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Steering Your Museum’s Search for a Volunteer Management System

This tipsheet was developed by Elisa Kosarin, CVA, a Volunteer Engagement Specialist at TwentyHats, and Abbey Earich, Lead Volunteer Coordinator for the Smithsonian Office of Visitor …

Yes, I’m a Real Person! Adapting Your Volunteer Program during Instability

This is a recorded session from the 2021 AAM Virtual Annual Meeting and MuseumExpo. As it cautiously reopened after closing for COVID-19, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum …

Volunteers Want to Give: How to Respectfully Cultivate Donors from Your Corps

If you ask museum leaders, their advancement teams, and volunteer program staff about cultivating volunteers as donors, you’re likely to get a mix of reactions, ranging from enthusiasm to …

The Top Ten Alliance Blog Posts of 2021

Though 2021 was a slightly more normal year than 2020, with mostly open museums gradually regaining visitors, the pandemic still loomed large and colored most conversations. On the Alliance …

Museums and Equity: Volunteers

Note: this post is adapted from a post originally published on the CFM blog in 2019. 42% male 22% African American, Asian, or Hispanic/Latino ethnicity 66% under the age of 55 49% with less …

Let’s Make a Match: Museum Volunteers

This is a recorded session from the 2020 AAM Virtual Annual Meeting and MuseumExpo. Learn how an effective application process prevents onboarding volunteers who are not a good fit for your …

Inside The Smithsonian National Air And Space Museum’s Virtual Docent Program

Since July 2020, the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, an adjunct of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM), has dispatched virtual docents to guide and interact with visitors …

Supporting Your Volunteer Program through Risk Management and More

Since the release of the Designing a Museum Volunteer Program toolkit, museum professionals have faced many upheavals in the past year and a half, all while managing their museums …

How a New Era of Volunteer Programs Is Embracing Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion

One of the most powerful ways for the public to engage with museums is not as visitors. It’s as volunteers. Here’s why: the volunteer experience is direct and immediate. Volunteers spend …

Recruiting, Selecting and Placing Museum Volunteers

This recorded webinar addresses key elements of recruiting, selecting, and placing volunteers, from resources and strategies for articulating the benefits of volunteering and recruiting for …

Latest Stories from AAM

Tips for Creating Accessible Museums: Universal Design and Universal Design for Learning

The American Alliance of Museums offers the following information from Violet Rose Arma, Curatorial Assistant & Administrative Support, University of Arizona Museum of Art. The …

Leisure-Time Shifts in a (Mostly) Post-Pandemic World: A 2023 Annual Survey of Museum-Goers Data Story

Category: Alliance Blog
There have been a lot of changes in how people live their lives over the past five years, largely (but not exclusively) due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While some of these shifts may benefit …

November Advocacy Updates – Speaking up for Museums and Museums Advocacy Day

Category: Advocacy Alert
Advocacy Alert – November 17, 2023 In this Alliance Advocacy Alert: FY 2024 Funding for Museums: A Critical Time to Contact Congress in Support of OMS Registration Now Open: Museums …

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