Maximising the English passion for volunteering

Budding sports volunteers will soon get more opportunities to roll up their sleeves and get involved in the sports they love.

Sport England is investing £93,000 of Exchequer funding through Volunteering England, our national partner for driving up volunteering in sport.

The funding, which coincides with this year’s Volunteers’ Week, will be:

• Invested in Volunteer Centres in every region to help them work more closely with local sports clubs
• Used to develop more opportunities for people to volunteer and match the right people to the right roles
• Used to promote sports volunteering opportunities locally.

"Community sport needs its volunteers,” said Sport England’s Chair Richard Lewis. “Without them, it could not thrive as an environment where everyone gets to experience the thrill of playing sport. We know that the quality of volunteers, and the skills they bring, has a significant impact on participants and the likelihood of them continuing their sporting involvement in the future. I cannot give enough praise, and thanks, to the millions of people who dedicate their time to grassroots sport and helping others to enjoy it."

Sport England already has a range of dedicated resources available to help national governing bodies and sports clubs to maximise the time their volunteers give.

These include:

• runningsports – supporting sports volunteers, and the people that manage them, through a series of easily-accessible resources. These include top tips, quick guides, e-learning, workshops and workbooks - including the newly-refreshed ‘Valuing Your Volunteers’ guide
• The Volunteering Centre of Excellence - providing volunteering advice, guidance and support to our funded governing bodies to help them deliver their whole sport plans. Sport England is also investing in our national partners (such as Volunteering England and SkillsActive) and programmes such as Clubmark. The third sector is important too – so we’re engaging with voluntary organisations to ensure clubs and volunteers have the support they need
• Children and Young People - working with governing bodies to increase the number of 5-19 year olds taking up leadership and volunteering roles. We also support all 49 county sport partnerships to create high-quality volunteering placements.

The latest government citizenship figures have shown that people who volunteer choose to give their time to sport more than any other activity. The Department for Communities and Local Government’s Citizenship Survey show that 53% of the adults volunteering formally do so in sport.

Volunteering England has welcomed the funding and the chance to help even more people to volunteer.

“I am delighted that in Volunteering England we are helping make the links between local Volunteer Centres and sports clubs in their communities,” said Justin Davis Smith, Volunteering England’s Chief Executive. “Mostly people get to volunteer through their friendships and networks where they live. Volunteer Centres are really important in creating the conditions locally which will help sports clubs involve more volunteers.”

“Volunteers are the lifeblood of grassroots sport and deserve huge recognition for the difference they make on the ground every day,” said Minister for Sport and the Olympics Hugh Robertson. “Sport England’s support will help the millions of volunteers who already give their time and I hope it will inspire many more to do so.”  

Did you know?

• Nearly two million adults (1,972,700) contribute at least one hour a week to volunteering in sport – equivalent to a full-time workforce of over 80,000 people.
• Just under half (48%) of general participants questioned in Sport England’s Satisfaction Survey rated ‘the competence and commitment of the volunteers I came into contact with in my sport’ as important
• 77% of active club members and 87% of talented athletes agreed.

For more information on the work Sport England does to help sports club volunteers, visit the runningsports website