Museums as Agents in the New Age of Volunteering

The drive for volunteering has many roots in and impacts on societal development. It has been acknowledged as a variety of outcomes from volunteering. When the European Union by decision in 2009 made 2011 the European Year of Volunteering the objectives were set high:

1. To create an enabling and facilitating environment for volunteering in the EU;
2. To empower volunteer organisations and improve the quality of volunteering;
3. To reward and recognise volunteering activities; and
4. To raise awareness of the value and importance of volunteering.” (EU Citizenship Portal)

There are important signals in these aims which become clearer when taking in to account the definition of volunteering as “to offer to do something that you do not have to do, often without having been asked to do it and/or without expecting payment” (Cambridge Dictionary). EU wanted volunteering to grow in size and quality. There are many reasons for this.

From a critical point of view the aim of growth in numbers can be explained by the need for work to be done is higher than the labour markets resources. The qualitative development aim may at least partly be explained by the need for volunteering in areas where specific competences are required.