Post by trevormallard on Nov 15, 2006 9:52:28 GMT 12
Hon Trevor Mallard – Minister for Sport and Recreation
Finding and keeping volunteers
One of the biggest challenges facing sports organisations, especially those at the community level who look after grassroots sport, is finding and keeping their volunteers.
All volunteering is conditional and volunteers have a choice about whether they volunteer and how they volunteer. Increasing demands on our spare time place a strain on people’s availability and their commitment. However, the good news is that many people are still keen to volunteer.
The challenge is how can you create an environment that draws volunteers to your organisation and how can you ensure that volunteers have a great time and want to come back again?
Research conducted recently by SPARC captured the thoughts of potential, existing and lapsed volunteers about what motivates them to volunteer and what puts them off volunteering. The results provide key messages that can help you with your planning and thinking about volunteers.
For example:
1. Not all volunteers are the same
The research identified nine different mindsets or motivations towards volunteering ranging from ‘investors’ who are mainly motivated to volunteer to help others achieve i.e. their child, sport or club, to ‘cautious but keen’ types who want to volunteer but lack confidence in their ability to do the tasks required.
The implications of this message are that your recruitment messages and the processes you establish to manage your volunteers need to be tailored to the different groups of volunteers.
2. The importance of leadership
Volunteers see strong leadership within an organisation as the way for them to focus on their roles. Good leadership will result in some or all of the following:
• a safe environment;
• a well-run organisation;
• manageable volunteer roles;
• a supportive and encouraging environment;
• clarity and certainty about what is expected from volunteers;
• volunteers feeling respected and listened to; and
• clear processes and systems for managing volunteers.
Without good leadership volunteers may be uninspired and unsure about what is expected of them and may eventually stop volunteering.
3. Young people do volunteer
Young people see value in volunteering and provide many benefits to an organisation. They are often energetic and enthusiastic bringing fresh ideas into a club. If their early life experiences of volunteering are good then there is a strong likelihood that they will either continue to volunteer or come back to volunteering later in life.
To appeal to young people, volunteering needs to be as much about having fun as about helping others out. The level of support provided to young volunteers is important and typically they are looking for roles that carry less risk and offer opportunities for mentoring and skill development.
4. The importance of asking
Asking someone to volunteer communicates to that person that they have something valuable to offer – it is an automatic acknowledgement of a person’s skills and abilities. The challenge here is develop an asking strategy that makes it easier for people to say ‘yes’. This means that you need to think about:
• Who will you ask?
• Who will do the asking?
• How will you ask?
• What information will be provided when you do the asking?
An asking strategy will use the networks of people you have in your organisation. Blanket requests for volunteers don’t work – they make it too easy for people to say ‘no’. A more personalised approach is required. Asking also needs to appeal the motivations that people might have for volunteering.
Volunteers make a significant contribution to the sport and recreation sector. Good volunteer management is required to ensure that we get their support and we keep them involved. This means bringing volunteers into your club, looking after them while they are there, and then planning for when they leave.
Good volunteer management doesn’t just happen so do some planning before you start to recruit so that when volunteers begin their involvement with your organisation your systems and processes are already established and you can effectively support your volunteers.
Finding and keeping volunteers
One of the biggest challenges facing sports organisations, especially those at the community level who look after grassroots sport, is finding and keeping their volunteers.
All volunteering is conditional and volunteers have a choice about whether they volunteer and how they volunteer. Increasing demands on our spare time place a strain on people’s availability and their commitment. However, the good news is that many people are still keen to volunteer.
The challenge is how can you create an environment that draws volunteers to your organisation and how can you ensure that volunteers have a great time and want to come back again?
Research conducted recently by SPARC captured the thoughts of potential, existing and lapsed volunteers about what motivates them to volunteer and what puts them off volunteering. The results provide key messages that can help you with your planning and thinking about volunteers.
For example:
1. Not all volunteers are the same
The research identified nine different mindsets or motivations towards volunteering ranging from ‘investors’ who are mainly motivated to volunteer to help others achieve i.e. their child, sport or club, to ‘cautious but keen’ types who want to volunteer but lack confidence in their ability to do the tasks required.
The implications of this message are that your recruitment messages and the processes you establish to manage your volunteers need to be tailored to the different groups of volunteers.
2. The importance of leadership
Volunteers see strong leadership within an organisation as the way for them to focus on their roles. Good leadership will result in some or all of the following:
• a safe environment;
• a well-run organisation;
• manageable volunteer roles;
• a supportive and encouraging environment;
• clarity and certainty about what is expected from volunteers;
• volunteers feeling respected and listened to; and
• clear processes and systems for managing volunteers.
Without good leadership volunteers may be uninspired and unsure about what is expected of them and may eventually stop volunteering.
3. Young people do volunteer
Young people see value in volunteering and provide many benefits to an organisation. They are often energetic and enthusiastic bringing fresh ideas into a club. If their early life experiences of volunteering are good then there is a strong likelihood that they will either continue to volunteer or come back to volunteering later in life.
To appeal to young people, volunteering needs to be as much about having fun as about helping others out. The level of support provided to young volunteers is important and typically they are looking for roles that carry less risk and offer opportunities for mentoring and skill development.
4. The importance of asking
Asking someone to volunteer communicates to that person that they have something valuable to offer – it is an automatic acknowledgement of a person’s skills and abilities. The challenge here is develop an asking strategy that makes it easier for people to say ‘yes’. This means that you need to think about:
• Who will you ask?
• Who will do the asking?
• How will you ask?
• What information will be provided when you do the asking?
An asking strategy will use the networks of people you have in your organisation. Blanket requests for volunteers don’t work – they make it too easy for people to say ‘no’. A more personalised approach is required. Asking also needs to appeal the motivations that people might have for volunteering.
Volunteers make a significant contribution to the sport and recreation sector. Good volunteer management is required to ensure that we get their support and we keep them involved. This means bringing volunteers into your club, looking after them while they are there, and then planning for when they leave.
Good volunteer management doesn’t just happen so do some planning before you start to recruit so that when volunteers begin their involvement with your organisation your systems and processes are already established and you can effectively support your volunteers.