SPORTS VOLUNTEERING IN ENGLAND 2002 A report for Sport England July 2003 from the Leisure Industries Research Centre, Sheffield Research team Peter Taylor, Geoff Nichols, Kirsten Holmes, Matthew James, Management School, University of Sheffield Chris Gratton, Richard Garrett, Themis Kokolakakis, Craig Mulder, School of Sport and Leisure Management, Sheffield Hallam University Lindsay King, Division of Sports Sciences, Northumbria University 1 SPORTS VOLUNTEERING IN ENGLAND, 2002 CONTENTS Page Chapter 1 Introduction 4 Aims and objectives, scope and definition 4 Context 6 Methods 8 Structure of the report 10 Chapter 2 The Scale and Value of Volunteering in Sport in England 13 The national scale of volunteering in sport 14 Individual sectors in sport 21 National Governing Bodies, middle level volunteers and clubs 22 Unaffiliated volunteering 24 Schools 25 Universities 27 FE colleges 28 Young persons organisations 28 Disability organisations 30 Major events 31 Conclusion 33 Chapter 3 Characteristics of Sports Volunteers 34 Demographic and socio-economic structures of volunteers 34 Volunteer roles 37 Time spent volunteering at sports clubs 38 Other considerations 39 Conclusions 41 Chapter 4 Issues and Challenges to Volunteers in Sport 42 The research questions 42 Difficulties in the recruitment and use of volunteers 44 Issues arising from NGBs and Sport England initiatives and partnerships 59 Other challenges to volunteers 66 The motivation of volunteers 73 Conclusions 77 2 Chapter 5 Volunteer Management 80 Management of volunteers 81 Strategies for volunteers 89 Volunteer co-ordinators 90 Awareness and use of VIP 92 Other external assistance 95 Best practice in the management of volunteers 99 Conclusions 101 Chapter 6 Young People and Volunteering in Sport 104 Characteristics of young people surveyed 104 Young persons’ volunteering 105 Attitudes of young participants to volunteering 108 Attitudes to young people volunteering 120 Conclusions 130 Chapter 7 The benefits of volunteering in sport 132 Individual benefits from volunteering 132 Benefits to clubs from volunteering 135 Benefits of volunteering in sport to the community 136 Conclusions 140 Chapter 8 Conclusions 141 Competition and increasing professionalisation 143 Government policy objectives 144 Technological change, risk aversion and legislation 146 Responses to pressures 147 Clashes of culture and motivations 148 Partnerships: synergy or a compromise of interests? 150 Implications 151 References 156 APPENDICES 1 Methods 2 Research instruments 3 Chapter 1 Introduction Aims and objectives, scope and definition 1.1 This report builds on the base established by the Sports Council in 1995 with the publication of Valuing Volunteers in UK Sport (Sports Council 1996). The 1996 study was the first comprehensive investigation of the scale and value of volunteering in UK sport, conducted by the Leisure Industries Research Centre (LIRC) in Sheffield. In response to the findings of the Valuing Volunteers research, Sport England provided support for volunteers through the Volunteer Investment Programme (VIP). VIP currently has over 11,500 members in its network, a testimony to the interest in support structures for volunteers. 1.2 However, further development of Sport England’s and other agencies’ support for volunteers in sport requires the updating and development of information about these volunteers - that is the purpose of this research. The aims of the study were to: • quantify the contribution made to English sport by volunteers, building on the 1995/6 work; • identify the nature of volunteering in sport in England and the challenges faced by volunteers and volunteer managers; • identify and evaluate the support provided to sports volunteers and volunteer managers; and • identify the benefits associated with sports volunteering. 1.3 To further these aims, the specific research objectives were to: • estimate the total number of volunteers active in English sport; • identify the demographics of sports volunteers; • estimate the total number of voluntary hours being given to English sport; • estimate this voluntary contribution to English sport in monetary terms; • evaluate the awareness amongst sports volunteers, sports clubs and National Governing Bodies (NGBs) of Sport England’s VIP programme and other related initiatives; • identify (or estimate) the number of sports clubs, NGBs, and local authorities that have a volunteer strategy in place; • identify (or estimate) the number of sports clubs, NGBs, and local authorities that have a volunteer co-ordinator in place. 