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13 May 2008
Harnessing volunteer power
Supplier: Volunteering England
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Sports clubs can now measure the impact of their volunteers thanks to a new set of tools available from Volunteering England and the Institute of Volunteering Research.
The web-based tools are available for sports organisations to use and are the first of their kind specifically designed for them.
The project, which tested the current Volunteering Impact Assessment Toolkit with 100 volunteers and players across three sports, has produced both sport specific tools, and a final report about the methods and findings behind those new tools.
The report - A winning team? - focused on sports clubs from rugby union, hockey and Riding for the Disabled Association groups and found that benefits enjoyed by the volunteers included making new friends, and improving confidence and skills, particularly among young volunteers.
There were also strong positive impacts on the skills and social awareness of players and the community.
However, it also revealed opportunities for improving the experience of volunteers in sport, with frustrations about volunteer shortages, excessive reliance on key individuals and lack of training emerging as areas of concern.
These experiences are not new. Similar results were reported in the 2002 research by Sport England into sport volunteering. The difference with this project is the new tools now allow individual sport organisations to assess their own volunteering impacts, enabling them to shout loudly or make any improvements.
A winning team? makes a number of recommendations to address these experiences, including:
- Encouraging clubs to create a volunteer co-ordinator position rather than spreading responsibility too generally
- Promoting 'softer' management practices such as mentoring and buddying
- Developing links between sport organisations and volunteering infrastructure bodies such as Volunteer Centres
- Better monitoring of individuals' workloads, delegation and division of tasks
Reimbursing volunteers' expenses to enable people on low incomes to volunteer
Laura Ferguson, Head of Sports Volunteering at Volunteering England, said: "These are the first ever tools designed for sports organisations to demonstrate the difference their volunteers are making, and it is fantastic to see those who have already used them promoting the positive impacts of their volunteers and making positive changes to their clubs."
Jennie Price, Chief Executive of Sports England, added: "Community sport couldn't happen without the thousands of people volunteering as coaches, referees, club administrators and treasurers in over 100,000 voluntary sports clubs across England."
Organisations wishing to measure the impact of their volunteers can download the tools from www.volunteeringengland.org.uk/sport
Picture shows Glenn Chapman, 23, from Leicester. Volunteer 1st XV Manager and Under 16’s coach/manager, Aylestone St James RFC and research participant
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Supplier: Volunteering England
London UK
Volunteering England is an independent voluntary agency committed to supporting, enabling and celebrating volunteering in all its diversity. Our work links research, policy innovation, good practice and grant making in the involvement of volunteers.
Web:
www.volunteering.org.uk
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12 Apr 2024
MyEquilibria combines art and outdoor exercise
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