High Five For Volunteers! Conference at Tullie House : 10th June 2015

The day started well with sat nav giving me a scenic route through sunny Cumbria.

When I arrived at the conference, the tables were sporting these fabulous "reasons to have volunteers" sheets (it won't go bigger on this blog, so zoom in on your desktop or copy and open in something where you can make it bigger if you can't read the writing)

( I totally didn't know about counting volunteer hours in cash terms as match funding in some cases! )

Richard Gough : Why Am I Here? Nourishing Volunteers' Motivations

Richard Gough : Volunteer Co-ordinator : Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust

Richard had creative tips on where to go to find new volunteers. He suggested figuring out what skills  you needed as a starting point and then tracking those people down. Eg. For storytelling, try children's librarians. For IT skills, try students on computing courses at college or uni. For crafters, try craft fairs.

And be realistic and inventive about who might have time to volunteer. Where do people with spare time hang out? What do they read?

He spoke about the importance of identifying volunteers' motivation. In most cases, a desire to be included is among the reasons people volunteer.

Once you know a volunteer's motivation, you can match it to a need in your organisation.

It is important that volunteers are encouraged to learn and to grow and for the role you offer them to adapt according to their growth. And volunteers really benefit from the freedom to shape and control the work that they are involved with.

RECONSIDER RETENTION AS A KEY MEASURE OF SUCCESS

Instead, measure the impact of volunteering on the volunteer, as well as the number of hours of work done. The volunteers who stay the longest are not necessarily getting the most out of volunteering or being the most benefit to the museum.

Motivation can be intrinsic or extrinsic. Extrinsic motivation is some external encouragement, be that the promise of a reward, the fear of punishment or the coercion by another. Intrinsic motivation comes from within, it is a result of the passion you have for the thing you are doing or the way it makes you feel to do it.

All voluntary work should be intrinsically motivated.
We run into legal problems if we offer rewards or offer something to a volunteer conditionally.

Richard has had many calls from the Job Centre from people trying to find a placement for Jobseekers. He says no every time. Those people who volunteer because they are pressured by the people who control their benefits are unlikely to make good volunteers or to get anything out of coming.

'The Three Circles Of Motivation'

Number 1 on this diagram is the ideal place to be. This is where the volunteer is well suited to the role and the role benefits the organisation. Everybody benefits in this area of the diagram.

Number 2 is not too bad either, in number 2, there is a need for volunteers and a volunteer is eager to help out, all that is needed is to hunt around and find the perfect role for them.

Number 3 represents having a really useful role in the organisation and just needing to do some recruiting to find the right person.

Number 4 can be a danger. In this area, the volunteer is comfortable in the role, perhaps they have been doing it for a long time in the same way, but it no longer suits the organisation. Here, the role needs to be re-negotiated to benefit both the volunteer and the organisation.

HOW TO REWARD VOLUNTEERS

Reward the whole team. If an opportunity comes up to thank everybody, don't just single out one person for praise.

An annual celebration is a good thing to have. Whether this is a day outing or a barbecue or something else. It needn't be too expensive, as volunteers are aware that money is tight in museums, and if it isn't then perhaps they should be getting paid!

A personal letter from the CEO cn be a nice way of thanking someone for doing something extra special or putting lots of hours in.

If possible, link rewards back to the original motivation of the volunteer (I have done this for Aadil who volunteers on the ed. team. He joined to gain experience for his CV so he could apply for customer service jobs. He has been reliable and hard working, so I arranged for him to be able to shadow FoH for the day)

Make sure that all staff, public, investors and trustees are aware of the contribution of volunteers. Make their input highly visible. Emphasise how important and valued volunteers are. Perhaps hold mini-events where their friends and families can be invited to see the work they have done.

ALWAYS

Say thank you as often as you can.

Ask nicely and be friendly.

Let volunteers know how much difference they are making.

Contact Richard Gough: Richard.gough@ironbridge.org.uk - 01952 601 044

Anna Smalley : Tullie House Case Study

Anna Smalley : Learning & Engagement Manager : Tullie House

Anna Manages a team of staff who run workshops for schools/community groups/etc. Volunteers were a new adventure for her when she embarked on a project involving volunteers.

