Presentation at the American Alliance of Museums Annual Meeting 2014 which highlights digital volunteer programs and how to implement one at your museum. Please feel free to contact presenters with addition questions.

1. Confessions of
an E-Volunteer
Kristy Van Hoven
Loni Wellman
Ryan Dodge @wrdodger
American Alliance of Museums Annual Meeting 2014

2. Who we are
Kristy Van Hoven, Outreach Manager,
National EMS Museum
Loni Wellman, Volunteer & Special
Projects Coordinator, St. Augustine
Lighthouse
W. Ryan Dodge, Social Media Coordinator,
Royal Ontario Museum

3. Goals for today
Identify what an e-volunteer is & how e-volunteers can
benefit your organization.
Identify the unique needs of an e-volunteer.
Identify the best practices of starting
& evaluating a successful e-volunteer project.

4. Who are E-Volunteers
Students
Retirees
Working professionals
Museum Staff
Anyone with a computer
and internet access

6. Digital Programs
What is a digital program?
a program used to connect your museum
and its global audience through online programs
Why is it important?
Increase your visitorship and brand recognition
Who has a digital program?
Any institution can have a program, it just requires some dedicated managers, a
computer and access to the internet.

7. Recruitment
Where are the people?
Your community
College campus
Online
Anywhere
Don’t be afraid to reach out via social
Media, websites & thru volunteer
organizations

9. Engagement
What do e-volunteers expect?
Volunteers want to belong to your museum community
Engage in collections and programs
Sense of ownership, stakeholder in institution
How can the museum engage
volunteers in a project?
Create opportunities to create new projects
Share exclusive information
Develop volunteer teams

11. Motivation
Why do people e-volunteer?
location, location, location
Interest in exotic places and things
Physical or Geological limitations

12. Communications
How to communicate?
E-volunteers have access to email & phones
Usually mobile, cell phone, text & social media
Why communicate?
All project communication takes place online
Staff & project managers need to feel comfortable
explaining processes through text or phone calls
Regular communication engages volunteers and creates
a sense of ownership and appreciation in their project

13. Rewards
Benefits to e-volunteer?
memberships
invitations to events
store discounts
networking

14. Evaluating
Good
vs
Successful
Good projects may help your instituion
or lead to more recognition
Successful projects have regular
participation and volunteers engage with
subject matter and take ownership of the project

15. Challenges

16. Types of projects
● Database building
● Document digitization
● Wikipedia
● Research and Writing

22. Memo for distribution:
National EMS Museum is putting together a team to
develop a second museum based app for apple and
android mobile devices. The team will consist of 4-5
members responsible for developing a formal proposal
and researching and developing the design and
content for the app to be sold through the museum
store. The project is expected to start June 1, 2014
with a target launch date of December 1, 2014, or May
2015 (launch date subject to change with formal
proposal). Please contact Outreach Coordinator
kvanhoven@emsmuseum.org with questions or to
submit your resume to the project Chairwoman.

23. Contacts
Kristy Van Hoven kvanhoven@emsmuseum.org or @Kristy_Van
Loni Wellman Lwellman@staugustinelighthouse.org or
@LoniWellman
Ryan Dodge ryand@rom.on.ca or @wrdodger