Gratuity / Service Tips

At times, visitors will be grateful for your volunteer service or wish to thank you for a tour experience by offering a monetary gift.

All volunteers are strongly discouraged from accepting monetary tips or other contributions from members of the public as a result of your service to the organization. Such acts can at times have adverse affects for the Foundation.

It is instead encouraged that guests be directed to provide their gratuity in the form of a museum donation.  Donations to the organization do contribute to a better volunteering experience, offering more opportunities and supporting our volunteer appreciation and recruitment events.

If a guests insists on providing a direct contribution to you as a volunteer and will not instead make a donation, do not argue with them.  If you have no choice but to take their gift, we suggest that you add the money to the donation jar and notify the Executive Director of the transaction so that we are aware of the money and occurrence in case any legal questions were to arise in the future.

Note from Executive Director Reuben Moss:

This rule applies to all volunteers and staff of the National Road Heritage Foundation no matter you role.  I personally have found myself in this situation a few times here at our museums and while serving other organizations in the past, and have each time put tips into the donation jar which had been insistently placed in my hands after a tour.  It sometimes feels like giving up a personal gift, but we must remember that we are here to serve as volunteers, giving of ourselves freely without monetary compensation to the benefit of this organization whose mission we believe in.