The heritage sector is always growing and changing, in fact, heritage employment growth outstripped the rest of the UK economy, growing almost twice as fast between 2011 to 2019.

As mentioned in our previous blog post we discussed the challenges that heritages might face. These challenges could largely impact what volunteering in the future might look like. 

What Will Volunteering Within The Heritage Sector Look Like In The Future?

Volunteer Strategy 

In 2019 Heritage Volunteering Group conducted a survey into the scale, nature and impact of volunteering in the heritage sector. They found that 45% of heritage organisations in the UK depend on volunteer work that is essential to their operations but 40% of them don’t have a volunteering strategy. The future of volunteering is central to the report, only 8% of respondents felt they were very well-equipped to develop new models of volunteering, and 38% said that they were not.

The future of volunteering in the sector could mean an increase in organisations developing a volunteer strategy. A strategy helps people to understand your vision for volunteers and why you’re involving them. The report also raised questions about the lack of diversity and the roles volunteers play. Creating a volunteer strategy for your heritage organisation can help create a more inclusive and diverse environment within your organisation. Your strategy can answer questions such as ‘How will volunteering activity be inclusive?’ 

You can learn more about writing a volunteer strategy here.

A focus on wellbeing

New research shows the link between heritage volunteering and well-being. In 2020-2021 Historic England developed its strategy relating to how the historic environment could contribute to well-being.

Historic England gave the University of Lincoln the task to undertake the Heritage at Risk and Wellbeing (HARAW) project. The project has shown the ways in which heritage volunteering is associated with well-being and has recognised possible objectives for the future which will help people and our appreciation of the preserved past.

Some key themes were discovered during the project and they identified some objectives for the future. One of these is promoting the well-being impacts that heritage volunteering has. This indicates that in the future, organisations can promote the well-being impacts of heritage volunteering to attract and recruit a wider diverse range of volunteers. 

Increase in volunteers  

Due to the rising cost of living challenges, many members of the public could struggle with managing their disposable income. As heritage sites such as museums or art galleries are mostly free unless you want to donate to the organisation, the number of visitors at heritage sites may increase as it’s an affordable activity. Heritage organisations may need to adapt to this, it could be difficult to recruit more volunteers to meet the demand and it will be challenging to manage a larger group of people.  

It would be beneficial to use TeamKinetic in these times to help you recruit, retain and realise the potential of your volunteers. You can start a FREE trial with us, here at TeamKinetic, through our website or book a demo with us! 

 

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