Inspired by Manchester Museum's early opening days for people with autism, they planned a project where volunteers could design and deliver art sessions once a month before the museum opened to the public. 

The Deep in Hull is another place that runs sessions like this. They will open an hour early and leave the sound effects and bright lights off and illuminate spaces that are very dark. 

The project was equally about CPD for the volunteers and audience development. 

They realised it was important not to ghettoise people on the autistic spectrum, so the session was marketed as a way for people to come in and gain confidence in the museum space, so that they could hopefully stay longer and come back more often.

STEP 1 - Was to come up with a detailed role description. They advertised with this and eventually recruited 3 volunteers for the project, all students studying primary teaching at university.

STEP 2 - Was planning and logistics. The museum used the specific skills and knowledge that the volunteers already had from their uni courses to help plan the project. They decided to use the Arts Award to structure the project around, intending to get children completing the arts award during the sessions. So far, there have been no takers for the award.

They also provided specific training for the volunteers. They used MENCAP to provide autism awareness training. After this, the volunteers came up with session structure. This included options to explore the galleries, arts and crafts and object handling. They left it free for visitors to choose what and how much they engaged with.

On the first session there were no visitors. This was very disheartening for the volunteers who had spent so much time planning and training for this (one volunteer had even taken the arts award delivery course). But these things are often slow growers, so it is important to stay positive.

Useful people thety contacted were SEN schools and SEN co-ordinators in schools

(We already have loads of good SEN contacts. I have been doing some work with Sadie Dunne who is the head SEN nurse over at St James' and I always try and have a good chat with the SEN leaders who bring groups here. Obvs. Liz knows all the everybody - go team!)

The built their sessions around themes (colours/under the sea/animals/etc). And another great thing they have come up with is extra materials for families to take away afterwards. They made sure to involve siblings, who often get overlooked at autism activities.

Shannon Quigley : Blackwell Arts & Crafts House Case Study

Shannon Quigley : Learning & Engagement Officer : Lakeland Arts

This was another project that used the Arts Award for its structure. (I've mentioned Arts Award in a previous post and I'm still not convinced if I'm honest. Having seen a few different people talk about it now, it is clear that it is very much a thing that either works well or doesn't really work depending on the organisation. I'm not sure there is much you can do to create an environment where it works and I'm not sure it works well for smaller museums?? It does come with quite a big cost, which makes it a bigger risk. I won't bother mentioning it again)

They ran an 'Arts Award In A Day' programme, where you could come and complete the first introductory level of arts award in just one day. They did this with school groups and for the next round they are going to offer the course unaccredited (and thus cheaper) as well as accredited by AA, and see whether the cost makes a difference to take-up.

One great thing about this presentation was the images in the powerpoint. They had takes some great pictures of participants and they are a really great advocacy (and recruitment) tool. I resolved to take more photos from now on!

Katey Boal : Embedded Learning; Personal Learning Plans At Culloden Battlefield And Visitor Centre

Katey Boal : Learning Manager : National Trust For Scotland (Culloden)

Katey had designed her volunteer structure so that much of their learning could be peer-supported and self-led. This took pressure off her and gave her back a lot of time.

She designed personal learning plans for her volunteers. These were modular  and included sections such as..

• history of the site
• costumed interpretation
• Workshop delivery
• Presentation delivery
• Tour delivery

This finite list of tasks (tours/costumed interp/workshops) made me realise how time and energy intensive it is to have a different activity every month. Our informal learning programme is brilliant and the variety makes it a much ricer experience for visitors, as well as encouraging repeat visits. But we have to train our volunteers in each activity right from scratch every month. One solution might be to give volunteers more responsibility for designing the activities so that they don't need training and can show each other the ropes..?

The training took different forms. There was a video produced to introduce volunteers to the history of the museum. There was peer-to-peer training and texts to read. I love the idea of a training video - and I love the idea of getting volunteers to make it!

The training helped build confidence in the volunteers, as well as helping them understand what we should be doing and how to do it. For example, some vols were less confident assisting family audiences, they needed support to grow confidence in talking to young people/SEN/etc.

