Kourtney Bonzo
Director of Visitor Experience, McFaddin-Ward House Museum
Beaumont, Texas, United States
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Kourtney Bonzo began her career in marketing with Texas Roadhouse before transitioning into volunteer management during the COVID-19 pandemic. She successfully increased volunteer engagement by 50%, helping her organization earn recognition as Northern Utah’s best place to volunteer. In 2021, she joined the City of Baytown, where she launched Baytown Serves, a citywide initiative featuring 30 days of volunteer opportunities. Kourtney now manages volunteer and docent programs at the McFaddin-Ward House Museum, continuing to grow community engagement through service and education.
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Roundtable: From Transactional to Transformational Volunteering
This interactive workshop invites museum professionals to rethink how volunteer programs are designed and how volunteers experience connection, ownership, and leadership within institutions.
Using Technology of Participation (ToP) facilitation methods, participants will begin with a focused conversation exploring the difference between transactional and transformational volunteer experiences. Through guided reflection and peer discussion, attendees will identify common barriers that prevent volunteers from developing deeper engagement with museums and cultural organizations.
Participants will then move into a collaborative consensus workshop focused on the question:
“How can museums create volunteer experiences that build ownership and long-term engagement?”
Working in small groups, attendees will brainstorm practical ideas, identify shared themes, and collectively develop strategies that can be adapted across museums of different sizes and disciplines. Discussions will include topics such as volunteer growth pathways, docent leadership, cross-department engagement, flexible and remote volunteer opportunities, and recognizing hidden volunteer skills.
Real-world examples from nonprofit, municipal, and museum volunteer programs will provide practical context throughout the session.
If chosen, I will bring in cofacilitators that are also trained in the TOPS facilitation techniques.
From Transactional to Transformational Volunteering
Too often, museum volunteer programs become transactional - volunteers fill shifts, complete tasks, and leave without building a deeper connection to the museum’s mission. But when museums create opportunities for connection and leadership, volunteers can become educators, advocates, and long-term partners in the visitor experience.
In this session, Kourtney Bonzo shares real examples of rethinking volunteer engagement, from creating at-home volunteer opportunities during COVID-19 to helping one-time volunteers grow into instructors, docents, and program leaders. Attendees will explore practical ways to build more meaningful volunteer experiences that strengthen museums, deepen community connections, and expand how volunteers contribute across departments.
Participants will take part in interactive discussion and leave with practical tools and ideas they can immediately apply within their own institutions.
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