Have your say on the future for volunteering in sport and physical activity
According to the latest Active People Survey, just under 10 million people in England gave up their time to support sport and physical activity at some point across the 12-month period.
If you were a part of this amazing group of 10 million - THANK YOU!
Now we know you’ve heard this before, but a lot of sport and physical activity simply couldn’t happen without you. So it’s high time we learned more about what you think volunteering needs in order to grow and thrive (and what you think it doesn’t).
Creating a #VisionForVolunteering
In 2021, Sport England and partners came together to look at just these questions. Their ambition was to create both “a long-term vision and shorter-term objectives, to change our communities for good.” This ambition became the Vision for Volunteering.
And this is where you come in.
With 10m volunteers active in sport and physical activity alone, we need to make sure the Vision really meets your needs.
Our short survey asks about:
Your relationship to volunteering - what you do and what it means to you
The challenges you experience in volunteering - what gets in the way
The opportunities you see for change - making it more effective and enjoyable
What are we hearing already?
To date we’ve heard a wide range of views from those working and volunteering across sport - what’s important to them and what gets in the way. Here are some of them:
What people value in their volunteering:
“Start with a good Leader, who allows you to be part of the ‘family’, who values your input.”
“It’s so important to me that [my activity] is represented locally, as its cultural roots bring the communities together, which is what we need right now.”
“The club have been great to me and I would continue [volunteering] to help them improve.”
“Totally motivated to make our club the best Sport, Leisure and Recreation club in the UK.”
The biggest challenges and obstacles faced:
“Everyone expects too much time - I have the time but i also have a life”
“People are wary of volunteering in case they get landed with something that takes too much of their time or is too demanding or they can never escape!”
“Time, pressure, feeling unappreciated and conflict are all part of my role”
“Once you are in an organisation and volunteering, flexibility and adaptability to meet personal requirements is normally very good, but the initial filter is very prescriptive in what the request is.”
Would you agree with any of these statements? What’s missing, from your experience?
Pass it on!
Once you’ve completed the survey please send it to others in your volunteering networks. The greater the numbers and diversity of voices we hear from, the better our shared Vision will be.
The survey will be live until 28th February. It should take no longer than 15 minutes to complete and everything you tell us will be treated anonymously and confidentially. A copy of our private notice is available here.
And if you’re interested in discussing this work in more depth please get in touch with our team as we explore these issues on behalf of Sport England, to develop sport and physical activity’s contribution to the Vision.
Links and Further Reading:
Latest results of the Active People’s Survey 2019/20
Sport England’s new strategy, Uniting the Movement
Read more about the Vision for Volunteering and sign up for direct updates.
Latest research from the Sports Volunteering Research Network, focusing on insights from volunteering experiences during the pandemic.