Volunteers are the heart and soul of Zooniverse. Participatory research cannot happen without them. Successful project teams sustain and grow their communities by staying in touch with their volunteers, keeping them informed and showing them the appreciation they deserve. Here are some tips to get you started.

Nurture your volunteer community

• Be present on Talk. Answer questions, engage in discussions, listen.
• Send project newsletters (learn how here). Share news, show appreciation, discuss interim results and illustrate how your volunteers efforts are having a tangible effect on research and discovery.
• Use the announcement banner to share your most important updates (e.g. a new workflow, a publication or an upcoming event). 
• Appoint and support your project moderators to help foster community engagement (learn more in our moderator guide).
• Translate your project (learn how here).

Leverage Zooniverse communication channels

• Share your news, discoveries, awards, and events through Daily Zoo posts.
• Be interviewed for our series Who’s Who in the Zoo or Around the Zoo.
• Feature your new project launch or share updates to your existing project on Zooniverse’s social media – Instagram, Facebook and/or Bluesky.
  
  Send us a message at contact@zooniverse.org to express your interest in any of the options listed above!

Share your publications

Submit them via the Google form linked at the top of the Publications page.

Since 2009, Zooniverse research has led to more than 450 peer-reviewed publications. Sharing these publications with our community helps to demonstrate the impact citizen science have on real research and to inform volunteers about the results of their hard work.

Follow good practices for project sunsetting

Let us know when your project’s classification effort is complete, so we can change its status to Finished. This way your project will stay visible on Zooniverse, but volunteers will know that your team no longer needs their help with classifications.

Email us at contact@zooniverse.org and we will walk you through the process, including end-of-project communications best practices.

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Would you like to share your best practices with other Zooniverse teams? Drop us a line and we will be happy to feature your ideas in our next blog post.