WE struggle with this problem too, and have found that to a certain degree,
it's not a demographic problem or lack of interest, but it's how the job is
advertised. We were getting no response to our advertisements for tour
guides, until we specified that the time commitment was minimal (guides only
need to work 3 days in 12-week period) and that we would do a lot of
training. It's not the silver bullet, but it has helped, along with direct
personal asks of likely candidates.
Suzanne Buchanan
Hingham Historical Society
P.O. Box 434 Hingham, MA 02043
781-749-7721
www.hinghamhistorical.org
-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Jennifer Fondren
Sent: Monday, May 09, 2011 1:19 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Volunteers
We are having difficulties getting volunteers to serve as docents. We have
a group of retired volunteers who are aging to the point that they are no
longer physically capable, and we have a group of younger (college age)
volunteers who only want to do special events every once in a while. We are
about 10 miles away from the local colleges and universities, so the college
students don't really seem to want to drive down here very often. I can
understand with gas prices hovering around $3.80 in our area.
The present economy in our area (Mobile, AL) seems to have made the problem
worse. Now, there are fewer retirees who are available. Some of our
volunteers have gone back to work at least part-time and are unavailable
when I need them. We serve mostly school groups in the 9 am - 1 pm time
slot.
We are a museum in a medium to large sized building with a small sized
museum staff. It is just me and my part-time volunteer/tour coordinator in
Education. We don't have funds for anyone else.
We had a successful program through which college students were paid to
intern at the museum. They served as specially trained docents and worked
in other museum depts. when we didn't have tours. This program was funded
locally through a grant, but the funding is no longer available. I have
thought about other grants and even the Americorps program, but am not sure
if we are able to do something on the scale that they seem to look for.
My questions to the community are,
Are your museums having trouble finding docents?
How and where are you finding new volunteers to replace the retiree
volunteers who are no longer able to volunteer?
Any advice or knowledge of grant opportunities would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Sincerely,
Jennifer Fondren
Museum of Mobile
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