The CPD ensured quality control. As the volunteers were challenged and stretched, they deveoped and discovered skills they didn't know they had. THIS IS GREAT FOR WELLBEING! Learning new things is one of action for happiness's 10 ways to wellbeing. As well as doing something for our visitors, we are giving opportunities to improve wellbeing to our volunteers by giving them a useful role and supporting them. We really get a lot of value out of having volunteers in the museum as long as they are properly supported. They are part of our aims as well as helping us to deliver them.

Katey spoke of the importance of letting volunteers know how their work makes a difference (after all, every one of us needs to know that in order to feel good and to be motivated)

The learning plans were not separate from the volunteer role, they formed a part of the volunteer induction. They were not intimidating, they were bite sized and volunteers were not told 'you must leearn this or you can't volunteer', it was more like 'there are lots of families coming in, what do we need to learn to deal with that?'.

RECRUITMENT

Culloden had some very creative ways of recruiting new volunteers. They sent out people in costume and then they called the press who came to do a photo shoot. They held volunteer open days.

Contact Katey: kboal@nts.org.uk - @kateyboal - 01463 796 090

Judith Holmshaw: Cumbria CVS Supporting You To Succeed

  

This presentation was mostly about services that voluntary sector organisations can access in Cumbria, so I've not written up the bits that aren't relevant.

Look out for #VolunteerHour on Twitter

RECRUITMENT

One way to search for new volunteers is to give free talks to groups such as the WI, community groups.

They held a volunteer speed dating event called Make A Date To Volunteer. Orgs looking for volunteers sat on one side of the tables and people looking for a volunteer role had 3 minutes to chat to each of them

Get current volunteers involved in recruiting new volunteers.

Cumbria has a volunteer management network - Does Leeds have one?

She said we should as 'What can we do for people through the volunteering opportunities we can offer them?' (This came up in a previous talk. The idea that we provide a service to volunteers and that they are important like visitors are important.)

Laraine Winning : Voluntary Arts England

Voluntary Arts have Voluntary Arts Week - an annual festival. The most recent one had a theme of craft bombing.

They are also involved with Up For Arts which is supported by BBC local radios. At the moment there isn't a Yorkshire one of these being organised. 

Not the most relevant talk TBH, but she did turn me on to this publication which is a toolkit for supporting volunteers in arts organisations.  Definitely worth a read!

Daniela Garcia & Andrea Winn : if:Volunteering for Wellbeing

D. Garcia: Volunteer Program Manager: IWM North

A. Winn: Curator Community Exhibitions:  Manc. Museum

These wonderful ladies spoke about their project - which is described in the video below..

 

Training for their volunteers consisted of a 10 week course of training, followed by a period of being buddied up with a more experienced volunteer. After that, you would be sent to use and strengthen your new skills in another of the partner museums (see video). 

EVALUATION

This project was evaluated using a SROI (Social Return On Investment) model` and QALY (Quality Adjusted Life Years), which is a model used by national health bodies.

Measure What Matters is one of the Happy Museums' Manifesto aims. I reckon that measuring success through other markers than visitor numbers and money is something that the sector is still figuring out how to do. SROI is interesting to read about, I'm less certain that QALY is an appropriate tool outside of the health sector. Both I think are imperfect, as are some of the methods that Happy Museum has experimented with (see here). But I think it is important to consider all types of success, and to look beyond number and cash as much as we realistically can.

The museums acknowledge that they can not take credit for all changes in wellbeing in a person's life, but they have found it worthwhile to examine how much impact volunteerng can have.

The see it as part of early intervention into lower level mental health problems. I agree wholeheartedly with this) And thus as a money saver.

They had some lovely examples of family volunteering, people volunteering alongside their parents or carers.

The talked a bit about their early openings for Autistic families (eg people on the spectrum and their families and friends), working with the Autistic Society.   

They saw volunteers increase in confidence, make new friends and become more employable.

Contact Daniela: dgarcia@iwm.org.uk

Pippa Joiner : Thinking Strategically About Young People and Volunteering

Pippa Joiner : Arts & Heritage Development Co-ordinator : Orleans House Gallery


TBC! (the notes fell off my notebook and are in my other bag...