Volunteer Recruitment and Management

Volunteers are the lifeblood of many nonprofits, including museums and historical and genealogical societies. Not only do they help with special programs or day-to-day tasks, but they also act as ambassadors for our organizations within the wider community. 

Volunteers often come into an organization because of a passion for a specific subject or because they enjoy sharing experiences and working with like-minded individuals. Other times it is because they know someone who is also a volunteer or simply because they love people. Whatever their reason, recruiting the right volunteers for your organization and keeping them happy enough to want to stay is an important part of successfully running a nonprofit, museum, archives, or historical or genealogical society. Several tips on getting and keeping volunteers can be found in the resources listed below.

Recruitment

• Joanne Fritz, The Balance: “3 Ways to Recruit Volunteers for Your Nonprofit”
• Ilona Bray, NOLO: “Nonprofit Volunteers: Top Five Tips to Keep Them Coming”
• KnowHow Nonprofit: “Recruiting Volunteers”
• Nicole Boyer, Volunteer Match: “4 Unusual Ways to Attract Volunteers to Your Nonprofit”
• Nonprofit Hub: “Volunteer Recruiting”
• Stan Hutton and Frances Phillips, Nonprofit Kit for Dummies: “How to Recruit Nonprofit Volunteers”
• Verified Volunteers: “How Do I Recruit and Retain Volunteers?”

Management

• American Association for Museum Volunteers: “Standards and Best Practices for Museum Volunteer Programs”
• Kim Erway Birk, The Docent Educator: “Recruiting and Retaining Docents”
• Kristy Van Hoven and Loni Wellman: Recruiting and Managing Volunteers in Museums: A Handbook for Volunteer Management
• Oklahoma Museums Association: “Building a Successful Museum Volunteer Services Program”
• Sinclair Goodland and Stephanie McIvor: Museum Volunteers: Good Practice in the Management of Volunteers