the join in journal 2014

“IT CHANGED MY LIFE”Real life impacts – p15

EDDIE SAYS THANK YOUAt BBC Sports Personality of the Year – p12

HIDDEN DIAMONDSGus O’Donnell supports Join In – p14

JOURNALNEWS | DIGITAL | NETWORK | RESEARCH | CAMPAIGNS | ITV | BBC | WHAT’S NEXT

Issue 2 joininuk.org

The Join In Trust Limited is a registered charity with Charity Number: 1147768 and a limited company registered in England and Wales with Company Number: 07988193. Registered of�ce: 5th Floor, 40 Mortimer Street, London, W1W 7RQ.


Join In’s work with ITV Fever Pitch showed how linking

volunteering to participation can transform people’s lives

2014

REVI

EW

Matchmakers

› During a World Cup summer, Join In joined forces with ITV to launch ITV Local Heroes – a successful

media campaign that inspired people across the nation to volunteer with local grassroots clubs.

We ended the year on another high, with a partnership with BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Our joint #BigThankYou campaign to recognise volunteers in sport captured the world’s attention – trending globally on Twitter.

Teamwork was at the heart of everything we did in 2014. Our relationship with Founding Partner BT

How does a UK sports volunteering charity hit the headlines? In 2014, the answer for Join In was a string of high profile collaborations

continued to grow – with the expansion of the Local Leaders Network, and a boost to our mutual involvement in disability sport.

We also announced a new official partnership with retailer Intersport. Together we plan to use our local sports knowledge to create a unique one-stop-shop for sports clubs that need volunteers.

Thanks to our Partners and some very high profile supporters – including many of our best-loved sports stars – we continue to hit the headlines, and achieve our goals for community sport.

Whether it’s our drive to match more clubs and activity groups with volunteers, our commitment to building local sports communities, or our unique network of Local Leaders, we know that volunteering in local sport has the power to transform people’s lives – and their communities. Join us, join in.

WELCOMEWHAT’S INSIDE

2 Join In Journal 2014 joininuk.org

COVER IMAGE PAGE ADVERT POSTER PACKAGE

The Join In Journal contains links to films featuring Olympic and Paralympic athletes. Follow the instructions below and scan this page to see how Join In matches volunteers to clubs. 1. Download the Auramsa App for free from Apple’s App Store or Google

Play Store on Android.2. Subscribe to the JoinInUK channel within the Aurasma app.3. When you see the Aurasma ‘Bring this page to life’ icon, launch the app. 4. Hold your phone over the page to scan it. Press the button that appears

on your screen to view the extra content.

Watch our 2014 highlights with your smartphone

ContentsOur Network

Local Leaders, BT and Intersport

ITV Local Heroes ITV Fever Pitch and

Tour de ITV

Summer Relay Volunteering around the UK

and BT All Join In week

BBC Sports Personality #BigThankYou

The UK’s biggest thank you to sports volunteers

Hidden Diamonds Uncovering the true value

of sports volunteers

Bring on 2015What’s in store for Join In?

Stats and BytesHow pixels drive

connections

p6

p8

p10

p12

p14

p16

p5

Join In Journal 2014 3Find us on JoinInUK

A Big Thank You to all the volunteers that make sport happen across the UK. To the coaches and first-aiders, the number crunchers and caterers – you are the beating heart of sport.

Early in 2014 I was lucky enough to be involved in the launch of our passionate army of Local Leaders – our eyes and ears on the ground – now 250 strong and growing. This network of volunteers is beavering away behind the scenes, matching volunteers with clubs in need and creating a unique resource for sport in the UK.

I have been thrilled to see the awareness of and enthusiasm for volunteering continue to grow in the UK last year, with the Commonwealth Games Clyde-siders and Tour Makers for the Tour de France Grand Départ.

But this is just touching the surface. Seven out of ten grassroots sports clubs and activity groups still need more volunteers.

Given that each volunteer creates the capacity for at least 8.5 participants in sport (yes, eight and a half people!), it’s vital that we keep the volunteering spirit alive and help local clubs grow.

It’s not just the players that are benefitting; it’s the volunteers too. Our eye-opening research has shown that volunteering in sport makes you happier and healthier – going out and helping people is good for you.

