Volunteers are essential to the health of small arts organizations, bringing time, labor, and skills that help nonprofits stretch their capacity and deepen their community connections.
But running a volunteer program can raise tough questions about boundaries, responsibilities, and how to balance organizational needs with the energy people are willing to give.
In this article, three small arts nonprofits share how they’ve navigated working with volunteers—restructuring leadership roles, experimenting with exchanges, and building partnerships that center trust, mutual investment, and community.
Youth Art Team: Sustainable Growth through Shared Leadership
Youth Art Team in Waterloo, Iowa began in 2010 as one art project designed to empower students through art-making, decision-making, and relationship-building. Fifteen years later, it has blossomed into a much larger community staple.
Since it began, Youth Art Team has its roots in a volunteer culture. The bulk of its team is volunteers, including 40 committed core youth artists. Twelve of these young leaders form the Imagination Coalition, which takes a lead role in decision-making and rotates through non-voting terms on Youth Art Team’s board of directors. The organization only named its first executive director in 2019 and currently operates with a small staff of 1-3 paid employees.
Youth Art Team’s growth has not been without its challenges. As the volunteer pool expanded, the executive director became the main point of contact for all projects and personnel. Carrying all Youth Art Team’s institutional knowledge, as well as facilitating its transition to 501(c)(3) status, became unsustainable for one person alone.
Recognizing the strain, Youth Art Team applied for the Iowa Arts Council’s Cultural Leadership Cohort. Through workshops and conversations with other organizations, they devised a plan to share responsibility more sustainably.
Board members expanded their leadership roles to chair existing committees, or ‘subteams,’ and appointed co-chairs. This shifted responsibility away from the executive director, who now supports rather than leads each group. With volunteer leaders shouldering more weight, the subteams’ goal to become self-sufficient is now within reach.
Although still in its early stages, this adjusted model has already led to major positive shifts. Energy is up among all subteams participants, who are eager to make this model work. The executive director’s time spent on meetings has decreased significantly. Institutional knowledge is now shared by a team of people, taking the pressure off one person to be the sole source of information.
The success of this new structure has already allowed Youth Art Team to launch an additional subteam earlier than expected. Now with five volunteer-led subteams, Youth Art Team’s scope has expanded and focused. Spreading knowledge, responsibility, and trust among more of its volunteers has primed Youth Art Team to avoid burnout. Thanks to clear delineation of labor among volunteers in leadership, it has set itself up to continue to grow over its next fifteen years.
Youth Art Team’s advice for others?
“Do this sooner! Every new organization has to find its own way and respond to what it has in the moment. In hindsight, this is one thing we probably could have done differently early on. As you build your volunteer teams, be sure to recruit or recognize leaders in the mix who can help take on needed roles as the organization grows. This frees everyone up to do the role they do best. Also, invest in building authentic relationships with volunteers. Without volunteers who we can trust to be honest, trust to show up, and trust with our own struggles, we wouldn’t have a Youth Art Team.”
Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center:
Creative Ways to Compensate
In 2007, a small group of artists founded Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center to fill an underserved niche in the Minneapolis arts ecosystem. Fire arts—which includes blacksmithing, glasswork, jewelry making, enamel arts, and more—can be costly and inaccessible. CAFAC seeks to expand that access, particularly for historically marginalized communities.
Located at 38th and Chicago Avenue South, also known as George Floyd Square, CAFAC offers classes, artist support, and public art to empower its community through craft and social impact.
At its founding, CAFAC was entirely volunteer-run with the exception of paid instructors. Friends, family, and skilled neighbors retrofitted their building and prepared the first round of classes.
From there, a robust team of volunteers has grown to meet the needs of this blooming organization. They help with everything from facilities maintenance to public art fabrication to community events support. Two of the founding volunteers have become full-time staff members. Four more have become part-time staff.
Investing in and showing appreciation for volunteers is a core value for CAFAC. Volunteers are able to take a free class after banking 20 shifts and are invited to join regular, free skillshare events. Through volunteering, people have also gone on to become CAFAC instructors and fabricators. Time requirements are flexible so volunteers can work regularly or periodically.
