Following article 2, item 3, volunteer is a person, who voluntarily and without financial gratification provides benefits as defined in the Act.
Institution of volunteering is separate from membership in the organization. Members provide social work for the association in conformity with article 2, item 2 of the Act of law on associations of April, 7^th, 1989 (Journal of Law, 2001, No 79, item 855 with amendments). Persons who decide to form or join the association as its members have to assume providing services for its benefit, so they are not volunteers, as defined in the public benefit and volunteer work Act of law.

Field units of the association which are legally registered in conformity with the statute of the „mother” NGO are separate entities, separately registered in the National Court Register and, inspite of their operating within the framework or broader structure, they have separate number in the National Court Register, tax identification number (NIP), REGON. Field chapters of the association, acting as separate legal entities decide if they want to apply for the public benefit status. On the opposite, field chapters that do not act as separate legal entities should be considered as elements of one, complex, organizational structure. Such chapters use legal entity of the given organization and they enjoy public benefit status once it is granted to the head office. Therefore, payments for the benefit of such units enable individual taxpayers to reduce the due tax at 1%, in conformity with Article 27d of the physical persons income tax Act (Journal of Law, 2000, No 14, item 179 with amendments)