This season the Nevada Northern Railway Museum implemented a new requirement, that all volunteers need to be members of the museum. Basic membership is $15. Just out of curiosity what are the policies at other museums?
Thanks,
Mark

Nevada Northern Railway Museum
nnry1@mwpower.net

Our policy is that once a volunteer attains a particular threshold of hours completed as a volunteer, they automatically are given a membership. Our basic membership is $25. I would have a hard time telling a volunteer they had to buy a membership in order to volunteer.

Scott Cessna
Director
Raiilroaders Memorial Museum

> This season the Nevada Northern Railway
> Museum implemented a new requirement, that
> all volunteers need to be members of the
> museum. Basic membership is $15. Just out of
> curiosity what are the policies at other
> museums?
> Thanks,
> Mark


director@railroadcity.com

Scott. I agree that you can't ask a volunteer to become a member to volunteer. At SVRR, we strongly urge a volunteer to become a member, and most do. To volunteer on the train, in any capacity, you HAVE to be a member.
Ron B

http://www.svry.com
ronbrin@eoni.com

Sometimes insurance is combined with membership, as a condition of being covered as a volunteer one must join. This isn't an unreasonable expectation given that rationale, and the lousy $15 isn't going to break anybody. I am very leery of liability problems with workers who are not specifically members of an insured group.

Dave

irondave@bellsouth.net

A stunning number of places and organizations now have such requirements. Many either use the insurance issue as a very real reason, or they use the requirement as a convenient excuse to raise their membership numbers. I can certainly see this requirement in the case of someone performing work in a repair shop or restoration facility, or, say, to serve as a car host on an excursion, what with the current policy of litigation replacing baseball as the national pastime. However, there are organizations that have pushed it to an extreme, in my opinion, barring any kind of participation whatsoever without a membership. The Washington DC NRHS, hosts of the upcoming 2003 Convention in Baltimore, made any members from other chapters join the DC Chapter (an additional $19) before assisting in any manner (so much for the donated web server space and hosting services I was lining up). And then I have seen organizations with such rules in place discreetly and quietly bend or ignore said rules when, say, special talent or brainpower was needed.

If I were to hold membership in each and every organization I assist in the course of a year, I'd be out several hundred dollars--maybe thousands--I can't afford. Instead, I have found discreet, specific ways to assist many nonprofits over the years--selling advertising for programs, doing advance publicity work, finding sources for or donations of needed materials or talent, providing warm bodies when needed in a crunch, doing simpleton work while the real staff attended to real crises, etc. In some organizations, I ended up being issued full staff privileges before anyone realized I wasn't a paid member--and those groups either found a way to waive the fees or simply never made it an issue--and then invited me to the crew party afterwards. Needless to say, THOSE are the groups I bust my back for, rather than the places that have to take my money and hold two committee meetings and a costing analysis before they let me upgrade their computers and install a printer I surplused.

It's gotten to the point where, strictly on a philosophical basis, I refuse to help any oprganization that insists on my money up front before letting me "in the door" to help them. It sounds pompous and egotistical of me to say so, but in my opinion it's THEIR loss.

lner4472@bcpl.net

Alexander
As I mentioned above, we don't require any membership in those great folks that want to help us in restoration projects, track work, etc. We have found however, that after a couple of times volunteering we end up with a membership. Again, that isn't true with train crew volunteers, and that is a formal requirement. If you are interested enough in learning to do any of the many positions on the train crew, the $20 a year membership is really small for the enjoyment and experience.
At SVRR, we are always looking for yard helpers, members or not.
We WILL sign you up one day. (grin)
R

http://www.svry.com
ronbrin@eoni.com

Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum policy requires that all volunteers be members in good standing for the current membership year. That is because of our insurance policy. That doesn't mean that the member who is interested in shop work and wants to sign up and start volunteering has to wait until he or she receives their card in the mail. For most purposes, we consider their membership to be effective the moment that they turn in their application and payment. Usually the applications and payment are turned in directly to the business office, but ticket agents and train conductors will accept them when the business office is closed.

awalker2002@comcast.net

I belong to an antique farm machinery club. It was one that had that, um, *nationwide* insurance problem last year.

The new carrier is insisting that they put a new rule into immediate effect that all exhibitors and volunteers (members or not) MUST have their own personal liability insurance.
Now, The club BoD had a meeting with the insurance reps over it. We pointed out that this new requirement will most likely result in a drop in the number of exhibitors by as much as 50% (they took a poll), effectively killing the show. The reps then told them that if the club should waive that requirement, or fail to enforce it for ANY reason, and someone got hurt, the club's policy would be immediately cancelled. - Talk about between a rock and a hard place!