An incredible year ended on a high at BBC Sports Personality of the Year and I was overwhelmed with the huge public reaction to the Big Thank You. Local sports clubs joined Britain’s sporting heroes in thanking volunteers resulting in #BigThankYou trending globally on Twitter.

We’ve had an incredible year thanks to all of you, one that has topped an award-winning 2013 and taken Join In from strength to strength, but there’s more to come.

2015 brings more high-profile events to the UK – the Rugby World Cup, the Cerebral Palsy World Games and the UK Sport Gold Event Series are all taking place on home soil.

The enthusiasm and spirit of volunteers will help make these events a huge success. We need to capitalise on these big events and encourage more volunteers into community sport.

Thanks again and join us, join in.

Eddie Izzard, Join In Patron

EddietorialFrom the Chair“At London 2012 I saw first hand the impact of volunteers in sport. As an official legacy charity, Join In has taken the spirit of the Games and applied it to grassroots sport, engaging with local sports groups and matching them with volunteers. We have a unique resource in our Local Leaders and with help from our partners BT and Intersport, we hope to continue to transform community sport across the UK.

I would like to add my thanks to our volunteers, Local Leaders, team Join In, clubs and event organisers, our partners and supporters for helping us achieve an amazing year, with £1.6 billion of benefit to our communities throughout the country.”Lord Allen of Kensington CBE

Join In is funded by government grant and by Official Partners BT and Intersport.


BT, Join In’s Founding Partner, is one of the world’s leading providers of communications services and solutions, serving customers in more than 170 countries. BT was the official communications services partner for London 2012, and is committed to ensuring that the social legacy of the Games continues. Last year BT people spent over 46,000 days volunteering in the community and benefited 1,300 charities through the in-kind support and assistance offered. BT has supported Join In since our very beginning in 2012.


Intersport, new to the Join In family in 2014, is a multinational retailer of sports equipment and apparel with more than 5,500 associated retailers in 44 countries, over 200 of which are in the UK. Despite being a multinational organisation, Intersport start and end at a local level, providing customers and communities with the best products by the best brands. Intersport has a passion for sport and through expert service and advice is committed to bringing ‘Sport to the People’.

The Join In BoardLord Allen of Kensington CBE – Chair, Greg Nugent – Deputy Chair, Justin Davis Smith CBE, Lucy de Groot CBE, Frank Ilett, Adam Morgan, Ian Nunn, Jean Tomlin OBE.

JOURNAL


Find out how Join In connects clubs with

volunteers across the UK. See left for more

details.

2014


HIGHLIGHTSTHE YEAR IN NUMBERS

£16,032the annual social value

of one sport volunteer, as shown by Join In research

One volunteer in sport provides the capacity for

people to take part8.5

23,870+volunteer opportunitiesin sport promoted

250 Join In Local Leaders in England, Wales, Scotland & Northern Ireland

114,000 new and retained volunteers

75 Olympians, Paralympians and World Champions supported Join In campaigns

£6MILLION+ media value generated7,900

clubs on the website

#BigThankYou trended worldwide on Twitter as part of our BBC Sports Personality campaign

1AWARDJoin In was named the Community

Programme of the Year at the Sport Industry Awards for our

Join In 2013 Summer campaign

743,000people supported Join In campaigns

Worked with

TWOnational broadcasters

2 Perfect partners BT and Intersport

Data throughout the Journal has been sourced from: • Independent online survey by the Institute of Volunteering Research (September 2014), sent to clubs and volunteers on the Join In database. • Join In, Hidden Diamonds – Uncovering the True Value of Sport Volunteers (October 2014) www.joininuk.org/hidden-diamonds-true-value-of-sport-volunteers/For more information please visit joininuk.org or email [email protected]

2014IN NUMBERS


+ =

HOW WE DO ITDIGITAL

Making digital connectionsJoininuk.org is the website that matches amazing people with local sports clubs and groups who need their help – we like to think of it as playing cupid digitally! Here’s a tour of our site, relaunched in May 2014.

Our homepage film showcases everything we do, both from a

volunteer and club perspective.

This is where we highlight our big campaigns and latest news.

Our newest volunteer opportunities are showcased

in our activity feed.

The website is split into sections for potential volunteers

(I Want to Help) and clubs & events (We Need Volunteers), so people can

quickly find what they need.

