K: Volunteers and the Local Community
Date posted: 6 June 2010 - Permalink / Shortlink
Many collection holders turn to volunteers to remedy shortages of funds for employing paid staff. Indeed, some plant collections are run almost exclusively by volunteers. PlantNet recognises that voluntary labour can be an important contribution to the management of plant collections, provided that it is organised with a clear policy in mind. The use of volunteers can also be an effective way of involving the local community and of using skills that are not available among the paid staff. Volunteers can help with a wide range of tasks, not all horticultural. Volunteering should be encouraged as a fair exchange of a skill freely given for some, usually unquantifiable, benefit. The time and energy required to run a successful volunteer programme needs to be taken into account by those using voluntary labour. Many Friends groups act as volunteers (and frequently manage volunteer programmes) but may not be designated thus.
PlantNet aims to:
- recognise the contribution that volunteers can make to running plant collections
- encourage members who involve volunteers to follow good practice in doing so.
To achieve this aim, PlantNet will:
- hold a seminar on good practice in the organisation and use of volunteers in helping to run plant collections
- assist and encourage its members to develop good volunteer policies, and to seek advice from organisations that specialise in volunteer policy
- bring the existence of PlantNet to the attention of volunteer bureaux and inform them that opportunities exist for the involvement of volunteers with plant collections
- publicise successful volunteer projects run within members’ plant collections
- bring to the attention of members the opportunities presented by national and international initiatives to promote volunteer schemes in botanic and similar gardens.
The following policies are also relevant in delivering the policy on Volunteers and the Local Community: