Idea 6: Modernise volunteer experiences

Almost 10 million people give their time each year to make sport and activity happen, but volunteer numbers have been falling (by 400,000 in the last 4 years). The current model is out-dated, overly hierarchical and limits diversity. Covid has had a big impact on the perceptions and experiences of volunteering. There is a sense of opportunity to capitalise on interest in community-level volunteering, and have equality, diversity and inclusion at the heart of this transformation. However the sport sector often doesn’t feel equipped or confident (or that is it business critical) to modernise or adapt the volunteer offer. By 2025 we need to have moved beyond the ‘thankless task’ to one where volunteers reflect our society and are responding to changing audience needs, genuinely supported and empowered to share positive experiences with participants.

The idea is that Sport England would work collaboratively with a combination of national and local partners to come up with new models for volunteering in sport. This could include; creating easy entry points for new volunteers, developing offers suitable for diverse audiences, establishing new approaches to working with and training existing volunteers, finding ways to reward volunteers, or working with clubs and community groups to re-shape the volunteer offer and experience. The idea would be transferable models for volunteering that could be shared across the sector.

Relates most to; Recover & Reinvent, Connecting Communities, Positive Experiences for CYP, People & Leadership, Innovation & Digital.

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