Volunteers

Volunteers are the backbone of community museums across Australia, and provide integral support to larger museums. Attracting the right volunteers and retaining them requires an investment of museum resources and will benefit the museum, the volunteer and the community.

Before recruiting

• Determine what areas need assistance
• Determine the types of skills required
• Clearly define tasks

Getting them in!

• Advertise in the local paper, in a newsletter, or on public noticeboards.
  • Stress the benefits to the volunteer; what new skills can be learnt; what training will be provided
  • Outline the skills and interests required
  • State the specific time commitment required
• Ensure the museum is ready for enquiries. An application form is useful, make it simple, clear and gather the following information:
  • Name, address, phone number
  • Qualifications
  • Work experience (paid and unpaid)
  • Availability
  • Interests that may relate to the job or museum
  • 2 referees
• Conduct interviews with successful applicants to further gauge suitability
• Advise both successful and unsuccessful applicants by mail

Retaining volunteers

• Provide tangible benefits such as: free entry for volunteer and family; special excursions; discount on shop items; regular newsletter
• Consider the nature of the work:
  • match skills to tasks: encourage volunteers to let you know what interests them
  • provide orientation and thorough training. Very important
  • set manageable tasks, and don’t ask volunteers to always do the more repetitive or unpopular tasks such as cleaning or photocopying
  • If possible, organise people into teams. This encourages them to take responsibility and it spreads the workload eg. Cleaning team; documentation team; research team; front-of-house team
• Introduce new volunteers to your museum’s Code of Practice, including:
  • Correct museological procedures
  • Hours of work
  • Taking responsibility for tasks as outlined on job description
  • Reimbursement of expenses
  • Insurance etc.
• Show your appreciation! Always greet and farewell volunteers; Always thank them for their work.
• Provide feedback through periodic appraisals. This helps to evaluate whether the volunteer’s and the museum’s needs are being met.
• Make volunteers feel part of a team: involve them in decision-making and encourage suggestions/ideas; invite them to museum functions and exhibition openings where their contributions can be acknowledged.
• Provide rewards: Arrange the occasional special function as a thankyou; annual Christmas party

Dealing with ineffective volunteers

• Mismatch of skills and tasks are often the cause of poor performance
• Have an established, systematic policy in place
• This should clearly state who has authority to warn of unacceptable work practices, or dismiss a volunteer
• Don’t ignore the problem

References and further reading:

Museums Australia Inc (NSW). Museum Methods; a practical guide for managing small museums. 1.9 Volunteers in Museums; 1.10 Managing volunteer programs

Volunteering Australia

Volunteering WA

Willing & Able: recruiting, managing and retaining volunteers in museums and galleries (2002)