RETENTION

For any club, a successful volunteer base must include a comprehensive and effective support method, else volunteers may come into the club, feel completely lost and overwhelmed and will then disappear and be lost to the club/sport/activity.

Support

It’s vital that these volunteers who are giving up their own valuable time are given the appropriate help and support from the club. They need to be introduced to all the relevant people and made to feel valued.

It’s a good idea to find out what their motivation is for volunteering e.g.

• have they done it to make friends? - important that they get an opportunity to interact with a number of different people;
• have they done it to learn a new skill - vital that they are given an opportunity to develop this area. 

Whatever the reason, it’s important that you are aware of this early on in order to keep them interested and involved.

Volunteers need to feel appreciated.  This will mean different things to different people.  Some may like to be involved in decision making, whilst others are happy to take a back seat and a simple and genuine ‘thank you’ is enough for them.  It’s important that you get this right at the beginning, and the best way to find out what people want is to ask them. 

How about presenting them with a piece of kit e.g. a club t-shirt to make them feel part of the club?

Guide

People who are new to volunteering may need a little extra help in the early days to give them more confidence to take on new tasks, so it is important that clubs offer a mentoring/buddy scheme.  This does not have to be anything complicated, just a way to develop volunteers to better support them, and ultimately, to retain them within the club. 

Train

This should not be underestimated when thinking about volunteers – they too want to progress, develop and improve.  Offering training opportunities will give them more confidence and will make them feel like a valued member of the club.  

Ask them what type of training they would like to better assist them in their volunteering role.

Succession planning

When considering future planning, don’t forget the volunteers themselves – they are probably best placed to encourage others to volunteer as they understand the role better than anyone else.  You may want to consider setting up a ‘buddy’ system where you ask the volunteers themselves to recruit and then train up their successor(s).

Feedback

Similar to any line of work, it’s important that feedback is given to volunteers, but it should always be done in a positive manner, sensitively and preserving dignity throughout.  Keep a written note of what you discussed with any action points you agreed to take forward.