Volunteers play several important roles within museums and cultural institutions, including assisting the institutions in meeting their core goals, serving as an influential audience, undertaking specific projects like documenting collections, acting as ambassadors, and taking on work that the institutions lack resources for. When developing volunteer programs, institutions must carefully consider their reasons for involving volunteers and how they will support volunteers. An effective volunteer policy outlines factors like recruitment, training, expenses, supervision, health and safety, and dispute resolution.