This article reports on an exploratory study examining the take-up of professional volunteer management and its impact on the volunteer experience, using case studies from the museums and heritage sector. It presents a method for measuring the level of professional management procedures and analysing where and why measures might have been introduced. This measurement tool, the Volunteer Management Orientation Score (VMOS), identifies the key influences on organisations’ decisions to implement professional volunteer management. These influences were found to be external pressures (including trade union involvement), health and safety regulations and the availability of resources. While the take-up of professional procedures varied considerably, the level of VMOS at the organisations in the study was found to have no negative impact on the volunteer experience.