By Ryan Portugal (December 7, 2018, 4:37 PM EST) -- Volunteers are the foundation upon which many successful nonprofits are built. Properly utilized, volunteers enable a nonprofit to devote valuable capital and resources elsewhere in the organization, allowing it to have a greater impact on its desired cause. Although the work of volunteers is valuable to a nonprofit's mission, the organization's management must exercise caution in engaging volunteers to ensure the nonprofit does not inadvertently misclassify individuals as volunteers when they may be considered employees under federal law. Circumstances in which a volunteer will be treated as an employee under federal law can have costly legal ramifications for nonprofit organizations....