What are you waiting for? And how did you recruit volunteers?

11 million people would volunteer if asked, according to Volunteering England. So why do people sit back and wait? Whatever you are interested in there are thousands of of volunteering opportunities out ther e- in sport and outside sport.

If you recruit volunteers - what techniques have you used to help recruit more volunteers?

Comments

[rainer hamer]

i have been recruiting volunteers for many years within the equestrian world , as a volunteer for the job myself , in order to assist the organisers of the event , and having grown a large network of contacts have asked why they had not volunteered before and the reply was always the same from people who were grassroots riders , we did not know that we could volunteer to help at the larger events and didnt have a point of contact , or how to go about it , i personally have at all the events that i am involved in
make sure i have a poster in a prominant position stating that we are looking for volunteers and i also leave a form on the table to be filled in with their contact details and any relevent experience they might have or job they would be willing to learn /do at an event and if they have any specific interests i.e dressage , eventing, showjumping , so that at the end of the day i can review the forms and contact them with information of forthcoming events in their area , i have found this works as their is no pressure people fill the form and leave them because they want to and i have built up a network of helpers who return year after year to the same event and have built friendships with other people who are volunteering that they may not of met before , they also get to learn a new skill and find out what happens behind the scene of organising a large event and quite often have a network of valuable people that they know and can sometimes offer sponsorship or competitive pricing in other areas for the event , quite often they go on to do exams ot training as stewards that is offered by the official bodies of organisations and become well trained , organised , and reliable helpers and also surprise themselves of what they are capable of , i.e as scorers , timekeepers , comentators the list is endless one event i am involved in requires over 200 volunteers , equate the hours put in as a volunteer into pounds and it would be highly likely that the event would not be cost effectivly viable to run so that play a huge role in the world of sport and other areas i am sure