Cardiff welcomes yet another major event to the city. Eager to join some of the excitement, TeamKinetic visited Cardiff and the front line volunteers of the event. Take a read of how volunteers at major events in Cardiff are managed by Sport Cardiff and the experience one of our team whilst at the event.
Volunteers in Action
Cardiff a Sporting city of Success
In the last few years, Cardiff has successfully hosted several major sporting events. From the Champions League final, a Heavyweight Boxing unification fight, and most recently the Volvo Ocean Race. Cardiff is quickly becoming a popular choice to host world-level sporting events.
Responsibility for organising some of these events has fallen to Sport Cardiff, the city’s sport development team a partnership between Cardiff Council and Cardiff Metropolitan University. Using TeamKinetic volunteer management software, Sport Cardiffrecruits volunteers for sports events and opportunities across the city. TeamKinetic wanted to take the opportunity to visit such a prestigious event and to experience some of the thrills of front-line volunteering.
Volvo Ocean Race – Tell me more
The Volvo Ocean Race sees seven teams compete against each other across eleven legs around the world’s oceans. The ninth leg brings the competitors to Cardiff, in which they spend fifteen days in the port, included in this time are several port challenges which contribute points to the leaderboard. Amongst the excitement is an entourage of pop up stands and stools from partners, sponsors and charitable organisations which provide visitors with entertainment and education. The volunteers assist with the running of the event and the various stands through their enthusiasm, knowledge and approachable smiles.
Recruiting Volunteers and Managing Volunteers
The responsibility of recruiting volunteers from the local area fell on Gareth Power, Sport Development Co-ordinator at Sport Cardiff. As Sport Cardiff uses TeamKinetic volunteer management software to power the volunteer website Gareth was eager to ensure opportunities were shared across the portal.
In a brief interview, Gareth reflected on how the recruitment and management of volunteer had benefited from the use of TeamKinetic’s volunteer management software.
“It’s been a really positive experience and a great event so far. We have needed hundreds of volunteers who collectively have worked over 8 thousand hours for this fourteen consecutive day event. It has been quite intense and full on, but the volunteers have just been great.
They really have embraced the event. They come from all walks of life with different interests, backgrounds and motivations for volunteering. Whether it’s their first time volunteering or their hundredth it’s great to find a cause that brings them all together. The fact that everyone has decided to be here really helps to create a different dynamic and a positive vibe for the event.
For us at Sport Cardiff, it is important that we don’t just look at a singular event but also think about how we can keep the engagement of these volunteers in the future. This is just one of the reasons TeamKinetic volunteer management software is so valuable to us because it enables to promote future events to the volunteers who have previously signed up. This helps us to create a legacy, grow the pool of volunteers and increase the number of returning volunteers in the future.
For events which last so long, it can be challenging to manage such a high number of volunteers and their availability. The TeamKinetic software has helped us to overcome this challenge by allowing volunteers the flexibility to swap shifts on the volunteer portal without the need of going through the administrator.
Another aspect that makes the software so valuable is its automated and customisable communication features. Using TeamKinetic we know that all of the volunteers who sign up through the portal will receive the necessary information. It also is the perfect platform for us to collect feedback from volunteers following the event. This is made possible through the events survey functionality. “
If you would like to read James’ experience volunteering at the event check out his blog here.
Or if you’d like to learn more about TeamKinetic volunteer management software, please get in touch with one of our team:
Liverpool FC Foundation is the first professional football club’s community programme in the world to launch a digital volunteer portal for their outreach programme.
The club’s Foundation has joined a host of other sport and voluntary organisations already supported by TeamKinetic, which aims to make it easier for volunteers to make a difference in people’s lives and communities. The portal will improve the recruitment and deployment of volunteers across all of Liverpool FC Foundation’s activities.
For 20 years LFC Foundation’s outreach programme has benefitted many of the communities in Merseyside and beyond. Through various initiatives and programmes, the foundation has embedded itself within the community. This includes supporting young and old, military veterans, those in need of some emotional support or even those just looking for something to do in the holidays. These programmes all share a focus on one or more of three fundamentals of community, skill and wellbeing.
Coach and Players working together
LFC are using TeamKinetic’s volunteer management software, which has already logged nearly one million voluntary hours of various organisations. These hours are making a difference in people’s lives and communities and LFC Foundation’s involvement will only increase the impact this makes.