Right now the club is in the awkward predicament of trying to find 1. another insurer (one that will be reasonable) and 2. Someone willing to sell short term or inexpensive liability insurance to those members (and exhibitors) who's homeowner's insurance won't cover them. (about 2/5 the membership so far)

...I have no problem with the membership/insurance requirements for real shop work or operations staff. My problem comes up when they require you to be a member to, for example, design their 2004 brochure, or handle their reservations line, or set up and maintain their website for free. True, they should be able to get members to do it, but if they can't and I'm there and able do it...........

lner4472@bcpl.net

> ...I have no problem with the
> membership/insurance requirements for real
> shop work or operations staff. My problem
> comes up when they require you to be a
> member to, for example, design their 2004
> brochure, or handle their reservations line,
> or set up and maintain their website for
> free. True, they should be able to get
> members to do it, but if they can't and I'm
> there and able do it...........

I should have made the question clearer, the volunteers I had in mind were for train and shop service. I do appreciate the discussion.
Thanks,
Mark


Nevada Northern Railway Museum
nnry1@mwpower.net

> ...I have no problem with the
> membership/insurance requirements for real
> shop work or operations staff. My problem
> comes up when they require you to be a
> member to, for example, design their 2004
> brochure, or handle their reservations line,
> or set up and maintain their website for
> free. True, they should be able to get
> members to do it, but if they can't and I'm
> there and able do it...........

Could't that be considered an in kind donation rather than volunteer work? Particularly if the work is done using the donors computer and software. Donor gets a nice tax deduction also in the bargain.

Dave

irondave@bellsouth.net

Mr Mitchel,Our policy is you must Join for insurance reasons. period. In the casae you are talking about you would be given a memebership as a way of saying thank you above and beyond any tax break. If for no other reason you decide to show up and work you will be covered.
WE give anyone who helps a membership. If you work a set number of hours fund rasing you are given a memebership as well. Our dues are 15.00 dollars a year. It is not a matter of raising numbers or another 15.00 dollars. It all comes back to covering are collective A@#.
I hate to say this but we have been sued by a MEMBER for something that was his fault.
We've worked to hard and to long for it to be taken away by a pack of foaming lawyers.

irss@eriecoast.com

> Mr Mitchel,Our policy is you must Join for
> insurance reasons. period. In the casae you
> are talking about you would be given a
> memebership as a way of saying thank you
> above and beyond any tax break. If for no
> other reason you decide to show up and work
> you will be covered.
> WE give anyone who helps a membership. If
> you work a set number of hours fund rasing
> you are given a memebership as well. Our
> dues are 15.00 dollars a year. It is not a
> matter of raising numbers or another 15.00
> dollars. It all comes back to covering are
> collective A@#.
> I hate to say this but we have been sued by
> a MEMBER for something that was his fault.
> We've worked to hard and to long for it to
> be taken away by a pack of foaming lawyers.

[resists temptation to offer to donate a spell-checker for that computer.....]

At least you have some kind of mechanism in place for this very situation; it doesn't matter whether it's formal or informal. (Some groups have a formal "membership waiver" written in their by-laws; others simply have the society "angel" pay for the memberships of the broke college student or whatever.) As I said, I have NO problem with insurance requirements for real shop work mandating formal membership (I've even had to go through being bonded as a group director); what I DO have a problem with are groups that basically don't even acknowledge an offer if it's not from a dues-paying member:

"Hey, I have a team of certified boiler apprentices that need a project to gain experience on! Can we rebuild your steamer? Won't cost you anything..."
or:
"Hey, I have web server space going unused... I like you guys; can I offer you guys a free website and design it for you?"
or:
"Hey, we're fabricating/buying/salvaging some parts for our locomotive(s). You have a similar one, and probably need the same parts. Can we get you a set, too?"

"Are you a member?"
"Well, no, but we can...."
"good-bye........"[CLICK]

Believe it or not, I have received brush-offs that rude or ruder.

lner4472@bcpl.net

> "Are you a member?"
> "Well, no, but we can...."
> "good-bye........"[CLICK]

> Believe it or not, I have received
> brush-offs that rude or ruder.

Criminal shortsightedness. And just a couple of the many potential examples.

BTW, send the boilermakers my way next time you can't use them.

dave

irondave@bellsouth.net

> Criminal shortsightedness. And just a couple
> of the many potential examples.

> BTW, send the boilermakers my way next time
> you can't use them.

> dave

For the record, our volunteers are members. It is one reason we have kept the membership dues low ($15/year.) And once someone joins, they are full fledged voting members immediately! If somebody were to come by and help us while we were doing trackwork for example, we might let him or her "help". But if they were to come by on some kind of a regular basis, we would ask them to become members so that our insurance would cover them. Now if some people came by and decided they wanted to restore our steam locomotive (or work on some other major project) and didn't want to become members for whatever reason, they would find themselves with a one year membership.

Les Beckman (Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum/North Judson, Indiana)


midlandblb@cs.com