9.3 Recruiting Volunteers
Any good club or sporting organisation is always going to have a spine of good volunteers working for them. The vast majority of sports rely on Volunteers to survive and function as not all sports are blessed with the funds to employ fulltime staff. Whether it be serving as Chairperson or Treasurer in your spare time to being a time-keeper, referee, scorer or coach on the weekends,
Volunteers truly are the backbone behind sporting clubs and organisations all over the world. Unfortunately, due to work, family and other commitments, most Volunteers have a limited life-span in an organisation. So recruiting Volunteers is a necessary process that must be on-going.
Is Your Organisation Prepared for New Volunteers?
Some organisations have found themselves in difficulties because of a lack of written policies and procedures. Although writing policies and procedures may seem like a time-consuming exercise, it provides many benefits such as a Volunteer knows exactly what is expected of them and they know what to expect of the organisation.
Attracting Volunteers
Granted some people will always be volunteers. They will have their children or friends playing in the sport and so will gladly offer to help with jobs that need doing. Some people may also be retired, injured or just taking a break from the sport and will want to stay involved and so will help out. But long hours and weekends away from family or other socialising will eventually take its toll (completely understandable of course) and so your organisation will always need to attract new people to help with the duties. Ways that you can ensure that potential Volunteers are enticed to help your organisation are:
- Be approachable
- Be undemanding
- Be as un bureaucratic as possible
- Do not expect too much too soon
- Be representative of your community
- Be flexible in your approach - new people may bring new ideas and approaches
What Puts Volunteer Off?
- When they feel used
- When they are not appreciated
- When they are not consulted
- When they are not accommodated.
Rewarding Volunteers
Since Volunteers do not get paid, there are a few ways that they can be rewarded:
- Give them discounted (or free) access to events and services
- Give them discounted prices on equipment that is needed for competition (if your NGB sells it)
- Not leaving them out of pocket (for things like petrol costs if they have to travel large distances)
- Giving them any other fringe benefits that your organisation may offer
How long a Volunteer remains with an organisation very much depends on the ethos and culture of the organisation and its supports. The volunteer needs to feel part of the organisation's culture, feel they have a role to play and to feel that they can work effectively.
Please see Chapter 6 for more information on Volunteers