Dawn Georgeson, Volunteer Project Lead at Liverpool Football Club, said:
“The new online volunteering portal provides volunteers with increased access to the opportunities available and enables them to sign up at their own leisure. This makes the process of volunteering more convenient and the process of tracking the opportunities is much clearer for them. The software will also support LFC Foundation by reducing the time spent on administrative tasks and paperwork. This will then be complemented by the intelligent reports the system makes available. All round the software is supporting the role of volunteer managers.”
Chris Martin, Founding Director at TeamKinetic, said: “TeamKinetic has a long history in sports volunteering, so it is really exciting when we can work with a partner such as Liverpool FC and look to make a real difference to those at the community level and enable them to do more. Liverpool FC is world renowned and we’re delighted to welcome them on board and keen to see how we can we can help them use their brand to do even more good work. We look forward to supporting Dawn and her team, who have been doing a great job and we are confident that TeamKinetic will only add to their success.”
For the last four years, University of Portsmouth Sports Development Team has been benefiting from TeamKinetic’s volunteer management software. This case study explores the benefits of TeamKinetic as discussed with Zoe Monk, Sports Development Officer at the University of Portsmouth.
Hi Zoe, please can you tell us about your role and responsibilities?
I am a Sports Development Officer, as part of my role I oversee all volunteering opportunities in sports and our community engagement programme. This includes the recruitment and management of volunteers from the university, starting before the academic year through to May when students focus on their exams. I also oversee the training and professional development of our volunteers.
On a day to day basis, I correspond with organisations in our community partnerships, sharing any opportunities they might have on an ad hoc basis. I also manage the sports delivery programme, which includes regular volunteers from Portsmouth University cheerleading and dance clubs delivering coaching in local schools.
I lead the volunteer training that we run for our groups of volunteers and I am seconded to academic lecturing on the side as well, in coaching and event management.
Why did you start using TeamKinetic?
We started using TeamKinetic’s software after realising our existing system, which had been designed in-house, was not really fit for purpose. It didn’t really track some of the essential pieces of information we wanted to report on. It was at that point we decided to find a designed for purpose system and came across TeamKinetic.
How do you use TeamKinetic?
The first way we use TeamKinetic is to support our students in their professional development, gaining valuable experience. For example, we had a PGCSE student needing some practical experience delivering PE to children in school, we then went onto our opportunities available and found one that matched their needs.
The other way we use TeamKinetic is in a community coaching agency. We are approached by the organisations with a need for a coach with a specific skills. We then advertise the role to our students, say if a school needed a basketball coach or referee for a tournament, then we would use TeamKinetic to advertise the opportunity and recruit a volunteer.
Could you give me some more examples of the types of opportunities you advertise?
Yes, of course. The volunteer opportunities are either structured or are ad hoc.
The structure opportunities mainly include our dance and cheer coaching opportunities. This is where we have thirty cheerleaders and fifty dancers delivering coaching in schools each week, so we keep track of that.
We then have a community football club, which is run by twenty or so student volunteers. On top of these, we have student activators that support the running of on sport. That alone is just the structured stuff we offer.
Is there a process for advertising your opportunities?
For new opportunities, either me or one of the approved providers will make sure that it has been formatted in the appropriate way before going live. This ensures there is the right amount of detail, requirements and the opportunity’s expectations are sufficiently outlined.
This authorisation makes sure we maintain a level standardisation across all our opportunities, resulting in our students knowing what to expect when they volunteers.
What role would you say TeamKinetic has played in supporting the success of these opportunities?
TeamKinetic has proved very beneficial in supporting the running of these opportunities. It has helped create an efficient, straightforward and standardised process for opportunities to recruit and recognise volunteers.
From the students’ point of view, they have an intuitive experience of signing up, searching opportunities, joining them, attending, followed by logging their hours and leaving feedback.
How has TeamKinetic helped you to recruit volunteers?
I think TeamKinetic works so well is because of how user-friendly it is. It is efficient and easy for students to sign up, find opportunities and leave feedback on those they have attended. They can keep track of what opportunities they have attended, their hours and their progress, which I think is very helpful.
What makes TeamKinetic stand out?
For us as a Sports Development Team, it is helpful that TeamKinetic is from a sports background. If you look at the products available on the market, there is nothing that really caters in the same way for the needs of sports organisations.
Would you like to add anything else?
