This resource is designed for all organisations working with Museums Live! to involve young volunteers in their work in arts, environment or heritage.

The aim is to make it easy for you to look after your volunteers well. There are models for all the different documents you'll need and ten steps for you to work through to make sure you have everything in place before your volunteers start work. You'll just need to work through these steps alongside staff from Museums Live, make sure the details of your own organisation are accurate and then you're ready to go!

1 Include volunteers in your policies

2 Adopt a volunteer policy

3 Set objectives for your volunteer programme

4 Budget for your volunteers

5 Involve your staff

6 Make sure your workplace is safe

7 Prepare an induction pack

8 Recruit your volunteers

9 Keep track of your volunteers

10 Get your volunteers more involved

To begin with, read through the steps and arrange a meeting with Museums Live! to adapt the documents to suit your organisation. Once you've completed steps 1-6, you'll only need to review them once a year or if there's a major change in your organisation. You'll come back to steps 7-8 for each new role you advertise and steps 9-10 should become part of the ongoing management of your organisation. We'll continue to be there to support you and your volunteers throughout the programme, to advertise placements and to keep developing your organisation and your volunteers through training, support and new opportunities.

This resource has been prepared by Museums Live!