The Centre of Excellence for Volunteering is part of
Sport England’s NGB and Sport Directorate.
Its priority is to offer the 46 funded national
governing bodies (
NGBs
) one to one guidance,
advice and intelligence on volunteering and the voluntary and
community sector, supporting them in achieving the outcomes
detailed within their 2009-13 plans.
This support and advice cuts across the domains of volunteering
and club development – recognising that volunteers are the
lifeblood of clubs and crucial to ensuring that a modern network of
clubs are centrepiece to people’s sporting experience.
The Centre of Excellence for Volunteering also works closely
with additional partners from the wider voluntary and community
sector. This engagement ensures their knowledge and expertise can
be used by
NGBs
to
increase participation, develop volunteering opportunities and
share good practice.
The Centre of Excellence for Volunteering also manages a
portfolio of national funded partners and programmes owned by
Sport England.
National funded partners
Volunteering England (
VE
) is the national volunteering
development agency for England, committed to supporting, enabling
and celebrating volunteering in all its forms. We are funding the
'Volunteer Centre Engagement' project, which aims to broker a
stronger relationship with volunteer centres and sports clubs
across the country
In his new role as Sport Volunteering Development Manager,
VE's
Steve Ince, is
identifying nine champion volunteer centres which will receive
intense consultancy to increase their ability to support
and interact with sports clubs
These champions act as hubs responsible for supporting other
nearby volunteer centres to engage with clubs in their locality
This is a step away from our previous funding relationship with
the organisation, where there is little direct strategic
support from
VE
to
NGBs
. However, Steve
is keen to engage with the governing bodies, where appropriate, to
understand the needs of their clubs and supporting
NGBs
at possibly their most
important delivery points – the clubs.
Volunteering England also have a dedicated Further and
Higher Education team that specialise in student volunteering
and engaging all sectors in recognising the value and contribution
of the activity.
Key contacts
Volunteering England: Steve
Ince
Sport England relationship manager: Kirsty Clarke
SkillsActive is the government-appointed Sector Skills Council
for sport and recreation, health and fitness, the outdoors,
playwork and the caravan industry.
Our national partner funding, which runs until March 2011,
enables SkillsActive to help each NGB develop its workforce
by:
- Identifying training needs and course providers
- Helping each governing body map existing courses
to the required qualifications framework
- Identifying the funding opportunities available to support
training
- Providing guidance on developing apprenticeship and diploma
schemes
- Generating workforce and sector intelligence
- Developing skills programmes such as personal best
- Implementing the future job fund
SkillsActive have 16 relationship managers allocated
to individual sports and working with them on a
one-to-one basis. Their focus is to help each NGB achieve the
interventions featured in their 2009-13 plans, funded by Sport
England.
Key contacts
SkillsActive: Steve
Mitchell
Sport England relationship manager: Sophie Tobin
National programmes
runningsports is a support package for sports volunteers and
volunteer managers.
Primarily aimed at club-based volunteers they help clubs develop
and thrive. runningsports provides a range of developmental tools
and interactive learning products that can meet the needs of
different sports volunteers.
The suite of easy-to-use resources are available to anyone
involved or interested in sports volunteering.
The programme was developed and is owned by Sport England, it is
run on our behalf by Coachwise Ltd following a recent re-tender.
The new contract runs from April 2010 – March 2011.
During this period runningsports address NGB needs remaining
focused on delivering activity aligned to our Grow, Sustain and
Excel outcomes. With this in mind, there will be considerable
development over the coming months.
runningsports will continue to offer NGBs , CSPs and numerous
other partners a range of workshops and resources that they can use
to improve the knowledge and skills of their volunteers
runningsports has numerous resources that governing bodies can
adopt to help with volunteer management, volunteer development and
club development.
runningsports can also help NGBs stay up-to-date with sports
volunteering news, provide top tips and advice to sports
volunteers, offer downloadable role outlines for clubs and share
best practices.
Key contacts
runningsports: Margaret Nolan
runningsports: Phil
Collier
Sport England relationship manager: Kirsty Clarke
Clubmark is the only national cross-sports quality accreditation
scheme for clubs with junior sections.
It recognises sports clubs, which belong to NGBs, that have
developed high quality environments for young participants.
Clubs receive accreditation by working with licensed
bodies - either an NGB or a CSP. As of March 2010, 28 funded NGBs
and 28 CSPs are licensed. At present 6,031 clubs hold full
accreditation with 4,825 working towards it.
Clubmark offers NGBs advice on licensing and alternative models,
player pathways, external verification and general club
development.
The benefits for sport clubs include increasing membership,
retaining members and volunteer development.
Knight Kavanagh & Page is contracted to run the programme on
our behalf until December 2010 .
Key contacts
Knight Kavanagh & Page: Claire Mcleod
Sport England relationship manager: Kirsty Clarke