I think my only remaining comment, would be that we use it as an agency kind of tool, but I am aware that other universities, such as Northumbria, use the software with a much more stringent approach. I think this is something we are hoping to do more of.
If you would like to find out how TeamKinetic Volunteer Management Software would benefit your University, please get in touch with one of our team.
Following on from one of our recent blog A Waterfall Begins From Only One Drop of Water TeamKinetic wanted to continue sharing inspirational stories. We recently spoke with Denise Larrad, BBC Get Inspired Unsung Hero Award Winner at the Sports Personality of the Year 2017 ceremony. TeamKinetic is excited to announce she will be joining us at our 5th annual conference, with more details to be confirmed. First, we wanted to share her inspirational story:
Who is Denise Larrad?
A mother of two, 56-year-old Denise Larrad was selected to be a torchbearer for the Olympic Torch Relay at the 2012 Games. She was selected for her outstanding contribution to fundraising work by Asda, her employer. After being chosen to carry the Torch for the Games Denise had one sole aim – to get the people of Hinckley, Leicestershire, active.
Despite working night shifts in a warehouse, she finds time to help lead walking, orienteering, running and general fitness classes for children, families and the elderly. With a host of different activities and exercises sessions, Denise motivates and nurtures participants to be more active.
She is a trained walk leader, putting on weekly sessions for the elderly on behalf of the charity Age UK and also organises orienteering courses across the borough in town parks, woodlands and schools.
Tell me a little bit about how you got started as a volunteer?
I can’t tell you how I felt when I got this little red box with a running man in it. It said ”you have been chosen as one of the Olympic torch bearers”. Can you imagine how that makes you feel, you know. It was such a huge honour. Following then, I really wanted to give something back to the people of Hinckley.
How did you end up carrying the Olympic torch?
I’ve always been a runner, I’ve run marathons and climbed up Kilimanjaro with Martina Navratilova and Gail Emms. But usually, it is just me, as there has been no need to involve anybody else. That’s why I got nominated to carry the torch.
I ran the relay with Sebastian Coe through Sheffield on the 25th June, it was brilliant. I thought to myself, I’m not going to miss this opportunity, so asked him for his autograph.
Once I had carried the flame, I came back feeling inspired and motivated by it all, to go do something within my community. I went to the Local Council and told someone there how I wanted to get the people of Hinckley moving. The person I spoke to put me on run leader, walk leader and orienteering explorer training, so she provided me with the training for it all. I have also become a cycle leader.
What do you think is behind your continuing motivation to volunteer within your community?
I think it is what I am passionate most about, the walking, the running and general act of getting people more active. Having achieved everything so far and to receive national recognition, it’s certainly something I want to continue pursuing and hopefully take a little bit field in the future.
Were you a member of a club before you started volunteering?
No, I used to just run by myself. I never went with anybody. Somebody on my Sport Personality video said “she’s like a dynamo, she never stops” that’s me.
What do you think society at large can do to improve people’s outcomes with these things?
This is the difficult one. I think having someone like me helps, you need someone who is passionate and really keen to get people moving, working in the community and willing to facilitate it all. Paid and volunteer working together, a combination of both.
All our groups are welcoming, friendly and bubbly. Once people come, they want to come back again. We have a Facebook page where people can join the 140 members, I get about 50 to 60 participants each week.
Did you/do you have support from any other organisations?
I have support from the council, mainly from the Cultural Services and the Sports Development Team. If I have any questions, concerns or need stuff printing then they provide support. But on a day to day basis it is just me, but thats okay as were pretty much self-promoted.
Did you/do you have support from any other volunteers?
No not really, I’m a one-woman crusade. Just me.
What do you think is the key to building stronger communities and clubs?
The thing for me is the passion. I absolutely love what I do, there is nothing I like better than getting people moving, nothing at all. It’s what gets me up every morning and keeps me going. I’m a very enthusiastic person and optimistic, glass half full. Unfortunately, not everyone feels the same. If they lack the passion, then they are less likely to continue participating or contributing.
Getting other people involved is key, but it bring its own challenges with it. You have to find the right people to share that passion with, nurture and train them, that’s what happened to me. Although the council trained me, it was not something they previously offered out, it was because I asked. We have had others in my group become leaders, but they are yet to do something with it.
What do you think puts people off volunteering?
