Open Forum

Michael,

I am the Manager of Volunteer Services for what would be considered a big museum, located in a big city (Philadelphia), so my experiences are probably not comparable. And who doesn't love dinosaurs, animals and nature, so being at a natural science museum makes it easy to attract a diverse population. But, my museum's website has been by far the biggest source for inquiries. It is key to make information about volunteering easy to find through a link on the landing page, and it is helpful to have information that gives potential volunteers an idea of what they would be doing (actual tasks needed to be done). And, making it easy for them to contact someone who will respond quickly with a position description and application form is also key.

There are some low-cost things that you might consider: Posting a flyer in local libraries, hosting an "open house" for potential volunteers (which you would need to market in some way), contacting garden clubs, posting a flyer at garden centers or nurseries, putting a note in local newspapers (community events section), contacting schools and local colleges. Retired teachers are often great volunteers, so if there is a newsletter or communication link used by retired teachers you might try that. Obviously contacting the Japanese community in your region is important. I actually get a fair number of requests from Volunteer Match and have found that using every possible recruitment means is worth a shot. You never know if your next best volunteer will find you because they saw a flyer somewhere.  It might be good to actually contact staff at other Japanese cultural centers and gardens to see what has worked for them.

You might consider taking on teen volunteers if you are prepared to give them strong supervision. College students tend to be too busy to give a good commitment but unpaid interns – even if only present for a few months – can make a contribution. You would need to design the internship carefully so that it offers the chance to gain a lot of knowledge and skills.

You need to start with what you need volunteers to assist you with. For some tasks perhaps a short-term volunteer or even a one-time group (corporate volunteers or college service fraternity) is worth considering.

Most volunteers – including baby-boomers now retiring – do not want to invest in an intensive up-front training typical of docent programs where you need to spend months of classes before you actually volunteer. If on-the-job training works, then that can speed the process of getting people involved.

Hope some of those ideas are useful.

Lois Kuter

Manager, Volunteer Services

Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University

215 299-1029

Lvk26@drexel.edu