Case Study: North Carolina Museum of Life and Science achieves effortless tracking of 20,000+ volunteer hours with Track it Forward

How the North Carolina Museum of Life and Science Makes Tracking Over 20,000 Volunteer Hours Look Effortless

The Museum of Life and Science in North Carolina relies on 150–200 volunteers who log more than 20,000 hours each year across animal care, a butterfly house, exhibits, labs, special events and summer camp. Before standardizing their process, each department tracked hours differently, making it difficult to manage member perks, shift sign-ups, and accurate reporting. To solve this, the Museum of Life and Science adopted the Track it Forward volunteer-hour tracking platform.

Track it Forward standardized hour logging across every department, enabled volunteers to self-report hours, and used features like Milestones to automatically track eligibility for a free membership at 100+ hours. The unified system consolidated reporting used for grants and funding and freed staff time for planning—capturing department totals such as Exhibits 9,975 hours, Summer Camp 4,993.5 hours, Butterfly House 2,025.25 hours, Animal Department 1,766 hours, Special Events 1,798.5 hours, Lab 565.75 hours, SER Center 160 hours, and Programs 33 hours—demonstrating clearer, measurable impact from Track it Forward.

Museum of Life and Science

Emma Nadeau

Volunteer Coordinator