This is something I recently discussed at another conference, I think it’s time. It is going to take so much of their week away and they haven’t got the time. We said if you can break the volunteering down into manageable chunks, so it is not all just one person doing everything and other people are sharing the load.
What do you think makes volunteers happy, how should you look after and reward them?
It’s sharing their passion. Its sharing and helping people. Getting comments on Facebook, “I could never have done that half marathon Denise, without your help.” Things like that where you know you’ve made a difference.
I don’t think volunteers do volunteering for rewards. I really don’t. Prior to this year, I had never received any awards or anything, and it hasn’t stopped me for wanting to do it. It is not about the rewards it’s just to get people more active, Knowing you have done that and making a difference is the reward that is the bottom line for me.
It doesn’t have to be a free t-shirt or whatever. Unfortunately, sometimes the simplest acts can be the most rewarding or damaging.
On one occasion, I unfortunately had an experienced that made me very close to stopping everything I did. I felt undervalued and hurt during a photo shoot for a local organisation I am a run leader for.
There was myself who has been leading runs for five years and another run leader who has been leading runs for six months, we had both been asked to bring along some people for the shoot. I arrived with nineteen others, whilst the other lady, who happened to be about twenty years younger than me had bought two.
Now the photographer pretty much completely ignored me. This lady was given a run leader vest for the shoot and I never received one. It felt so unfair, it made me feel horrible. I’m 56, no spring chicken and I’m not a super model but I was made to feel completely and utterly unwanted. It made me feel like I was completely worthless, you come away from that type of experience thinking I’m jacking this in. This sort of thing, a lack of recognition, can be more damaging and make volunteers feel worthless. In that 1 hour photo shoot, they could have ruined 5 years of run leading.
The reality is I’m facilitating people, they are the ones who come out doors on a cold wet night and actually do it. I just keep reminding myself about that. They make the decision that they are actually going to come and in return I will continue my commitment to them.
What are your future plans for your voluntary work?
I want to get this message out to as many people as possible, I want to share the joy of volunteering, what you can get out of it. I want to do as much as I can whilst I am the unsung hero this year to get this message across. I’m going to carry on doing what I’ve been doing in Hinckley, I’m not going to stop that.
I’ve got a meeting with the head of the council on Thursday to look how we can take some of this stuff a little bit further and I’m hoping to set up a charity in Hinckley to get some activity evenings in the summer for families and kids, so they can come 5 till 7 in a local park where we can do lots of fun things that involve moving about. If you can get them young as children and involve the family, it sets them up for life.”
This insightful interview with Dennise Larrad, demonstrates the willingness and potential volunteers have with the right spark to ignite their passion. As the unsung hero, Denise represents the positive influence that one person can have in their community. With little support she has helped hundreds of people to become more active, improving their wellbeing and health. She is eager to continue her work and TeamKientic is excited to hear more about her journey in our 5th annual conference.
If you would like to know more about TeamKinetic, volunteer management or anything discussed in this blog, feel free to get in touch.
TeamKinetic is excited to be supporting the ‘Sport Influencer – Women off the Pitch: Women on the Board’ which is being hosted in Manchester later this month.
Sponsors and panellists revealed for upcoming Sports Influencers event
Sports Influencers (SP.IN) has announced KPMG and Hill Dickinson as sponsors of its second panel discussion.
The event will debate the role of women in sport and business and take place on Monday, January 29 at KPMG offices in St Peter’s Square Manchester.
The all-female Northern Powerhouse-focused panel discussion will include the thoughts of Hill Dickinson Head of Commercial Litigation Geraldine Ryan.
According to a survey by Women in Sport, the number of women getting top jobs at UK sporting bodies is down by 6% since 2014, with half of the 68 Sport England and UK Sport-funded national governing bodies having fewer than 30% of non-executive director roles filled by women.
KPMG’s Manchester Office Senior Partner, Nicola Quayle, said: “We are delighted to lend our support to the Sports Influencers team and celebrate the many accomplished women making huge strides in sport both on and off the field.
“It really is time to come together to discuss how women can continue to thrive in the industry and look at the role we are more than equipped to play as business leaders across the region. Sport is a vehicle for social change and a wonderful opportunity to bring together women, and also men, on a path to greater inclusivity within the sector.”
