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While recruitment is rightly a particular focus of club administrators at the beginning of a term or season, the retention of volunteers is a long-term commitment which has the potential to expand clubs, develop skill sets and create an environment where recruitment needs are minimized due to the positive learning and support given to volunteers. While people’s motivations to volunteer tend to be built primarily around previous participation in the sport or the involvement of children in the sport, the motivation for continuing their role often evolves through engagement in the volunteer process. The major retention motivations are personal development, social connection, skill development and health outcomes.
Volunteering makes people feel good, it can lead to the achievement of personal goals, in many cases it leads to increased trust and further involvement in local activities. People who choose to volunteer tend to develop skills that transfer into other parts of their lives. Thus volunteering is not entirely altruistic, and personal development and benefit are important ingredients in volunteer satisfaction. So while volunteers are happy to contribute their valuable time there must also be input into their own personal development. If clubs are to retain committed and effective volunteers they must understand the need to invest in the volunteer’s personal development and enjoyment of the volunteer experience.
Clubs need to consider the following types of actions to increase the likelihood of retaining their volunteers’ commitment:
- Appoint a Volunteer Coordinator to ensure that volunteers are supported and coordinate the recruitment, training and recognition of volunteers. In larger clubs this could be a role for more than one person, or even a team of people. In the Council’s recent research, volunteers who were satisfied with their experience cited volunteer coordinators or volunteer development officers as playing a major role in their development as well as management.
- Make sure that volunteers have a go-to person if they wish to raise any issues relating to their volunteering experiences. It is essential that these issues are taken seriously by the club and that the volunteer receives appropriate feedback around their issues.
- If possible have a volunteer succession plan in place which allows potential new volunteers time to think about the commitment and, ideally, to shadow the person who is doing the job now.
- Create regular opportunities for current volunteers, key officers etc to meet new volunteers.
- Ask current post-holders to identify people who might be interested in taking over from them. Encourage them to involve others throughout the year, to let people find out what is involved, but without any commitment.
- Introduce a buddy or mentor system. This will encourage people to take on jobs, eases them in gently and often leads to them becoming a full volunteer. The advantages are that it will provide a hand-over period from one post-holder to another, new volunteers can learn on the job and not be pushed in at the deep end, it provides a degree of continuity for the club, it offers the opportunity to try the job before making a final commitment and it encourages current post holders to feel happier about handing over their position because they can influence their successor’s approach to the job
- Think about the reasons why people volunteer their time – it’s a two-way process that benefits the volunteer as well as the club. People volunteer to meet new people and make friends, to learn new skills or maybe to influence the way the club is run. Try to match people with roles that satisfy their needs as well as yours.
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