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 > >[log in to unmask] > 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!!