Volunteer programs, especially those for docents, may often be overlooked as learning opportunities rather than as a strategy for program delivery. Thinking about docents first as learners themselves, and then as partners in creating learning experiences for visitors, can create a meaningful shift in the relationship. By integrating concepts from…

As part of a broader evolution of our K-12 programming, the Art Institute of Chicago transitioned our docent program into a newly designed Volunteer Program, a process that was informed by rigorous research, reflection, and evaluation of our engagements with students and teachers. This case study offers a perspective on designing a new structure…

In recent years, the role of the professionally trained volunteer docent has taken many twists and turns. Guided by institutional strategies and missions, docent programs have flexed, shifted, and altered to meet institutional needs. This article provides an overview of recent trends and practices presented at the National Docent Symposium…

Over the past 10-15 years, the Volunteer Program at the Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County has undergone an immense transition. This program overhaul tackled historical methodology that had been creating barriers to participation, addressed the changing needs of modern volunteer audiences, and worked to highlight access and inclusion in…

America's diet-related illness crisis intersects with a lack of nutrition literacy, nutrition security, and systemic inequities. The Cooperative Extension Service's (CES) national infrastructure could potentially provide equitable access to quality nutrition education in the US utilizing a Master Food Volunteer (MFV) model. This research brief…

Volunteers are noteworthy youth development professionals in the 4-H program whose training translates into practices that promote positive outcomes among young people they serve. This study explored how contextual and programmatic factors were associated with volunteers' practices of the essential elements with youth. Programmatic influences…

Leadership roles and responsibilities in a volunteer fire department are no different from those of a full-time, paid, career department. Yet volunteer fire officers and fire chiefs have the added challenge of leading unpaid volunteers in an organization that typically has few resources to invest in formal leadership development. In the absence of…

The volunteer workforce is the backbone of any nonprofit organization. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, however, even though many people have returned to work, leisure, and volunteering, there are others that have not, leaving many volunteer positions empty. As organizations return to the basics of recruiting, leading, and retaining the volunteer…

In citizen science, project leaders rely on volunteer contributors to collect, classify, and analyze data in both natural and digital environments. To be successful, volunteers are often provided with specialized training that supports the learning goals of the project. Yet, little is understood regarding the contextual influences of both the…

The purpose of this instrumental, multisite case study is to examine fidelity, adaptation, and differentiation challenges found at Wood Badge, a nationwide Boy Scouts of America training for adult volunteer leaders. Our iterative analysis of more than 900 pages of fieldnotes and 400 pages of documents revealed facilitators often explicitly taught…

Using competencies for volunteer organizations and applying those competencies to both situational and servant leadership, the Delphi study method was used to identify leadership competencies necessary for titled leaders within NACADA's Advising Communities Division. Surveys were administered to former and outgoing chairs within the division.…

Volunteer-led programming is the heart of the 4-H program. The Wyoming 4-H program relies heavily on volunteers to deliver programming directly to youth. Shrinking budgets and limited staff makes volunteer retention and recruitment key in building and maintaining a 4-H program in Wyoming focused on youth education. Understanding what motivates…

Voluntary national reviews (VNRs) are an important component of the follow-up and review process for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Presented by countries at the annual United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), VNRs detail a country's self-reported progress to peers. This voluntary process has been…

Truancy is detrimental to children's educational progress. Parents, being the first authority at home, share an equal responsibility with schools to thwart it. Unlike developed countries, many nations, e.g. India, have no legal actions or policies for truancy. A considerable gap in identifying any specific form of involvement from the parents…

The 4-H program is America's largest youth development organization (National 4-H Council, 2019). The 4-H program is part of the Cooperative Extension system, which provides unbiased, research-based educational programming to communities through the land grant university system (USDA, 2019). Volunteers play a major role in the delivery and…