Our Partners support all the work we do – learn more

about how we work with them throughout the Journal.

Social media is key to everything we do at Join In, so we aim to make it as easy as possible to share things

on every page of the site.

Here’s the search bar for volunteers to enter

their postcode and find opportunities to help clubs.

We share all our latest news on the Join In blog.

Fully-responsive, the site adjusts to be viewed

comfortably on any device.

The menu includes an About Us page with history

and information about Join In.

1 Campaign “I was watching a pre World Cup football match on ITV. An advert came on with Ian Wright (a particular favourite ex-player of mine) highlighting the difficulties of trying to run a team for kids with no help or support. FANTASTIC!”

2 Website “It made me laugh out loud as its message was so clear and accurate about today’s grassroots football, in particular our club’s situation. I immediately got my phone out and visited the website and created a profile for our club. Within four days I had received my first interest.”

3 Match “Our Soccer School over the summer was a great success and we now have two Under-7 teams and one Under-8 team. Join In has been a great success for our club and we hope for continued support. THANK YOU!”

Real life impactHere’s how Join In worked on the ground for Dean Scopes of Jubilee 77.


NETWORKWHERE WE WORK

Over the last two years Join In has inspired thousands of volunteers in sport. At the core of these volunteers is a unique network of Join In Local Leaders – community volunteers who can be mobilised to help grassroots sport and activity grow.

The Local Leaders are our network of volunteers on the ground. The face of Join In within the local community, they work directly to engage and support new volunteers and connect them with local sports and fitness groups.

We continued recruiting these super-volunteers in 2014 with support from the Big Lottery Fund and we now have 250 across the UK, including 60 who have been introduced through our partner BT.

“I have seen first hand the impact our ever-strengthening network has had in igniting the volunteering spirit across the UK.”

A unique national network for sport

BT Local LeadersIn June our Founding Partner BT launched a campaign to recruit even more of these remarkable volunteers from within their ranks – and we now have 60 BT Local Leaders on board across all 12 UK Nations and Regions.

An additional 32 BT employees are also in the training stages to join the team this year, playing a central role in Join In’s mission to put more volunteers in community sport.

Whether it’s high profile national events or community level fitness groups, our BT Local Leaders have been at the heart of sports events across the UK, engaging with clubs and working on our behalf.

BT Local Leader Ben Fairburn, pictured, said, “I think BT’s commitment to volunteering and mentoring is second to none. I think that they are very admirable as an organisation. The fact that we’re supporting physical activity groups and local clubs is very motivational and I’m very proud to be involved.”

Intersport storesIn 2015 we’ll be continuing to expand on this unique network, with help from our new partner, Intersport. Each Intersport store will be matched with their Local Leader and together they will use their local sports knowledge to create in-store community hubs for grassroots sports groups.

As well as expert advice on sporting kit and equipment, clubs and consumers will be able to use this remarkable resource to help build their sports clubs or activity group, and receive advice on where to get involved with sport locally.

We have already paired eight Intersport stores with Local Leaders in their communities and will roll this out across over 200 stores in 2015.

Intersport will also be supporting Join In by encouraging their customers to search for volunteering opportunities near them and encouraging the clubs they know to create a profile on Join In’s website – spreading the word locally.

Owner of Intersport Herne Hill Pete Swann said, “We are really proud and excited to partner with Join In and help grow the volunteering population. It’s great to see the legacy of 2012 thrive and as a member of Intersport I hope we can link volunteers with those sporting organisations that need help.”

Lord Allen, Join In Chair

6NORTHERN

IRELAND


NETWORKWHERE WE WORK

Local Leader networksA typical network includes a number of Local Leaders, supported by a Coordinator and a Regional Chair.

Coordinators are an integral part of the team, feeding back successes and challenges to Join In HQ. Regional Chairs oversee all networks in their region and help to link Local Leaders with County Sports Partnerships.

Director of Sport Dave Moorcroft and his team are on hand to support Local Leaders with monthly ‘Dial in with Dave’ calls, plus an online forum to share ideas and feedback learnings.

Our UK network 250 Local Leaders, including

60 BT Local Leaders

200+ Intersport stores connecting in 2015

Local Leaders in action Daisy is one of our Local Leaders in Hampshire. After volunteering at London 2012 she refused to “hang up her hat” and instead set up a local legacy group, contacting Games Makers and other volunteers to support local initiatives. Daisy uses her experience to recruit volunteers to support clubs through Join In.

