Volunteers are an invaluable resource in community sport and are the backbone of many community sport organizations. Finding – and keeping – volunteers, however, can be difficult. Sport organizations need to take an active approach to volunteer management to recruit, retain, retrain and recognize high-quality volunteers.
Volunteers contribute to the social and economic value of sport, especially at the community level. Smaller clubs, in particular, rely on the generous contributions of volunteers to keep the cost of sport accessible to the community. Many sport organizations would not be able to run without volunteers who fill critical roles including coaches, officials, managers, administrators, and board and committee members.
In 2008, the True Sport Report shared compelling statistics regarding volunteers in community sport. Sport and recreation organizations make up 21 percent of Canada’s nonprofit sector but engage 28 percent (5.3 million) of all volunteers – more than any other sector. 73% of community sport organizations have no paid employees.
In many cases, passionate parents supporting their children’s club or community members who want to give back to the sport community make up a large percentage of community sport volunteers. It’s important to understand why your current volunteers are committed to your organization to be able to retain those volunteers and recruit new ones.
Here are a few of many ways to recruit volunteers:
- Advertise positions online or at events relevant to your organization
- When advertising your positions, highlight the benefits of volunteering with your organization
- Approach your members to see if they are interested in helping out
- Ask your current volunteers if they know anyone with similar interests
It’s also important to check-in with your volunteers on a regular basis to be responsive to their needs. Volunteers will vary in skill level and expertise. Rather than providing workshops or training opportunities in areas you think are required, ensure you ask your volunteers what areas would be helpful to them. Above all, it’s important to create an inclusive environment to ensure everyone is welcome within your organization and avoid bad experiences that might discourage volunteers.
Some of the traditional ways of recruiting and retaining volunteers will need to be adapted to the COVID-19 reality. The pandemic is stretching the capacity of volunteers. Planning ahead to how we might govern, lead and manage club affairs in a post pandemic reality will require creativity, collaboration, truth-telling, and shared expectations. The way sport has been designed in the past may not be sustainable in a world with pandemics, shifting attitudes towards volunteerism, and the next generation’s desire to engage differently with the non-profit sector.
The Sport Information Recourse Centre (SIRC) has identified 12 ways to engage virtually with community sport volunteers during the pandemic. SIRC suggests, among other ideas, developing a regular social calendar, updating your club website regularly and using social media campaigns as way to promote and reinforce club values or a specific initiative. Using tactics like these can help in both the recruitment and retention of volunteers by creating consistent communication that, in a virtual world, is essential.
As part of the Rebound program, funded with support from Ontario Trillium Foundation Resilient Communities Fund, the Ottawa Sport Council (OSC) hosted a Chalk Talk session in April regarding Volunteer Recruitment and Retention. This full-day session identified targeted solutions to help organizations build teams of volunteers that will support recovery and future growth during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
In May, registration will open for the second part of the Volunteer Recruitment and Retention module – the Huddle. The Huddle will provide the opportunity for Ottawa sport organizations to engage with other local sport organizations in a round-table discussion about their experiences with volunteer management in a session facilitated by industry expert Dina Bell-Laroche. We look forward to connecting with you on May 17 and 18 to continue this conversation.