — pay the remuneration in proportion to the work performed. One final boundary matters most in practice: a volunteer is not an employee. The protections of labour legislation attach only to an employment contract, and a gratuitous volunteer relationship does not generate them — a difference that both the organisation and the volunteer should understand before the work begins, not after a dispute has arisen.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below we answer the most common questions about relationships with volunteers.
Which contract is concluded with a volunteer?
On the model of the mandate contract, performed gratuitously: the volunteer performs defined acts in the organisation's name and at its expense, without remuneration unless the contract provides otherwise.
Can the contract be terminated at any time?
Yes — the parties may terminate the mandate contract at any time, and an agreement waiving that right is void; termination at a bad moment without an important reason may lead to compensation of the damage.
Whose property is an item purchased for the task?
What the volunteer acquired at the organisation's expense and in his own name, or what the organisation transferred for the task, is deemed the organisation's property in relations with creditors.
Does a volunteer have employment rights?
No — labour-law protections attach only to an employment contract; a gratuitous volunteer relationship does not generate them.
How We Help on Legal.ge
A correctly drafted volunteer agreement protects the organisation from the risk of recharacterisation and the volunteer from misunderstanding. On Legal.ge you can consult an experienced civil lawyer who will prepare the agreement, explain the rules on expense reimbursement, and help you structure the relationship correctly. Fill in the request form on the site and receive qualified assistance.