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South Yorkshire Orienteers

Across the country, thousands of volunteers give up their time to support physical activity and sport.

Without them, lots of opportunities simply wouldn’t exist. We know attracting and retaining volunteers isn’t easy and that some organisations struggle with this.

We caught up with Paul Bradbury (Chair), Pauline Tryner (Club Development Officer) and Susan Guy (Volunteer Coordinator) from South Yorkshire Orienteers, to find out how they successfully recruit volunteers to support their events and give them a great experience.

A female orienteer touches a flag marker as she runs in a forest.

Volunteering in orienteering

Like many community organisations, South Yorkshire Orienteers rely on volunteers to provide a positive and welcoming environment for their 340 members, deliver activities and run events.

In orienteering clubs, like many others, there are three main types of volunteers: a core group, responsible for the running of the organisation; the main officials responsible for planning, organising and controlling events; and those who help ‘on the day’ to ensure events go ahead.

South Yorkshire Orienteers have a core group of 17 committee members with set roles. For each event, they also need a planner, organiser and controller and up to 30 additional on-the-day volunteers to run their events, including:

  • Monthly Wednesday events where seven-eight on-the-day volunteers are needed.
  • Monthly Saturday events where 20-25 on-the-day volunteers are needed.
  • Larger events, including national events, where up to 30 on-the-day volunteers are needed.

Running every event takes a massive volunteer effort. To achieve this, the club have to successfully recruit the key event officials and the on-the-day volunteers to support them.

South Yorkshire Orienteers logo.

Recruiting volunteers

Susan explained that recruiting volunteers for the key event official roles and on-the-day roles isn’t an easy task.

The club have encountered a number of common challenges, including people not coming forward because they think others will volunteer, not having enough volunteers or people dropping out at the last minute.

The club are conscious that they can’t and shouldn’t rely on just a few of the same individuals to support their events, so have adopted various methods to recruit volunteers.

These have resulted in over half of the club’s members having volunteered in some capacity. The methods have included:

Offering varied roles
These should appeal to different people and include route planners, markers, controllers, event safety marshals, coaches and first aiders. When promoting each role, information is given explaining what the role entails and the required commitment, as some roles are time-consuming and physically demanding. Where possible, volunteers are allocated a role that meets their preferences.
Keeping in regular contact
All members of the club are contacted regularly, with information on any on-the-day roles that need to be filled. Different methods are used to reach as many members as possible, including emails, newsletters and social media posts.
Emphasising their importance
The club highlight the important role of volunteers in all their communications and emphasise the fact that events wouldn’t run without their support.
Following up
If an individual is unable to volunteer for an event, they’re asked if they’d be happy to support future events. People are often happy to help, but reluctant to offer!
Flexible timings
Offering flexible start times for events enables more people to both participate and volunteer.
Pairing volunteers
New volunteers are paired with an experienced volunteer, to provide reassurance and help them feel more comfortable.
Partnering with other clubs
The club engage volunteers from other clubs and incentivise them through discounted runs. This often proves worthwhile if they were planning to attend the event anyway.
Offering training and mentoring
The club run workshops to train up key event officials and offer mentors to volunteers undertaking a key official role for the first time.
A male orienteer touches a flag marker as he runs in a forest.

Engaging with schools and universities

Over a third of the club’s members are juniors. The club view this as an opportunity to engage young volunteers and connect better with local schools and universities.

To encourage young people to volunteer, they allocate them to roles such as course planning, which align with the requirements of the Duke of Edinburgh Award, so the young people get real value from their experience.

University orienteering clubs have also provided the club with a number of volunteers, who volunteer in exchange for free or discounted entry to events. This also provides a pathway for these students into the club, post studies, to continue their participation or volunteering journey.

Incentivising volunteers

The club pride themselves on the experience they give to all volunteers; they do this in recognition of their efforts and in the hope that they’ll continue to volunteer in the future. They do this by:

  • Providing free or discounted entry to events to those that volunteer on the day.
  • Acknowledging every contribution with a simple thank you.
  • Hosting a volunteer thank you event and an awards evening.
  • Offering pathways for on-the-day volunteers to develop and take on more formal roles.
  • Covering the costs of any external training and providing in-house training.

A girl and younger boy sprint to reach the finish line of an orienteering course in a forest.

Top tips

Based on their experience, South Yorkshire Orienteers offered three top tips for organisations looking to recruit more volunteers:

1
Recruit a volunteer coordinator
This role is invaluable and will support efforts to recruit, retain and effectively manage volunteers.
2
Tap into local schools, colleges and universities
Students can be both potential participants and volunteers.
3
Be persistent in your communications
Don’t force people to volunteer: using regular direct communication can encourage them to support your activities and events.

Find out more

To find out more about South Yorkshire Orienteers, please visit their website. 

South Yorkshire Orienteers