Essential Elements of a Volunteer Management Program

Whether you need to educate visitors, gain peer-to-peer fundraisers, or run events, volunteers are critical to many museums’ success. 

However, current volunteer engagement trends have proven troubling for cultural organizations. Recent studies show that museums have had trouble retaining volunteers in recent years—nearly 80% of organizations claim a downturn in participation since 2020—which can jeopardize their ability to execute programs and achieve their missions. 

Establishing dedicated volunteer management and engagement efforts and programs is an important first step to mitigate this issue, but it’s far from the last. In this guide, we’ll review how to cultivate a truly loyal volunteer community with a savvy management program.

1. Comprehensive Onboarding and Training

Training can make or break a volunteer’s experience with your museum. After all, if volunteers feel well-prepared and knowledgeable about their role and your organization, they’ll be more confident, effective, and independent, streamlining your operations. Plus, onboarding and training provide the chance to make a great first impression and win the volunteer’s long-term loyalty.

Follow these tips to streamline your training and onboarding experience:

• Openly communicate expectations. Clear communication is essential during onboarding and training to reduce confusion (more on this later). Before training, communicate what the volunteer will be expected to do, such as how often they need to come in and what their role will consist of. Then, as you get into more detail during training, be available to answer any questions to maintain volunteer satisfaction.  
• Keep it simple. Simply scheduling a shift, showing up, and meeting new people can feel overwhelming to some volunteers—and that’s before learning any new information. This is why you should keep training as simple and straightforward as possible. Provide cheat sheets and other easy-to-follow resources so volunteers can quickly comprehend complex concepts.
• Involve other supporters in training. New volunteers might find it easier to relate to a fellow volunteer or staff member in their niche rather than higher-ups at your organization. Ask board members, staff members, and more experienced volunteers to take part in training, such as hosting a guest session about their role or acting as a mentor who can answer questions. 

2. Volunteer Management Tools

Your museum might have dozens—or even hundreds—of active volunteers at any given time. Needless to say, keeping track of everyone individually can be time- and resource-intensive. Plus, you also need to manage the logistics of your programs and shifts themselves

That’s why volunteer management tools are so useful for teams like yours. The right solution can help you manage your programs from top to bottom, including:

• Shift scheduling. Software can help you schedule regular shifts and special events, automatically assigning volunteers based on their availability and preferences. 
• Volunteer communication. Volunteers need personal attention to maintain a positive relationship with your museum, and software makes it easy to send customized messages based on their interests and involvement with your museum. 
• Community-building. Don’t forget that one of the best engagement assets you have on your side is your existing volunteer community! Volunteer engagement tools should empower volunteers to communicate with each other, building relationships and boosting retention rates.
• Data collection and reporting. When used and collected correctly, data can illuminate strengths and weaknesses within your volunteer program that you hadn’t even considered before. Software solutions can effortlessly collect any information pertinent to your goals, such as volunteer retention or hours spent working with your organization. 

Also, Doubleknot suggests choosing a volunteer management tool that integrates with your existing museum management software. That way, disparate solutions can “talk” to each other and share information seamlessly, saving time and reducing data entry errors for your organization.

3. Volunteer Recognition

According to Double the Donation, the average nonprofit relies on volunteers to complete approximately 30% of their work. That equates to a whopping 5 billion hours volunteered in the United States alone every year! 

The immense passion and dedication volunteers have for your mission fuels these statistics. Therefore, your museum needs to show these steadfast supporters how much their work means to your organization. A one-off thanks isn’t enough—you’ll need to express gratitude strategically for your efforts to really resonate and preserve your community. Here are some appreciation ideas for volunteers:

• Automatic thank-you emails. After a volunteer has engaged with your museum, configure your volunteer management software to send a thank-you email automatically, featuring their name and the details of their contribution.
• Digital eCards. This is a more interactive and engaging way to show thanks to volunteers via email. Add your museum’s branding and a special message of gratitude to brighten your volunteers’ inboxes. 
• Handwritten notes. Add a personal touch via a handwritten card when thanking particularly passionate or longtime volunteers.
• Volunteer appreciation events. Events give volunteers a chance to unwind and build connections while your team shows its gratitude. Whether it’s an annual volunteer appreciation festival or a luncheon inducting a long-standing advocate into your hall of fame, events can be adapted to celebrate any volunteer. 

4. Volunteer Management Staff

Once you’ve invested in volunteer management software, you can set your sights on an even more impactful investment—a full or part-time volunteer program manager. You might only have the resources to start with a part-time staff member, but if you follow these best practices, they can still make a huge impact on your program:

• Evaluate your objectives for the position. Consider what steps are needed to take to get your current management strategies to your goal. Use this information to shape the expectations for your ideal candidate. For instance, if you want to improve volunteer retention, look for candidates with experience growing other volunteer programs.
• Take former candidate feedback into account. Reflect on earlier hiring efforts—how successful were you, and where can you improve? Look at both qualitative and quantitative recruitment data to pinpoint strengths and areas for improvement in your recruitment strategy.
• Involve volunteers in the hiring process. Just as volunteers are beneficial for training, they can provide unique insights when recruiting a new manager. Ask volunteers what they’d like to see in a program manager and shape your outreach with that information. You could even invite experienced, loyal volunteers to sit in on an interview and provide their thoughts. 

However you decide to improve your volunteer experience, keep your volunteers in the loop throughout the process. Collect feedback and communicate changes before they happen—that way, everyone is aware of your progress and satisfied with your efforts.