Pay me 15,000 dollars and I'll tell you!

Seriously, has the museum tried to (re)advertise itself to the community?
Maybe people don't realize what tasks are needed to be done on a regular
basis.  Being visible to the community you're in seems like a very
important factor, and perhaps an event geared only to the resident
community could bring people together and you could recruit volunteers. A
community picnic, festival, whatever.

Also, make them aware of the benefits THEY will receive, not just the
museum.  Get some interested younger folks, create an unpaid internship
program for high school kids.

Solicit people in the community with relevant experience for particular
exhibits or immediate projects that need attention etc.

Maybe a grant could be written up to fund a volunteer coordinator?  Bad
idea?

Just a few thoughts off the top of my head.  I know there are a lot of
good vol. coordinators who could give much more advice than I.

Take care.

Gregory Scheib                            ~     ~
George Washington University            (<O>   <O>)
[log in to unmask]             (     ^     )
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On Sun, 21 Jan 1996, Patricia Reynolds wrote:

> I received today the newsletter from a friends organization;
>   Our organisation seems to be dying a slow death.  True, we still
>   have a continuing membership of around 50, but nearly all of these
>   are long distance Friends who happily pay their membership fees,
>   which helps with fund raising, but it is the local core of working
>   volunteers that has declinded until it is now practically
>   non-existent.  How do we go about attracting new members to do
>   voluntary work?  How do we encourage local people to freely give
>   of their time to help run the museum? ...  Can we capture that old
>   enthusiasm that we once had? If you would like to send any suggestions
>   as to how this could be done we would welcome your thoughts on this
>   matter.
> Do any of you have suggestions which I can pass on?
>