Volunteers Thank You

I hope that many regional archival organizations have a mechanism in place for thanking their members for service, be it on the board or organizing an annual meeting or hosting a social event or any other contribution.

But for the purpose of developing and sustaining our archival organizations, we should probably also be looping in the leadership of the workplaces at which our volunteers hold down their day jobs.  Although you may want to first run this by your volunteers to make sure their supervisors are aware of their participation, sending a thank you note to the supervisor might be a good means of building knowledge of your organization and creating a pipeline for future volunteers.

Here's a simple template:

The [regional archival organization name] has greatly appreciated the work of [volunteer/board member name] over the past year.  Ours is a volunteer organization, dedicated to [highlight an organizational goal/mission], and [first name] has made important contributions to our work by [e.g., organizing our annual meeting, reviewing articles for our journal, mentoring new professionals, maintaining our website, etc.].

The work of .[regional archival organization name] could not occur without the dedication of such volunteers, and we want to applaud you for creating a work environment in which your employees understand the importance of participating in and contributing to professional organizations.  

If you or any of your other employees ever have any questions about the work of [regional archival organization name] or how to get involved, please feel free to reach out to me.

Best wishes for all your important work.