As Elizabeth Merritt outlines in this year’s edition of TrendsWatch, volunteering in the United States is in a funk. Participation rates have slumped for decades, and the COVID-19 pandemic brought even sharper declines. Whether you blame delayed retirements, busier schedules, or growing wealth inequality, the numbers paint a gloomy picture for the future of a practice that has long been a staple of the museum field. Amid this climate, Merritt writes, “the who, how, and why of volunteerism is increasingly being questioned both by volunteers and the organizations to which they give their time.”

Can we turn this trend around and create a brighter future for museum volunteering—one of mutual benefit, diverse participation, and positive impact? That question will animate day two of AAM’s virtual Museum Summit on October 16. A keynote from Michael D. Smith, case studies from museums that have overhauled their programs, and skill-building workshops will dive into how to bring volunteering into its next era.

In the lead-up, here are some questions to spur your thinking about the areas ripe for reinvention: who, how, and why?

Who Should Volunteer?

One of the reasons for contracting corps is that existing volunteers are aging out of their roles, but younger generations are not stepping up in enough numbers to replace them. The good news is that interest in volunteering among younger people might be on the rise, with one survey finding 69 percent of millennials reported being more likely to volunteer in the wake of the pandemic. But given the busy schedules and later retirements of younger generations, transforming this intent into action might require changing some things about volunteer programs themselves. How can we increase flexibility in the types of roles we offer and the training required for them?

Beyond age, many volunteer managers argue museums need to diversify the demographics of their corps in general, both to send a signal that the museum is welcoming to all and to increase competency with interacting with visitors from a wide array of backgrounds. Creating flexible roles and training programs can also help here, particularly in opening opportunities to potential volunteers who have disabilities or have more trouble traveling to your site. But equally important, how can we revisit recruitment, going beyond the existing networks of our museum to reach new people?

How Should They Volunteer?

While there are infinite ways volunteers can support museums, many programs follow a familiar formula, enlisting them for long-term, training-intensive roles as interpretive guides or docents. This formula has come under scrutiny of late, both for the high upfront commitment it asks of would-be volunteers and the conflict it can pose with increasingly structured paid education departments. Would creating roles with shorter time commitments and lighter training requirements help get more people in the door? Could shifting the responsibilities given to volunteers better serve contemporary museum needs and avoid conflicts with paid staff?

Another open question is how volunteering should intersect with new technologies. For some museums, the pandemic was a proving ground for new virtual ways of engaging volunteers, such as using video chat to enable remote gallery engagement. Could using virtual tools for training and even performing roles, when possible, expand the pool of potential volunteers? On the other hand, the rise of technologies like generative AI could reduce the need for volunteers in some areas, if museums decide to employ chatbots in the galleries or use AI tools for tasks like digitizing documents, for instance. How do we know when humans or computers are the right people for a given job, and what needs could we redeploy volunteers to as we automate others?

Why Should They Volunteer?

Declining volunteerism isn’t just bad news for the organizations that rely on volunteer support. It’s also bad news for American society in general. Volunteers reap well-documented benefits, including improved mental and physical health, enhanced life satisfaction and self-esteem, and wider social connections. Meanwhile, volunteers make up a significant portion of the country’s social safety net, for everything from emergency services to food insecurity to assistance for the elderly. Losing these benefits could have far-reaching impacts on the overall wellbeing of society, and even accelerate an already skyrocketing trend of political and social polarization.

We may need to remind ourselves—and reinforce it in our interactions with volunteers—that the “why” of volunteering is much bigger than a “return on investment” for the museum. More than an opportunity to plug holes in our operations, volunteer programs are a way museums can help community members find meaning, connection, and opportunities to support their neighbors. How can we design programs that feel less transactional, extracting value from volunteers, and more mutually beneficial, treating that value as a renewable resource?