Volunteer Recognition: 12 Days of Christmas, Day 10

Show Notes

"Volunteers want to feel like they're contributing something meaningful, not just completing a task."

Welcome back to the 12 Days of Christmas Museum Education Edition, a special podcast series designed to give museum educators actionable tips and research-backed strategies to elevate their programs for 2025.

In today’s episode, we’re focusing on volunteer recognition programs—a cornerstone of many museum operations. Volunteers are often the unsung heroes of museum life, providing support for tours, events, and so much more. But as we move into a new year, it’s time to rethink how we inspire, reward, and retain our volunteers to create meaningful, long-term relationships.

This episode will inspire you to take your volunteer recognition efforts from transactional to transformative!

Find full show notes and a transcript at https://modernmuseumeducation.com/podcast/018

Creators and Guests

Host

Rachel Gibson

Museum Education Consultant | I help museum educators create sustainable, strategic, and pedagogically sound museum programs for children and families through 1:1 consulting, museum program evaluation, educator professional development workshops, and online content, sourced from my unique experience as a long-time museum educator and academic researcher.

What is Modern Museum Education?

Rachel Gibson is a museum education researcher, consultant, and former frontline educator helping museum professionals create engaging, sustainable programs for children and families. On the Modern Museum Education Podcast, she explores topics like family learning, audience engagement, museum strategy, program design, intergenerational learning, and the real-world challenges museum educators face every day.

Part conference session and part coffee shop chat, each episode blends research-backed insights with practical strategies you can actually use—whether you're planning field trips, designing family programs, leading education teams, or trying to keep your creativity alive in a stretched-thin museum world.

If you believe museum education matters deeply—and that your work isn’t childish just because you work with children—you’re in the right place. Discover more at modernmuseumeducation.com!

Hi, I am Rachel, a resource expert and
career coach for museum educators who

are stretched thin, but long to fall
in love with their world-changing work.

After over 15 years with my own hands
in the glitter, I know how it feels

when your Board thinks your work is
childish because you work with children.

I know how hard it is to lead a
tour on a difficult subject, and I

know the frustration of waiting on a
school bus that is 20 minutes late or

worse, 10 minutes early as I'm heading
towards the second half of my career.

I find myself with a passion to
help my fellow educators reverse the

chronic state of being overworked and
underappreciated so that they can reclaim

their creativity and emotional energy.

Join me and my museum buddies as
we share our best tips, tricks, and

techniques for modern museum education.

Hello.

And welcome back to the 12 days
of Christmas museum education

edition, my holiday gift to
the museum educator community.

Over the last several days, I've been
releasing short podcast episodes on

a variety of topics, stuffed with
actionable tips and grounded in

current research to help you level
up your museum education programs.

We are coming close to the end of this
series, and I hope you have found it

inspiring as you put 2024 to bed and
get ready for a big year in 2025.

Today, we're going to be looking at
how you can improve your volunteer

recognition program in the upcoming year.

Now we all know that volunteers are
the backbone of many museum programs.

They can help deliver tours, assist with
events and they contribute to everything

that makes the museum come to life.

And so many museums rely exclusively or
significantly on their volunteer corps.

But in 2025, I think it's
time to shake things up.

If you have not updated your
volunteer recognition program in a

couple of years, now is the time.

It's time to think about how we
can inspire reward and retain our

volunteers in a way that truly makes a
difference for you, but also for them.

So in this episode, I'm going to
share some new ideas for revitalizing

a volunteer program, focusing on how
to create a culture of engagement

and recognition that fosters loyalty.

and long-term impact.

So if you're looking to start a volunteer
program in 2025, or if you feel like

yours is kind of lackluster and you want
to breathe some fresh life into it, or

if you just want to see if what you're
doing now is the best fit for the future,

then this is a great episode for you.

So historically volunteer programs
have focused on a transactional model

where you say, you give us your time
and we'll give you benefits like a

discount or, you know, a certificate.

But increasingly volunteers are looking
for more than just basic rewards.

They're searching for a deeper sense of
purpose community and personal growth.

There are so many different ways
for people to spend their time

and volunteers want to feel like
they're a part of something bigger.

They want to contribute to an institution
that aligns with their values or an

institution that is important to their
community, or an institution that they

have or an institution that they have
fond memories of visiting with their

children or when they were a child.

They want to contribute to an
institution in a way that helps

them contribute to society.

And this means it's no longer enough
to rely on the old way of just saying

thank you or see you next time.

You really need to inspire your
volunteers beyond those basic rewards.

So how do we inspire volunteers in 2025?

The first step I think is to connect
their work to a bigger mission.

If your museum is focusing on issues
like sustainability or diversity or

social justice, consider aligning
your volunteer roles with those

themes to show volunteers that their
efforts are part of a larger movement.

Whether it's through educational
programming or conservation efforts or

outreach to underserved communities, make
sure that they feel connected to those

big things that your museum is doing.

And if you really want to take this
to the next level, consider this.

What if you took the time to really
get to know your volunteers and

their passions, what if you tailored
their responsibilities to match

their individual skills, their
interests and their personal goals?

Volunteers want to feel like they're
really contributing something

meaningful, not just completing a task.

