Sport England

The Nation's Biggest Supporter

Year of the Volunteer

Year of the Volunteer
Volunteering England
CSV
Millennium Volunteers
Volunteers' Week
Step into Sport

A volunteer helps children get to grips with the climbing wall

Volunteers make a big contribution to life in the UK:

22 million adults are involved in formal volunteering each year
90 million hours of formal voluntary work take place each work
This work is estimated to be worth about £40bn a year
Every pound an organisation spends supporting volunteers generates a notional payback of up to £14

Volunteers and sport – helping the nation get active
And 26% of these volunteers – over 6 million people – give one billion hours to sport every year. These coaches, officials, mini-bus drivers, match secretaries, umpires, treasurers, stewards and countless other helpers sustain over 100,000 affiliated clubs with over 8 million members.

YV05 is about recognising and thanking volunteers for their hard work, creating new volunteering opportunities and increasing the number of volunteers from marginalised groups and young people.

It brings together the Home Office – which has invested £1m in the campaign – and key organisations including CSV, the Network of National Volunteer Involving Agencies, Volunteering England and Sport England. Together they are co-ordinating a range of programmes and initiatives to run throughout the year including:

What’s YV05 and Sport Month all about?
YV05 is about recognising and thanking volunteers for their hard work, creating new volunteering opportunities and increasing the number of volunteers, particularly those from marginalised groups and among young people.

The initiative is being led by CSV and the Volunteering England Consortium, and is supported by the Home Office. There is a series of themed months – including Sport Month in August. Sport England and the SIT, along with other partners from across the world of sport, are also playing a key role in the campaign around Sport Month and in helping to raise the profile of volunteering throughout the year.

Joining in the celebrations
We want to say thank you to sports volunteers up and down the country and to inspire and encourage others to get involved. Why not say thank you to your volunteers at a summer party or barbeque? Or hold a taster day to show people what a difference volunteering in sport can make. If you are holding an event you can register is at www.Sportmonth.org or on the Year of the Volunteer website.

Help will be available to support events. Find out what by logging onto www.sportmonth.org or contacting your Sport England region.

What's your passion?
The Sport Month and Year of the Volunteer websites list many volunteering opportunities. You can register the area where you live and your interests. The website also contains information about volunteering events and real volunteering stories.

Themed months
Every month in 2005 is focused on a different volunteering theme. It's Sport Month in August but that doesn't mean it's not relevant to other themes throughout the year.
Click here to read the full list of monthly themes

Media campaign
We want everyone to know about Year of the Volunteer and the crucial role volunteers playing sport and other areas. A press campaign is being run by both CSV and Volunteering England's YV05 Consortium to promote volunteering in general as well as linking in with the themed months. Sport England, SIT members and other partners from across sport are also playing a key role in helping us to raise awareness of sports volunteering through the media.

IN YOUR REGION

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