Any officer, director or member of a nonprofit organization which, pursuant to a written agreement with a local government or a law-enforcement agency, regularly assists law-enforcement agencies by (i) publicly soliciting information from anonymous informants concerning criminal activity; (ii) gathering such information from informants; (iii) offering and paying rewards to informants for such information; and (iv) communicating such information to law-enforcement agencies, shall not be liable for any civil damages for acts or omissions on his part directly relating to his activities on behalf of such organization but only in the absence of gross negligence or willful misconduct.
§ 8.01-226.3.Civil immunity for officers, directors and members of certain crime information-gathering organizations.
Chapter 3. Actions · Article 21. Miscellaneous Provisions · Last amended 1993 · Last verified July 16, 2026
In one sentenceSection 8.01-226.3 immunizes officers, directors, and members of nonprofit organizations that, under written agreement with local government or law enforcement, solicit and pass along anonymous tips and reward informants — commonly Crime Stoppers-type programs — from civil damages for acts related to that work, absent gross negligence or willful misconduct.
Full Text of § 8.01-226.3
Plain-English Summary
This section is written for organizations like Crime Stoppers programs: nonprofits that operate under a written agreement with a local government or law-enforcement agency to solicit anonymous tips about criminal activity, gather that information, pay rewards to informants, and pass the information along to law enforcement.
An officer, director, or member of such a nonprofit is immune from civil damages for acts or omissions directly related to that organizational activity — the public solicitation, tip-gathering, reward payments, and communication with police — but only in the absence of gross negligence or willful misconduct, the same ceiling used throughout this cluster of volunteer-immunity statutes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are Crime Stoppers volunteers protected from lawsuits over anonymous tip programs?
Officers, directors, and members of a qualifying nonprofit organization are immune from civil damages for acts related to soliciting, gathering, and relaying anonymous crime tips and paying rewards to informants, absent gross negligence or willful misconduct.
What makes an organization eligible for this immunity?
It has to operate under a written agreement with a local government or law-enforcement agency, and regularly assist law enforcement by publicly soliciting tips, gathering them, paying rewards to informants, and communicating the information to law enforcement.
Does this section protect the organization itself, or only individuals?
The text protects “any officer, director or member” of the organization, focusing the immunity on the individuals who run and participate in it.
What conduct falls outside this immunity?
Gross negligence or willful misconduct in connection with the organization’s tip-gathering and reward activities.
Does the organization have to be a specific, named program to qualify?
No. The statute describes the qualifying activity generically — a nonprofit under written agreement with local government or law enforcement performing the described tip-gathering functions — rather than naming a specific program.
Amendment History
1993, c. 769.
Source & verification. Section text and amendment history are
reproduced verbatim from the Code of Virginia, published by the
Code of Virginia, Virginia Division of Legislative Automated Systems. Last verified July 16, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: crime stoppers volunteer immunity virginiaanonymous tip program liability virginiainformant reward program immunity virginia codecrime information nonprofit liability virginia