In 2014 she organised the Eastleigh Community Games, giving local sports clubs a platform and encouraging the local community to try a new sport. She says that being a Local Leader allows her to bring together her passion for the London 2012 legacy and her experience in recruiting volunteers and organising activities.

LONDON

SOUTH

WEST MIDLANDS

NORTH WEST

YORKSHIRE AND THE HUMBER

NORTH EAST

15

18

16

18 1135

10

17

5543

6SCOTLAND

EAST OF ENGLAND

EAST MIDLANDS

SOUTH WEST

WALES


CAMPAIGNSHOW WE DID IT

The campaign kicked off with ITV Fever Pitch, an interactive football fan park in Manchester. Throughout the World Cup, Join In ran a community programme and welcomed volunteer-led clubs, local schools and community football projects to play on the beach soccer pitch.

Players and coaches from the England Beach Soccer team gave their time to introduce visitors to the sport, leading drills and community matches in the sand-filled stadium.

In the evening the stadium opened its doors to the public and showcased live games from the World Cup. As part of the collaboration, Join In recruited a team of 250 dedicated volunteers who helped welcome visitors and bring the spirit of Brazil to life.

Join In and ITV teamed up to support local sportLast summer Join In partnered with ITV to launch ITV Local Heroes – a campaign to bring sport to the heart of local communities and inspire the nation to volunteer.

“I had an absolutely fantastic time for so many different reasons and in so many ways.”Volunteer Mags Matheson on the Tour de ITV

Just like the thousands of Tour Makers, Join In volunteers were there to set up stop points, drive support vehicles and give the riders some all-important motivation to keep them pedalling. Even 911’s Lee Brennan joined the team of dedicated helpers to the riders including his band mate, Jimmy Constable.

James Hooton from Emmerdale said, “We need people with goodwill who are prepared to go out and volunteer their time and their efforts to keep local sports clubs running.”

No-one rides in a Grand Tour or plays in a World Cup without starting out in a grassroots club run by volunteers. Join In’s CEO Rebecca Birkbeck said, “Our partnership with ITV capitalised on two major sporting events and inspired local communities to get active, be a part of the action, and make a difference in towns and villages across the UK.”

Hundreds of kids took part in ITV Fever Pitch, thanks to over 5,000 hours of volunteering

Local Leader Karen Barnard supports a rider

during the Tour de ITV

As Yorkshire prepared for the Grand Départ, the cast of Coronation Street and Emmerdale dusted off their bikes for the Tour de ITV. The 60 mile bike ride from the Rovers Return to the Woolpack was a fun-filled and inspiring celebration of volunteering.

The peloton of celebrity cyclists stopped off at a number of grassroots clubs and local schools along the route.


CAMPAIGNSITV LOCAL HEROES

The ITV Fever Pitch fan park in Manchester was supported by Join In and our army of volunteers. Stats from the World Cup beach soccer event

reveal how events like this rely on the generous support of volunteers.

The volunteers & communities behind

ITV Fever Pitch

250+volunteers over 25 days of Fever Pitch

10businesses based across the Manchester area and 10 media groups

played beach soccer.

5,000+hours of volunteering

3,200bottles of water

handed out by the Join In volunteers

Up to

2,000tickets scanned

each night

25,000rain ponchos handed out (even though the sun mostly shone in

Manchester!)

151,244,976,301*grains of sand raked by the volunteers on the beach soccer pitch

Groups, schools & kids all took part:

17 groups including: support from Street Soccer Academy, Sport

Trafford, Mencap, Key Stage 4 Pupil Referral Groups, Manchester FA and Manchester Volunteer Bureau.

64 clubs including: 25 clubs for girls and women.

65 schools including:5

special schools

12 secondary

schools

43 primary schools

To hear about other rewarding volunteering opportunities near you, search and sign up at

joininuk.org

* Est

imat

ed!

The World Cup promo“I’m a strategist, I can’t do everything!” pleads Ian Wright at the end of our special ITV Local Heroes TV promo, echoing thousands of clubs across the UK that need more help.