Geraldine added: “It’s been great to see women from the North West blazing a trail both on a regional and national scale. Just look at the ambition of Amanda Staveley to bid for a club as iconic as Newcastle FC a few weeks ago, or the achievements of Man City Women in the FA Women’s Super League, a division with nearly half of teams coming from the north.
“The sports agenda contributes so much day-to-day conversation, so I’m looking forward to sharing my insights at the SP.IN event in January.”
The panel will also include GreaterSport Chief Executive Yvonne Harrison, with other influential figures from the world of sport to be revealed in coming weeks. It will be hosted by Sky Sports presenter, Hayley McQueen and BBC Radio Manchester Head of Sport, Sarah Collins.
The not-for-profit outfit has been developed by former Manchester United relationship director Luisa d’Aprano and Managing Director of Podium Group and former chief executive of British Fencing, Piers Martin.
The pair, with support from partners including Manchester City Council, public relations agency Roland Dransfield, and creative agency, HT+E, aims to ensure that sport becomes a credible and meaningful element to the Northern Powerhouse debate.
Luisa said planning for a programme of SP.IN events in the New Year was well underway already, with a further two events planned for 2018.
She said: “We are delighted that leaders such as KPMG’s Nicola Quayle, has agreed to partner with us in hosting this event in their Manchester offices, and that Geraldine Ryan and Yvonne Harrison will be sharing their unique insights into their experiences of working in sports leadership roles.
“They are all trailblazers in their own industries, so we expect it to be both an engaging and meaningful discussion. So many of today’s athletes and sportspeople have the right skills for many businesses today.
“We look forward to announcing more speakers in the New Year and announcing additional events which will be just as compelling as this one.”
Originally posted on Business Manchester by Phil Ghayour.
Be sure to join TeamKinetic at this fantastic and insightful event by booking your ticket below:
The 17th annual Greater Manchester Sports Award was held last Friday at the Emirates Lancashire Cricket Ground and TeamKinetic were lucky enough to have been invited.
Dressed to impress, we attended one of the most enjoyable events of the year. Not just because of the tasty three-course dinner or the chance to see a handful of famous individuals, including this year’s keynote speaker Gary Neville, but for what the event celebrates in its purest form: a sense community, belonging and achievement.
Each year the event brings together individuals from all walks of life in Greater Manchester to share their achievements in Sport and Physical Activity. Throughout the evening a total of eight categories were celebrated, with each of the ten Greater Manchester Districts nominating an individual from their local area. Each of the nominees and category winners had inspirational stories that made you feel proud to live in such a proactive area.
The evening focused on recognising the sporting achievement of many, but TeamKinetic took special note of three specific categories: the Volunteer of the year, Coach of the year and Unsung Hero of the year. For these were the categories we supported most. As CEO of GreaterSport Yvonne Harris stated: without these amazing volunteers the majority of sporting achievements would never have been possible. It is the time, effort and willingness of each volunteer that helps make so many achievements possible.
For those in sport they often started for the enjoyment of the game, or to be a part of a team or just to be fitter. In doing so they became part of a team, learning how to play with one another, growing together and sharing their successes and failures. They soon become part of the larger community within the club, built through a common purpose that demands cooperation, team work and communication.
This community provides a sense of belonging, one that innately encourages it members to give back and helps others receive the same experience they had. This often starts as a supportive role for their club, which leads to a larger responsibility through a coaching or an administrative capacity. This reoccurring cycle of players turning into sport coaches keeps sport running at a grassroots level, ingraining it within our communities and as part of our culture.
The roles of these individuals are crucial in the running and development of the sport. Thankfully, events such as the GreaterSport Awards celebrate them, with an uncontainable passion. It is the recognising of their hard efforts and time invested into their sport that makes the event so special.
It is this passion that drives so many players to become volunteer as coaches, reefers and the key workforce.
For many organisations that rely on volunteers, they can learn a lot from sport and the devotion its volunteers have. The emphasis on community created within a club, can be powerful if understood. The motivation and inspiration a coach can give to those they work with can result in an unprecedented commitment. The community a club provides offers support, a sense of belonging and a membership for something greater than just a game. All of these factors can help build better communities for a volunteer workforce.
So as the dust settles on another funding announcement from Sport England, it’s clear we are definitely in uncharted territory. With many National Governing Bodies (NGBs) receiving significantly less than in previous periods we look at how the role of the volunteer will become essential in improving our sporting institution’s resilience.
