If you want to increase the number of volunteers at your club, you need to understand what motivates people to be involved and what prevents people from donating their time and energy.
Once you understand this, you can then work out your recruitment approach to emphasise the benefits of volunteering at your club and get people thinking about how they can reduce any barriers they may have to come on board.
Why do people volunteer?
Think about the reasons you volunteer - what motivates you to give your free time to the club?
Research shows that the main reasons people volunteer include;
- Meet new people
- Learn new skills
- Gain work experience
- Fun and enjoyment
- To make a difference in their community
- Being part of a team with a common goal, “belonging to something”
- Being involved and spending time with their child or family member
- Being seen as a role model
In most cases, particularly in junior cricket, volunteers usually stay as long as their son/daughter/family member is playing at the club.
What stops people from volunteering?
Understanding what holds people back from getting or staying involved will also help you recruit volunteers.
Some common reasons for not volunteering include;
- Lack of time
- The possibility of out of pocket expenses
- Not knowing what opportunities exist
- The belief they’re not skilled enough to help
- Assuming that cricket knowledge is required
- Increasing expectations from the club
- Having a disability
- Health or personal issues
- Feeling shy / lack of confidence
- Fear of being criticised or making mistakes