Kicking off during England’s pre-World Cup friendly against Ecuador in June 2014, the campaign clearly hit home with many clubs and led to more volunteers and more people taking part in local sport (read about Jubilee 77 Youth Football Club on p5).

“There are so many more ways you can help out your local sports club than just being on the pitch... Lend a hand and help a club near you.”Ian Wright

Celebrity cyclists led by ITVs Laura Tobin are all smiles approaching the

end of the Tour de ITV. Above: Big crowds such as at Harden Primary

School cheered on the riders


Watch the ITV Local Heroes promo with Ian Wright in Join In Aurasma app. See page 2 for more details.



Summer relay of volunteeringCommunity sport is the backbone of Join In. So, hot on the heels of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, we hit the road – travelling across the UK to grassroots clubs in need. IT

V/Ke

n M

cKay

We picked up a few familiar faces on the way – Rebecca Adlington, Dame Kelly Holmes, Josh Lewsey, Dean Macey, Liz McColgan, Louis Smith and Chrissie Wellington were just a few of the sports stars who joined us at local clubs to underline the importance of volunteers.

Athens 2004 4x100m gold medallists Jason Gardener, Darren Campbell, Marlon Devonish and Mark Lewis-Francis started the campaign at the Battersea Summer Scheme in London, taking part in a relay of

volunteering. Watch Mark Lewis-Francis attempt the club’s accounting on our YouTube channel: youtube.com/joininuk

Then from Glasgow to Barnstaple, Huntingdon to Manchester, the sports stars of the Join In Summer Relay went back to where their careers began as they volunteered in local sports clubs.

Joining them along the way – giving his thanks to all the volunteers at each of the clubs, organisations and events – was Dave Moorcroft, former 5,000m world record holder

and our Director of Sport.“The Join In Summer Relay of

volunteering has been terrific,” said Dave. “We’ve visited different clubs in different parts of the country but all of them have that common characteristic – that they are dependent on volunteers.

“It was wonderful to see these volunteers again and remind yourself how important and how magnificent they are, not only for what they do for sport, but for what they do for their communities.”

The big eventsNeed volunteers for your next big thing? Join In has helped source the best for these and more...

Rugby World Cup‘The Pack’

Tour de France ‘Tour Makers’

EuroHockey Championships 2015

‘Hockey Makers’

Athens 2004 4x100m relay champions recreated their

glory ten years on. Below: Jo Pavey on ITV’s This Morning

606Number of volunteer

applications Join In sent to Rio 2016


CAMPAIGNSJOIN IN SUMMER RELAY

BT All Join In weekIn August, Join In worked in partnership with BT to shine a light on volunteering in grassroots disability sport. In the run up to National Paralympic Day, Olympic and Paralympic athletes attended events in local sports clubs to highlight the opportunities for integrating disability and able-bodied sport.

As a top athlete, Hannah Cockcroft understands that sport – whether able-bodied or disability – simply cannot happen without volunteers. “If you are able to volunteer then please do. It will make a difference to so many lives,” she said.

Join In Director of Sport Dave Moorcroft also spent a day with St Edmundsbury Sailing & Canoeing Association. The volunteer-run club has a WASH Sailability programme, that helps people with a range of disabilities enjoy the water.

Richmond Running FestivalIn September 2014 Richmond Running Festival invited Join In along to create an interactive sports zone and inspire the festival’s 10,000 visitors to get active. Our response – the Join In Demo Area.

On the day we hosted a range of local sports clubs including Gaelic football, tag rugby, dancing, hockey and boxing groups. Each created an individual taster session and hundreds of visitors of all ages tried their hand at the sports on offer.

Join In also helped recruit over 100 volunteers who supported Jo Pavey and the runners in the 10k and Half Marathon races.

Dave with Cris Barlow, who is assisted by volunteers to help him sail, on the waters of Lackford Lakes.

Clockwise from above: Liz McColgan and Dave Moorcroft at Tollcross Park parkrun in Glasgow; Dean Macey at Norton Sports Complex in Teesside; Rebecca Adlington keeps score at Manchester Handball Club; Dame Kelly Holmes runs at Tonbridge AC; Louis Smith says thank you to volunteer Steve Davison at his old club in Huntingdon.

