Information for potential hosts

Please read these very comprehensive notes before applying to become a WWOOF UK host.

As soon as possible (perhaps about two weeks) after you have filled in all your details, a WWOOF volunteer will contact you to discuss becoming a host and all the implications for you and the WWOOFers before you join. In a few cases a volunteer may also arrange to visit you. Meanwhile, here are some general points you might want to think about.

Insurance

Once you have been accepted as a WWOOF host, you will be asked to sign a declaration which states, amongst other things, that you will take out an insurance policy that covers volunteers helping on your property.  You may find that your existing insurance is already enough.  Talk to your insurer. Depending on your situation, you may find that you need Employers Liability Insurance.  Again, your existing insurer may be able to help, or the NFU may be a good starting point.

WWOOFers sign an agreement to say that they will take out adequate insurance cover for health, accident, travel and liability, but main office has no way of ensuring that this commitment is fulfilled. If you have concerns about insurance, make it clear to WWOOFers that you will only accept them if they have adequate insurance.  Ask to see proof of this insurance when they arrive.  If they have no insurance, you could point them towards the OVEuropa website at www.oveuropa.com where they can get proper cover in less than 24 hours for just €25 a year.
 

General information

In return for a reasonable day’s help (we suggest 5 - 6 hours with suitable breaks) on your farm or holding, you provide volunteers with meals, basic accommodation which is clean, warm in winter and dry during rain and, perhaps most importantly, an opportunity to learn new skills by working alongside you. If the accommodation will be shared you should indicate this on the application form. Short-term WWOOFers are expected to bring a sleeping bag but long term WWOOFers should be provided with bedding. Volunteers are also told to bring towels, appropriate outdoor clothing, boots, gloves etc. They are expected to offer to help with domestic routines such as washing up. The relationship, it is hoped, should be more akin to ‘a friend of the family’ rather than that of employed and employee. If you have a set of house rules or anything you would like volunteers to know about your household, it is a good idea to produce a small leaflet which can be sent out to them or given on arrival. We have samples of other hosts’ leaflets. If you would like to see them please ask.

You should not pay WWOOFers for their help within the terms of their 5 - 6 hours volunteering. Sometimes international WWOOFers have been misled by information ‘on the grapevine’. Simply explain to them that the process is purely an exchange. Whilst we expect volunteers to do whatever needs doing, we ask that whenever possible they are given a variety of tasks and the opportunities to learn something of the skills and techniques involved in organic growing. If the weather is unsuitable for outdoor tasks then we hope you will have some indoor jobs for them to do. Some WWOOFers have little or no experience and so it is a good to talk over what you will be doing in detail before commencing. It is also helpful to volunteers if they can work alongside you for at least some of the time. You’ll need patience; good humour and should not give too much responsibility too early. On the other hand there will be some very skilled and experienced helpers who will immediately be a great asset. Some have been raised on farms themselves. If you have specific skill needs you can make this known through your descriptions or the newsletter.

We have no hard and fast criteria for accepting new hosts but, since one of the aims of WWOOF is to give people the opportunity to gain experience in organic methods, we expect these methods and principles to be predominant on WWOOF farms and holdings or for an active conversion programme to be in progress. All WWOOFers who are currently members are given the host list either electronically or in the form of a book.  Volunteers then apply directly to you if they are interested in coming to your farm and it is up to you to negotiate the dates, terms and conditions between yourselves. WWOOF main office has no further involvement (apart from the rare occasion a complaint is made).

Your volunteer and their membership

If initial contact is by email you should arrange for them to phone you, as this gives you a much better opportunity to assess whether the WWOOFer will fit in with your set-up. You should establish whether they are WWOOF members by asking for their membership number and their address. WWOOF UK residents have a five-digit number and an expiry date, which they should quote. If they cannot do this tell them to apply to main office for their number/replacement card.

All membership cards will bear the photo(s) of the WWOOFer. Please check this on arrival and look for the expiry date. If you have any problems establishing that WWOOF membership is current you can always contact the main office. By checking the identity of volunteers and that membership is current you help us to reduce the incidence of 'problem' WWOOFers. This is vital for us as an organisation to remain healthy, so please be vigilant.

International callers often seem more demanding because of language difficulties. Please be patient and help them through this because the majority of reports on overseas volunteers are very good.

This initial contact is a good time to sort out what work needs to be done (e.g. if you have livestock and the WWOOFer prefers not to work with animals now is the time to find out.) You can also come to an agreement about hours to be worked - and time off - in the case of longer term helpers.

We stress that you are in no way obliged to take anyone and everyone who contacts you through the host list. Try and keep in touch with your Regional Host Contact (RHC) and other hosts in your area so you can pass volunteers on if you can’t use them at any time. We also emphasise that if the arrangement doesn’t work for whatever reason, neither you nor the WWOOFer are expected to continue with it. Please make sure volunteers leave at a reasonable time of day when they can safely travel, especially if you are in an isolated area. All WWOOFers are instructed to make prior arrangements with hosts, so if any just turn up and you do not want them, please feel free to turn them away.

The Host list is at present published 3 time a year in hard copy and updated on the website almost immediately. We will endeavour to place you on the website as soon as possible after your application has been approved.

Your host membership

The annual subscription for hosts covers the cost of administration and newsletters. Membership also entitles you to go WWOOFing – should you have time!

Where two or more people are involved in your farm/holding, all should be in agreement to take and support WWOOFers. It is very difficult for helpers to enter your ‘family’ unit in any case, but to come into an atmosphere of resentment is most unwelcoming. So please make sure everyone is involved in the final decision before you apply.

As you will by now realise, you have to feed and house volunteers in return for their efforts. This has a cost in money and time attached to it and your income may not be realised until sometime after their visit. Please make sure you can support WWOOFers with good, wholesome food at whatever time of year they come. If this feels like it could be too much of a burden for you financially or time-wise, then we would respectfully suggest that the time is not right for you to become a WWOOF host.