The five criteria have been set with the above objective in mind, creating and maintaining the balance of benefit for volunteer and project. They have been developed in consultation with established volunteering organisations, local project partners and gap year and volunteering advisers.

They are not a black and white set of rules because there are a whole host of different types of project and placement out there, and each one is developed and run differently. It would be impossible to say for example that "every project must receive a cash donation of £XXX" or "volunteers must always commit to a minimum period of XXX" - what is right for one project may be extremely damaging for another. At the same time however, the criteria and assessment process do ensure that projects and volunteers do receive what is right and appropriate for each organisation's structure.