The recently released Volunteer Toolbox is the Ottawa Sport Council’s newest resource hub for community sport. The toolbox contains a sport volunteer recruitment portal, and a collection of videos and pictorials which provide community sport organizations a comprehensive set of resources in their ongoing work with volunteers. Given 73 percent of community sport organizations in Canada are completely volunteer driven, this information is vital to the success of this sector. The goal of the Volunteer Toolbox is to improve community sport organizations’ capacity to manage a volunteer base that is integral to their success.
In consultation with community sport leaders, challenges identified with volunteering included a shrinking volunteer base, high turnover, and difficulties with recruitment, onboarding, training, managing, and appreciating volunteers. The Volunteer Toolbox resources were designed to address these issues.
The Toolbox includes videos and pictorials on best practices in volunteer onboarding, volunteer management, and volunteer appreciation. To aid in the volunteer recruitment process, job description templates for volunteer managers, event volunteers, committee volunteers, and members of a volunteer board of directors are also included. Additionally, a handbook for volunteer managers was developed to outline the key responsibilities associated with this critical role. The Toolbox also addresses volunteer turnover and retirement- other key factors in the management of volunteers. The toolbox’s pictorials are accessible and free to download from the Ottawa Sport Council’s website.
Community sport organizations looking to improve their recruitment process can post new opportunities and open positions in the new volunteer portal included in the Toolbox. The portal connects volunteers seeking new roles with several open opportunities in community sport.
The Volunteer Toolbox was made possible thanks to funding from the Government of Canada’s Community Services Recovery Fund.