So how can you align the work that they
do with their values as well as with

the values of your museum as a whole.

Okay.

So secondly, let's talk about
recognition and rewards.

A volunteer's main motivation.

Isn't usually the thing that they
get in return for their time.

But recognition is crucial.

It's very important to move beyond a
really bland volunteer appreciation

event that happens maybe once a year.

Instead you want to make
recognition an ongoing part

of your volunteers experience.

So, first of all, consider
personalized appreciation.

Take the time to write a thank
you note or send a personalized

message, a text message, or maybe
call people on the actual telephone.

And highlight specific ways
that they have contributed to

your mission by their actions.

Think beyond just thanking them for
the task they did, but specifically

call out the way in which they have
contributed to your site's mission and

share with them the impact of their work.

Another thing you might think about is if
there is a place inside your museum where

you could recognize them with like a wall
of fame or something along those lines.

Make an effort to regularly highlight not
just the tasks that they do, but the value

of the work that they do, the value to
your museum and to the community at large.

Moreover, it's really important
to recognize long-term volunteers.

You want to encourage loyalty,
not just to your museum or to

your institution, but also loyalty
to the volunteer program itself.

So think about ways that you can reward
and recognize significant investment of

a volunteer's time at your institution.

Make sure that you're calling
out volunteer anniversaries with

tangible rewards that feel personal
and meaningful, and make sure that

you tie that acknowledgement back
to the value of the work that they

are providing to your institution.

Next never let a milestone pass you by.

Make sure that you're recognizing
birthdays and important events

in the lives of your volunteers.

When you're invested in your volunteers
lives, when you know, for example,

when their birthday is or their wedding
anniversary, or you can acknowledge

something exciting that's happening
for them in the same way that you

would for a coworker, that's going to
make your volunteers feel so much more

invested in your site and invested
in the work that you are doing.

And that in turn will
encourage long-term loyalty.

Now my most favorite idea
for volunteer recognition is

skill building opportunities.

Volunteers love opportunities to grow.

It's one of the main reasons
why people volunteer at museums.

They want an opportunity
for personal growth.

So consider offering workshops and
behind the scenes tours and professional

development training for your volunteers.

Give your volunteers, the tools
that they need to build their own

resumes or to build out their own
personal experience, show them that

you value them beyond the time that
they spend volunteering with you.

And that's how you move beyond
the transactional model.

Another way that you can do this
without having to develop a whole

new series of programs is to
partner with another institution

and do a volunteer reward swap.

So for example, if you are historic house
museum and you know how to do a workshop

on historic wreath making, for example,
could you offer that reward as a workshop

to your local art museum volunteers?

And could they offer say a printmaking
workshop for your volunteers?

The thing about museum volunteers is that
they're often multi-passionate people.

So you can make your volunteers
very happy by skill swapping with

your fellow museum colleagues.

And that is truly a win-win for everybody.

Remember that the goal is to make
your volunteers feel seen and

appreciated all year long, not just
when they hit a certain milestone and

not just at a once a year arbitrary
volunteer, appreciation dinner.

Okay.

Lastly, how do you
retain those volunteers?

Volunteers who feel inspired and
appreciated are much more likely

to stay and continue coming back
to your site, giving you their

time, giving you their efforts.

And one way to keep your
volunteers coming back is by

cultivating a sense of community.

It's not just a place
for them to do something.

It's a place where they can belong.

And that is a real key distinction
that will help you move your volunteer

program from that transactional model
where they're simply giving time

and you give them a certificate to a
program where they feel truly invested.

Consider ways to create space for
your volunteers, where they can

get to know each other, share ideas
amongst themselves and build lasting

friendships inside the volunteer program.

This can look like physical
space in your museum.

It might looked like a virtual space,

but the key thing to remember when
you're planning, this is that you want

to keep your volunteers in your mind.

What is it that they actually want,
do they want in-person gatherings

or would they rather have an
online social media platform?

The key here is to create
the opportunities where

your volunteers want to be.

Otherwise you're wasting
their time and yours.

So make sure you're planning volunteer
social gatherings and volunteer

rewards with your volunteers,
involve them in the process.

Remember they're stakeholders in this
program, so include them in the actual

planning of the volunteer program,
the reward and the retention efforts.

And consider ways that you can create
opportunities for the volunteers to

offer feedback on their own experiences.

So give them a voice in how the
program evolves and show them that

their ideas are taken seriously.

So as we head into the new year,
my challenge for you is to take a

fresh look at your volunteer program.

How can you create a culture of
inspiration, recognition, and

connection to make your volunteers
feel like they're really a part of

something that is changing lives in
your museum and in your community.

All right.

That is it for today.

Thank you so much for joining me
and I'll be back again tomorrow.

Thank you so much for joining us.

If this episode has been helpful to you
or interesting, please take a minute

to like subscribe and leave a review.

Which will help other museum
educators find this resource.

As always, if you would like to work with
me more directly, have any questions or

would like to be a guest on the podcast,
you can find links to all that and more

on my website, modernmuseumeducation.com.

I'll see you back here next time.

And in the meantime, please remember
that your work is not childish,

just because you work with children.