You 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?
>
>Some background: the museum was set up about 10 years ago, with
>funding from the industry whose heritage it interprets, relevant
>unions, government funding (it is in an econmocally depressed
>area) and local government funding.  Today it is largely funded
>by the local authority, but remains an independent trust.
>There is one full-time director, a part-time education officer
>(who is largely seconded to non-museum work) and a part-time
>museum assistant, who originally came from the friend's
>organization, and is one of the handful of active members (I think
>it may be down to three, plus two spouses).
>The volunteers are needed for all aspects of museum work, apart
>from building management and marketing, which is done by the
>director (the director also does research, but there is always
>room for one more researcher).
>
>--
>Patricia Reynolds
>Keeper of Social History, Buckinghamshire County Museum / Freelance
Curator
>(I am one of the long-distance friends)
>
>16 Gibsons Green
>Heelands
>Milton Keynes
>MK13 7NH
>ENGLAND
>
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>
  I am a U.S. college student who loves to volunteer.  I volunteer for
several reasons: out of the goodness of my own heart, to meet people
with similar interests, to suppliment my boring paid job...But mainly I
volunteer in order to get on-the-job experience.  Students
underestimate the importance that previous experience plays when they
are being considered for a job.  High school and undergraduate students
are a great source of volunteers.  Most of us just don't know if we
would be accepted in professional museum settings!!