It’s Volunteers Week! Volunteers’ Week is a national campaign to celebrate the huge contribution of time, skills, commitment and enthusiasm made by so many people, of all ages and backgrounds. Volunteers make up a large proportion of museum professionals across the South West.
For Volunteers’ week, we asked participants of our Volunteering Fit For the Future programme to tell us about their volunteers. Volunteering Fit for the Future is a programme of support to help museums improve their volunteering plans.
I’m proud of the praise we receive from our visitors for the friendly, informative, helpful, welcoming volunteer team – at the gate, in the museum and gardens, and in the shop. I’m proud of the sustained enthusiasm of our specialist volunteers – the archaeologists; the collections team; the gardens team (who, rain or shine, ensure the Abbey’s outside spaces are as welcoming as inside the museum); the library team; and the education/outreach team who both educate and entertain the young and the old, instilling lasting pride in our shared heritage!
Chair, Shaftesbury Abbey
Volunteer stewards contribute around 864 hours as stewards in our open season!
Voluntary Volunteer Co-ordinator, Exmouth Museum
We all value the support volunteers provide. I’m really proud of the relationship between staff and volunteers, I feel it’s genuine and meaningful on both sides. We usually have around 40 active volunteers at any one time.
Museum Manager, Trowbridge Museum
This week, which culminates in the Big Help Out on June 7- 9, is a great opportunity to:
- Check over your messaging about volunteering. Can your local community easily understand how they could support you and how there’s mutual benefit in volunteering?
- Make sure everyone on your team is ready to ‘spread the word’ to visitors about volunteering this week!
- Make it clear how people can support you in other ways and stay connected (via your newsletter?), even if not ready to volunteer right now
- Advertise an upcoming open day or taster session, or publicize your regular recruitment channels
- Celebrate all the volunteering that supports your museum and the difference it makes
It’s all about making a difference, locally!
A recent blog post by Rob Jackson ahead of Volunteers’ Week highlights the ways in which volunteer involvement has changed, and continues to change, since the pandemic. Here are some ‘headlines’ to keep in mind when thinking about recruiting volunteers during Volunteers’ Week :
- People want to volunteer locally, for places and causes in their community that are important to them
- Younger people, in particular, need to understand the difference their volunteering will make
- Older people increasingly want flexibility, to fit volunteering around other plans and commitments in retirement or semi-retirement
So, what does this mean for how you shout about volunteering at your museum, this Volunteers’ Week?
Make sure you understand, and are ready to share:
- The difference volunteering makes in different ways. For example, our volunteers keep the doors open, welcoming this many visitors every month, providing this many tours and talks, and welcoming this many school children! Volunteers help us to sell this many cups of tea in the café and catalogue this many objects…
- How occasional support is welcomed. Think about preparing meaningful micro and distance volunteering tasks, for people who want to support you but can’t commit regularly.
- Think widely about volunteering – everything, from taking photographs, spreading positive words about the museum, distributing flyers, to filling in funding applications, keeping the building in good condition, to helping you meet Accreditation standards, and more – is volunteering!
So, if you do nothing else this Volunteers’ Week, take the time to prepare accurate, positive messaging about volunteering at your museum.