Sheffield Museums have a successful volunteering programme with over 200 volunteers who engage in research, events, creative workshops, heritage walks and gardening, and support volunteering for people with barriers to entering the workplace.
Introduction
The programme engages individuals from the local community with arts and culture and has a positive impact on access to opportunities, social mobility and health and well-being for many participants.
Volunteers are some of the biggest advocates of the city’s museums and the experience brings many benefits for those people who take part – combatting isolation, helping people find a sense of purpose and feeling part of something.
The challenge
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designing volunteer roles suited to people’s diverse needs
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matching potential volunteers to the right placements suited to their skills and confidence levels
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providing support in a volunteer role to enhance accessibility to opportunities
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creating engagement across teams internally to host diverse volunteers
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providing long-term pathways of personal and skills development for supported volunteers.
The solution
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resource in volunteer management team – person hours for strategic work and development of new roles
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an engaged and supportive workforce and the ability to make small changes in order to meet individual needs.
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working with local partners, e.g. Sheffield Mencap, Freeman College, Big Ambitions to match individuals to the right roles
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providing 1-2-1 support is the biggest challenge – a solution might be a specialised role in an area of collections accessibility or additional person hours in community engagement, volunteering or another area of the learning team
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communicating benefits of accessible volunteering internally and externally.
The impact
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Feedback from individuals demonstrates how vital volunteering has been to them, in building confidence & skills.
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Current volunteer survey is incomplete (still open) but 90 per cent of volunteers so far say volunteering has a positive impact on their health & wellbeing.
Some specific examples include:
Daniel
Volunteer Daniel came to Sheffield Museums via an internship organised by Freeman College, an independent specialist college for young people with complex behaviour and learning difficulties including autistic spectrum conditions. Daniel works one day a week with the Visitor Experience team – his biggest wish was to be able to make the public announcement that the River Don Engine was about to run. With a little help to prepare, Daniel now gives the announcement every Tuesday and is a familiar face to museum visitors. He says, ‘If I can do this, I can do anything’.
Katie is one of our newest volunteers and joined via a placement with Sheffield Mencap. She volunteers with her personal assistant, Jane. Katie is now a regular volunteer in the Visitor Experience Team at Weston Park Museum – she looks after the dressing up costumes and welcomes visitors to the museum.
‘Volunteering has had a considerable positive impact on my life; when I started, I was suffering badly with anxiety and volunteering has increased my confidence greatly. Thank you’.
How is the new approach being sustained?
Sheffield Museum Trust’s Volunteer Manager coordinates volunteering activity across all sites and acts as a central point of contact. She is supported by colleagues from all areas of the organization who work with volunteers across a range of activities and settings.
Contact
Ruth Bean, Volunteer Manager, email: [email protected]