The last round of funding covered 46 sports between 2013 and 2017 and with a total value of £493 million. The newly proposed £88 million spread across 26 sports, with four sports accounting for just under 50% of that funding is a deep cut to our sporting infrastructure. Sport England, operating in these austere times, have had to make some tough decisions and their new approach of encouraging NGB’s to focus on their “core market” may prove to be the best opportunity for a return on this significantly reduced investment. Only time will tell.
Further announcements are due in February, but it is doubtful that any major changes or reversals will be announced. What is clear based on the announcement yesterday is it is going to be a challenging environment for this next funding cycle.
So what do NGB’s do now?
Beyond getting all their members to start buying lottery tickets here are some ideas and thoughts that we thought it would be useful to share.
If all the NGB’s stopped existing tomorrow, would people still be playing sport this weekend?
I know this is something of a loaded question, of course, they will, but, only by relying on the ubiquitous and passionate volunteer-led sport across the country. NGB’s are still vital to the efficient delivery and development of their sports, but now they must learn to effectively leverage their volunteer base if they want to see their sport flourish under such deep cuts.
The growth of NGB’s over the last 20 years through the cash injection offered via lottery funding changed them in many cases into fully professional businesses that thought in terms of customers. They were more income-driven and had significant overheads to cover, as is typical during periods of rapid organisational growth. Of course, this led to improvements in a range of areas such as safety, facilities, professional levels of training, policy, etc.. and some of these improvements were drastically required. But in that jump to a more professional world, some of our traditional voluntary infrastructure struggled to keep up.
It is here that we think NGB’s can make some drastic gains with their core market. By understanding the many roles played by people at local, county, regional and even national level and what engages and motivates those individuals to give up their time is the area which could have the largest potential impact. How many of these functions are volunteers, even though many may not self-identify as such, is one of the many questions NGB’s need to answer. How do you upskill these people, how do you empower them and how to ensure you do not rely on the same individuals undertaking all the work every week.
This next four years is an opportunity to reinvent many NGB’s from the ground up, to look at how you make them local led grassroots organisations that can simultaneously grow participation, membership and customer base. To do this requires two of the most valuable resources available, people’s time and enthusiasm.
NGB’s will have to become much better at responding to the demands of their stakeholder base, of directly engaging and understanding what the volunteers who operate their clubs and county organisations want and need.
In 2016, there have never been more ways to participate at a local and hyper-local level. With more channels available via social media; new ways to raise capital via crowdfunding and peer-led lending. NGB’s that thrive will use this technology to drive the benefits and stories about their sport locally and nationally. This will not be a top-down marketing campaign as these are often very expensive, but it will be a bottom up user led movement. An example of the type of user led content I refer to can be found on line; right now there are 13.3 million Parkour and 4.6 million Freestyle football user-created videos on YouTube.
It will be the role of the NGB’s to make it easy for participants, volunteers, helpers, and officials to create and/or find existing communities where individuals can engage directly. We have used these concepts and ideas as we have developed our volunteer management platform TeamKinetic and we continue to try to build using these principals:
Empower people to do it for themselves.
Reward and recognise them and when they do, do it in a way that appreciates what motivates them.
Make getting involved easy to find and then intuitive to undertake.
Share your successes and your failures with your community so that everyone can learn.
Our technology is not for everyone right now, but we know these principals superseded the digital realm. Not everyone wants to engage via their computers or phone, but the principals stand no matter how you look to engage with the people who make your sport happen. We find its a combination of people, policy, process and technology that allows an organisation to scale the use of volunteers effectively.
If you would like to know how we can help you reconnect with your volunteer base, how our systems and research can empower more people to get involved and how you can recognise those people; who support your organisation week in, week out. Our work and that of our partners as part of the Join In consortium is available, and we are keen to talk to all NGB’s on how we can help you do more with less. Feel free to contact me at chris@teamkinetic.co.uk or call our office on 0161 914 5757.
The announcement earlier this year that Sport England had identified volunteering as a key area for investment and development in their “Towards An Active Nation” strategy document was widely welcomed. Today’s latest release “Volunteering in an Active Nation” is the next step in the realisation of that objective.
