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What motivates people to volunteer?

Understanding what motivates people to volunteer, and matching this to the roles within your club is important. It's also important that everyone has a great experience, so they continue to volunteer and recommend volunteering to their peers.

Types of motivation

People are motivated by different things when it comes to volunteering. Some of these include:

  • Want to support family members to participate in sport
  • They have participated and want to give back to their club
  • Gain skills and experience to build their resume and gain a job
  • Social connection and to be part of a community

The Market Segmentation Study for Volunteers Clearinghouse for Sport

How to find out what motivates someone to volunteer

Getting to know your members is essential in trying to understand what motivates them to be involved. Putting time in to meeting new players, parents and supporters means you can be best placed to get someone onboard to volunteer.

TIP: Include questions in annual surveys or registration platforms that help identify motivations for being involved, then follow up via a club leader or volunteer coordinator.

Example of using motivations to help recruit

  • A parent wants to spend some quality time with their child. They may be happy to assist in a training occasionally.
  • If a university student is seeking experience to support employment, they may like to take on a role that they can include on a resume (e.g media student taking on the social media role).
  • A member may have a passion (i.e helping people with disability or getting more girls into sport by starting a girls team). This may encourage them to volunteer.
Resources Webinar - Using motivations to recruit more volunteers Little Athletics NSW Delivering a meaningful experience Sport England
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