4 • identify current issues / common problems facing sports volunteers and voluntary organisations; • assess the attitudes of young people (16 – 24) to sports volunteering; • assess the attitudes of sports clubs to accepting young people as volunteers; • identify any barriers to sports volunteering; • identify issues around sports volunteer management; • identify and document best practice approaches to recruiting, managing and developing sports volunteers; and • identify the benefits of sports volunteering - for the individual, the sports club, and the local community. 1.4 One further objective is to demonstrate the dynamics of volunteering in sport from 1995-2001 by making comparisons with the previous findings. Different methodological details severely constrain comparisons of the numbers of volunteers and their hours of contribution. More qualitative comparisons are possible, however, about the changing nature of problems/issues, the durability of problems/issues, and the medium term effects on clubs and National Governing Bodies (NGBs) if problems have persisted. 1.5 The investigation is for England only. This replicates the quantitative primary research in 1995, which was for England. It would be possible, as in 1995, to extrapolate to the other home countries in order to derive UK aggregate data, based on the results in England, but this has not been an aim on this occasion. 1.6 The sports covered are those recognised by Sport England, for consistency with the 1995 study. In consultation with Sport England, the total number of specific activities covered separately is 103 sports (after excluding disability sports, activities combined with other NGBs (e.g. racketball, trampolining) and those activities which are specific to other home countries (e.g. camogie, Gaelic football, highland dancing, Scottish country dancing, quoits, shinty). There are 140 NGBs in these sports, while for 10 sports there are no recognised NGBs. 1.7 The report uses a similar definition of volunteers as in 1995, with one important difference – in 1995 the definition was confined to formal voluntering 5 i.e. helping others in sport through formal organisations such as clubs or governing bodies. In 2002 the definition included informal volunteering, i.e. helping other individuals in sport not through a formal organisation. The 2002 definition of volunteering is therefore: Volunteering in sport is defined as individual volunteers helping others in sport and receiving either no remuneration or only expenses. Two different methods provide different perspectives on volunteering. First, a national population survey (see Methods below) provides aggregate estimates of the totality of sports volunteering, including informal volunteering outside formal sports organisations. Second, the detailed primary research of sports organisations and other relevant organisations provides estimates of core, formal volunteering for sport within these organisations. 1.8 In terms of hours contributed by volunteers, consistent with the previous study, the estimates provided do not include travel time, which in the case of national level and regional level volunteers can be considerable. Context 1.9 The 1995 Valuing Volunteers study emerged with key findings which have featured in Sport England’s promotion and development of sport. These included the first specification of the scale, value and importance of volunteers to sport; and the extent of problems such as shortages of volunteers, ageing volunteer structures, and lack of replacements. It gave reasons for the problems, including time pressures, changed attitudes to volunteering, the greater demands on volunteers, and poor recruitment and retention systems. It provided an audit of support needs, including finance, information and training for technical jobs and for volunteer management. 1.10 More recent empirical work on volunteers at a national level in Britain is contained in the SportScotland Survey of Clubs (University of Edinburgh, 1999). This confirmed the dependence of sports clubs on volunteers, and also 6 verified a perception by 50% of responding clubs of a general shortage of volunteers. 1.11 Sport England’s VIP has seen considerable success in the numbers of volunteers trained through the Running Sport programme, stimulating national governing bodies’ (NGBs) volunteer support strategies, and raising awareness of both VIP and Running Sport (Nichols & Taylor, 1998). 1.12 Sport England’s initiatives concerning volunteers directly parallel national Government policy, which has increasingly focused on the role of volunteers in rejuvenating citizenship and community development. The Government’s Plan for Sport (DCMS, 2001) specifies not only an ambitious development of strategy and support for volunteers in sport, but also the need for research to underpin such development. More recently the government report Game Plan (DCMS, 2002, p166) stated that it is “crucial that the role of volunteers in