If you have been involved in sport at almost any level, you would have been keenly aware that it does not happen without the combined efforts of 100’s of people. From the top of sport to its very grassroots volunteers are essential. For so many years there was an assumption that organised sport just happened! This is a view TeamKinetic did not share, and we set out to change that seven years ago when we built VolunteerKinetic. It’s with a sense of excitement we have been waiting to see what Sport England had in mind to re-imagine the sports volunteer landscape.
The acknowledgement in the document for the Sport and Recreation Alliance and our consortium of partners is something we are really happy with, although it is still early days we have been really busy behind the scenes since we were passed the baton by Join In. Our hope is that through the work of the partners in the consortium we can provide a range of digital tools, research, campaign experience and support that will be invaluable in helping Sport England realise their vision. This will start this month with Sports Personality of the Year, and hopefully early in the new year, we will have even more to shout about.
The strategy commits to a £26 million investment, taking us to 2021, with £6 million available in the first round in February 2017.
The two initial funds are called
The Opportunities Fund – targeting people from disadvantaged areas.
The Potentials Fund – targeting 10 to 20 year olds.
Each fund is worth £3 million, and it seems quite clear that Sport England is very keen to widen volunteering to be more inclusive and representative.
THE OPPORTUNITY FUND
Initially making it clear that disadvantaged can mean many things to a broad range of communities, they go on to say they are looking for partners who are trusted in their local communities and will consider bids “which contain smaller elements of sport and physical activity.”
Maybe most telling is the final statement;
“To emphasise our commitment to reaching this new audience, we’re aiming to award at least 50% of the fund for projects run by partners who are new to Sport England or even new to sport and physical activity.”
This seems to fit with the information we have had before today’s announcement with Sport England keen to look beyond the more traditional and established sport offer. We think this fund provides some interesting opportunities for traditional organisations such as County Sports Partnerships and Local Authorities to work with less traditional partners such as youth and health groups, to provide infrastructure and support through volunteers for volunteers.
THE POTENTIALS FUND
Sport England have identified the benefits of “youth social action” which has been the focus of the #iwill campaign run by Step up to Serve. This campaign was recently granted a £40 million extension until 2020 by the Prime Minister, Theresa May.
Step Up To Serve CEO Charlotte Hill presented the keynote speech at our annual conference this year at Manchester Metropolitan University. The #iwill campaign offers an opportunity to recognise and acknowledge the role of youth social action and provides a route for young people to get involved. We advise every organisation who works with volunteers, to got to the #iwill website and make a pledge now.
The strategy does lack detail on what it may fund, but it does contain the provocative line “We’ll be looking for projects which connect with the lives and aspirations of 10 to 20 year olds. Sport and physical activity should be involved, but it doesn’t have to be the sole focus. We’re looking for brilliant ideas.”
We hope this allows for the type of innovation and creative engagement that will inspire young people to help lead this work. We will be looking at how we work with our current customers and those we have been speaking with for some time, to help integrate our digital tools to provide the type of experiences and bring to life the brilliant ideas young people have.
The document makes numerous mentions regarding “digital” and its importance. We will be working hard over the next few months to understand what that means and how to maximise our platform and its related connections. We will be exploiting all our years of expertise in the sports volunteer sector to make sure VolunteerKinetic remains the most powerful volunteer management system available.
I think that pretty much covers the main elements as we understand them, please share your opinions with us on this latest strategy announcement. We are keen to know what you think and how you might be able to benefit, or if you think Sport England may have missed anything. We believe that this is where the hard work starts and we are ready to roll up our sleeves and get stuck in. If you want to join us on this mission, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
TeamKinetic has been working to improve the experience and opportunities available to people in sport for almost a decade. We are excited to announce we are now part of a partnership that will help to deliver Sport England’s new Volunteering in an Active Nation vision.
In September, the Sport and Recreation Alliance was handed the baton from the Join In Trust to work with partners to continue to focus on sport volunteering. TeamKinetic is delighted to be a part of this partnership working with Do-it.org, GLL, Jump, Volunteering Matters and Greater Sport.
Because of the importance of volunteering in sport and recreation, the partnership has come together under a shared vision to make volunteering in sport more accessible and more appealing to a diverse range of people. We want to see more people sharing their professional skills, experience and enthusiasm for sport and recreation, and we want them to feel that their efforts to help others are valued and that they benefit from being involved.
We welcome the opportunity to work with the Sport and Recreation Alliance and partners to develop an effective matching service that will make it as easy as possible for people and clubs, organisations and events which need volunteers to find each other.