Volunteers come to CAFAC from a variety of entry points. Some begin as students, eager to stay with the organization. Others attend CAFAC’s Volunteer Day events and want to get involved. Some have even been referred by mental health providers who believe CAFAC’s work would be a good fit for their client’s needs. Board members and instructors also volunteer with community events and public art fabrication.
A thriving volunteer ecosystem keeps CAFAC rooted in its community and dedicated to its mission. It also keeps costs manageable, tuition affordable, and scholarships available.
CAFAC has entered many meaningful community partnerships thanks to its volunteers. This relationship of mutual exchange sets a powerful example of investment and respect. It also reminds arts organizations that they can find creative ways to compensate volunteers for their time.
CAFAC’s advice for others?
“Prepare yourself that it takes a real commitment and dedication to adequately support a volunteer program. Volunteers need engagement and to feel valued and a part of the community for the volunteer to be interested and part of the organization over time. Most volunteers will need a lot of support when they are new to your organization and that takes a lot of time. And people won’t stick around if they don’t feel like the organization values them or if they can’t feel like it is something they are actually part of.”
Colectivo Luchart: Tapping into Existing Networks
Colectivo Luchart is an artists’ collective that amplifies and advocates for Latine, Chicano/a, and Indigenous artists in Iowa. From creating original installations to offering workshops, the colectivo strengthens the creative landscape of Iowa—and the entire Midwest—by supporting Latino artists.
Colectivo Luchart’s scope includes Des Moines, Iowa City, and beyond, with no single base of operations. As such, they have taken a unique approach to volunteer work that is tailor-made for their needs.
True to their collectivist mission, they develop strong partnerships with other organizations serving the Iowa Latine community and tap into their existing volunteer pools. In exchange, they provide these volunteers with unique and exciting artistic experiences.
One of their flagship examples is an ongoing partnership with students in Des Moines. The local chapter of Latinos in Action, a national organization for high school students, requires its members to complete volunteer service hours. In building a relationship with the chapter’s faculty adviser, the colectivo has attracted dozens of students to assist with its events. The students receive not only volunteer credit but also access to workshops with some of the Midwest’s premiere Latino artists.
Several students have unearthed a true passion for the arts thanks to their exposure through volunteering. One—Ariel Balderas, known professionally as Charro Balderas—has even joined the colectivo as an artist.
Latinos in Action is not Colectivo Luchart’s only community partner. Knock and Drop Iowa, Des Moines’ first Latino food pantry, has connected them with their dedicated volunteer base for help with events. The colectivo has also sparked a reciprocal relationship with another arts collective in Dubuque. Both organizations have helped each other with event planning and setup. They have also shared their rosters of artists, bolstering their own networks and expanding opportunities for Midwest creatives.
For other arts organizations operating without their own space, Colectivo Luchart’s approach to volunteering sets a powerful example. Rather than starting from scratch to develop their own volunteer pool, they invest in community and build relationships with other organizations that share overlapping goals. They also compensate volunteers with experiences they really value.
In doing so, they not only serve the Latino arts community but also expand it: by bringing in new volunteers with each event, they broaden their own reach and empower more people—including budding artists—to make meaningful connections with the arts.
Colectivo Luchart’s advice for others?
“Most of our volunteers come from partnering with friends or other organizations. Our most successful volunteer partners are when we work with an organization who is providing an exchange for something. It’s a win-win situation. We help each other to support and create this beautiful net where we collectively work together. Sharing resources is like gold. By working together through different fronts, we can achieve a more sustainable long-term force. Who else is doing things that you care about that maybe you can work together with?”
What We’re Learning
Across these three organizations, a few key takeaways rise to the surface:
- Trust volunteers with leadership. Once they’ve gotten the training and institutional knowledge they need, they can be excellent resources that free up staff time and ease the burden on any one person.
- Invest in non-monetary compensation. Finding ways to show appreciation—from skill building to community bonding—fosters fellowship, satisfaction, and long-term dedication among volunteers.
- Communicate expectations clearly. Outline roles and responsibilities up front, and invite feedback to build stronger buy-in.
- Build partnerships with like-minded organizations. Meaningful collaborations with other groups are natural pathways to finding—and providing—volunteer support.
Onboarding volunteers takes concerted time and effort. But when organizations intentionally cultivate a volunteer culture based on respect, communication, and appreciation, the results are more than worth it.
So go ahead—ask for help!