Charging volunteers to volunteer
Interesting article about the Lindsay Museum charging teens to volunteer. (I'll paste the full article in comments below since it won't be easily available for long.)
Betsy
Lindsay Wildlife Museum charging teens to volunteer
By Theresa Harrington
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
WALNUT CREEK - Feeding animals, cleaning cages and teaching others about critters at the Lindsay Wildlife Museum is fun and educational for teens who volunteer at the nonprofit facility.
It's also costly.
:::snip:::
(http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/15983419.htm)
posted by BirdAficionada @ 11/10/2006 09:25:00 PM
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Lindsay Wildlife Museum charging teens to volunteer
By Theresa Harrington
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
WALNUT CREEK - Feeding animals, cleaning cages and teaching others about critters at the Lindsay Wildlife Museum is fun and educational for teens who volunteer at the nonprofit facility.
It's also costly.
To help offset budget deficits racked up in the last two years, the civic-minded youths must pay $450 a year for the privilege of helping out at the museum, on top of a $65 annual family membership.
The 592 percent increase in "interpretive guide" fees from $65 annually is excessive and could burden families with modest incomes or more than one child in the program, some say.
Loren Behr, the museum's new director, said the increase is necessary to keep the teen program afloat. Besides, families would pay similar amounts for other activities such as music lessons, said Behr, who admits the museum needs volunteers to operate.
"As a nonprofit, really everything that we do is offered at less than the cost than it actually takes to provide it," Behr said. "We don't have any programs that make money. We have an animal hospital where none of the patients pay. It's like having 6,000 uninsured patients."
Volunteers are crucial to the organization, which had a deficit of more than $155,000 last year, he said.
"The reason we consider it a volunteer program is we don't pay the kids who are here," Behr said. "Just like the rest of the (adult) volunteers, they're doing work. We have about 600 volunteers, 350 in the animal hospital. And frankly, if they were not doing the work they do, we would not be able to provide the service we do."
Quin Sales-Lee, 16, said some other teens may not return because of the higher fees.
"A lot of people think to volunteer, it should be free," said Quin, of Concord, who volunteers along with her sister, Brooke. 18. "Granted, the museum does have a lot of costs, but in the process it becomes kind of overwhelming."
To ease the financial pain, the museum is allowing returning students to pay $225 for one year, before joining newcomers in paying the higher rate. Since this is more than three times the previous fee, the museum has agreed to work out arrangements for families that can't afford it.
Rising costs and dwindling revenues have hit the museum hard, said Behr, who assumed his position in August.
He has attempted to balance the museum's budget of nearly $2.5 million a year by also eliminating a retail position in the museum store, holding six other positions vacant and hiking costs for admission, family memberships, school tours and outreach programs.
The museum closed its thrift shop because of rising costs and discontinued its program for at-risk youths, because foundation funding dried up. Behr raised the rates for teen volunteers to make the interpretive guide program more self-sufficient, so it won't be jeopardized if budget problems continue.
Teens pay more than adults to volunteer, because they require one adult supervisor for every five students. Behr justifies the $450 fee by comparing it to costs that families spend on other youth enrichment programs such as athletic teams, dance lessons or tutoring. The museum's 60 teenage interpretive guides get training and learn public speaking skills that helps them in college or other animal and wildlife programs after they leave, Behr said.
The museum could survive without teen volunteers, if adults filled in for them, he said. But the museum benefits from having teens introduce visitors to animals, because young children identify with them more easily than with adults.
Theresa Harrington covers the Walnut Creek area. Reach her at 925-945-4764 or tharrington@cctimes.com.
MUSEUM DETAILS
FEE INCREASES
The Lindsay Wildlife Museum is at 1931 First Ave. in Walnut Creek.
Phone: 925-936-1978
Online: www.wildlife-museum.org.
MUSEUM DETAILS
FEE INCREASES
Activity 2005-06 2006-07 Increase
Teen interpretive guides $65 $450 $385
Admission $4-$6 $5-$7 $1
Family membership $55 $65 $10
School tours $80-$90 $120-$150 $40-$60
School outreach programs $105 $160 $55
Comments on the article as of 11/10:
Comments
Well thats it for me. To think of all the young people that will no longer be able to learn about how important the Lindsey is to the quality of life in the bay area by pricing them out.
Posted by: Bird Shaman
11/10/2006 9:09 PM
1220.1 Report as Violation
No rating
Well the development director had better get to work or the museum will soon be at its end.
Posted by:
11/10/2006 11:04 PM
1220.2 Report as Violation
No rating
Budget shortfall. Who's job was it to see the donations made it to the museum. We love this place and we are not poor people. Chargeing the volenteers is the stupidest thing I have ever read.
Posted by:
11/10/2006 11:07 PM
1220.4 Report as Violation
No rating
Volunteers are the heart and soul of any non-profit organization. They give so much more than money: time, care, interest, and enthusiasm. They enrich our non-profits and other organizations. This is mistake, especially at our beloved Lindsey Museum, a community treasure. In addition, charging teens to volunteer,charging anyone to volunteer, shuts out those who are among the working poor and low-income. Yes, there are poor families and those among the working poor in Walnut Creek. The new Director is making a big mistake in attempting this. It is his job to balance the budget and if he can't do it without taxing our community volunteers, he should quietly move on.
Posted by:
11/10/2006 11:40 PM
1220.5 Report as Violation
No rating
More comments:
To charge volunteers to work is absurd. The museum should seek out other sources of revenue, make increases in other areas, and do fundraising activities, like most non-profits.
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Posted by:
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* 11/11/2006 1:00 AM
Um.....did the director change the term for the people that choose to particpate in this program? Volunteer is no longer an appropriate term.
While I love the concept of the museum, I am repeatedly get an irritating feel about the way the museum is run, both as a patron that takes my family and a teacher that takes her class there.
Management!
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Posted by:
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* 11/11/2006 9:22 AM
"if adults filled in for them..."
how's that going?
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Posted by:
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* 11/11/2006 9:23 AM
I find the idea of charging volunteers any amount to give their time, insane. The Lindsay Museum is a part of a community that has come to respect the icon for the richness it provides families,and schools, and the dignity it provides to animals. If they really can find no other way to balance the budget, then it is my opinion that they should not call it a volunteer program, but sell it as a training program and cite facts about previous participants that have gone on to other jobs in related fields.
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Posted by: Janet Low
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* 11/11/2006 2:25 PM
Dumb and dumber!
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