Andy

Hoo

per

Cerebral Palsy World Games

Volunteers

Cancer Research UK Winter Run

Volunteers

Invictus GamesTraining Centre

volunteers

Rio 2016 Legacy

volunteers

British Athletics Series

Volunteers

BBC’s Sport Relief ‘Clash of the

Titans’ volunteers


Watch the 4x100m relay winners complete the ‘relay of volunteering’, ten years on from Athens 2004. See page 2 for more.

12 Join In Journal 2014


Catch all these stars and more say their #BigThankYou on film. See page 2 for more.


Every year BBC Sports Personality of the Year presents the Unsung Hero Award, an accolade to one volunteer who has made an outstanding contribution to sport. But what about the other 3.1 million volunteers...

Last December, Join In and BBC Get Inspired (an initiative to boost sport participation) added a simple thank you to all volunteers into the UK’s biggest celebration of sport – this was the Big Thank You campaign.

On the night, in the build up to the award ceremony, Join In patron Eddie Izzard appeared on the red carpet, accompanied by a golden phone box. As Britain’s sporting heroes arrived at the awards, they were asked by Eddie to surprise volunteers at home with thank you phone calls.

We’d hoped that a handful of elite athletes would have time to stop and make a call – in the end, they were queueing to use the phone box! Tom Daley, Carl Froch, Sir Chris Hoy, Rory McIlroy, Judy Murray, Jo Pavey, Ellie Simmonds and Sports Personality winner Lewis Hamilton were among those who rang volunteers or recorded messages to camera.

During the ceremony in Glasgow, just before presenting BBC Get Inspired’s Unsung Hero award, Eddie

BBC Sports Personality

It’s always good to end the year on a high. In 2014 that’s exactly what Join In did, trending worldwide on Twitter with our #BigThankYou campaign for sports volunteers.

asked the audience and viewers to say a #BigThankYou to volunteers at local clubs. The response from the public was incredible – in the hour after Eddie’s request, thousands of clubs, athletes, parents and participants shared their messages of gratitude and #BigThankYou trended worldwide on Twitter, even beating the X Factor final!

This social media attention added to web traffic from BBC Get Inspired’s website. Together, it drove people to the Join In website – creating a big boost in volunteering opportunity searches.

After a very successful first year, we are already working with the BBC again and planning an even bigger #BigThankYou in 2015.

“My career, it simply wouldn’t have existed without the help of people giving up their time.”Sir Chris Hoy “Thank you so much

for all the volunteering you do, it’s absolutely incredible.”Tanni Grey-Thompson, below, making her Big Thank You call

Sports Personality runner-up Rory McIlroy

thanks a volunteer

Olympic boxing champion Nicola

Adams gave a filmed red carpet

thank you to karate volunteer

Andrew Turner

Join In Journal 2014 13

CAMPAIGNSBIG THANK YOU

In the build up to the Big Thank You our Local Leaders were busy thanking volunteers around the UK.1 Sometimes sports volunteering is less about working up a sweat and more about sewing on sequins, as the parents of Hythe Aqua Synchro Club know.

When the club discovered that one mum Maria Smith had experience in fashion design she was asked to create three costumes for their routine themes of Daleks, Stingrays and Lollipops. The

designs were sensational but needed weeks and weeks of sequin sorting and sewing – one by one!

So, Neide Cassaniga-Simmons (far left, with certificate) persuaded several mums and three dads to help out, and the Sunday night sewing group was born!

2 They might only have started in January 2014, but Newham Striders now have 25 active members, thanks to the effort and encouragement of volunteers. The East London walking group was started by Join In Local Leader Ken Aigbe and he presented a Thank You certificate at the Olympic Park to volunteer Yahaya Mohammed.

Eddie confirmed our research into

wellbeing with a volunteer on a

thank you call

Along with European champion Jo Pavey, Join In Director of Sport Dave

Moorcroft judged the Unsung Hero award. “It was

an almost impossible task to select a winner from a group of people who

have made an incredible contribution to sport.”

The runners club, L-R: Jo Pavey’s husband and coach Gavin Pavey, Dave Moorcroft, Paula Radcliffe, Allison Curbishley, Steve Cram,

Eddie Izzard and Jo Pavey.

The World Cup winning England Women’s Rugby

team takes a selfie with Eddie

Olympic cycling champion Dani King

Olympic rowing champion and long-time Join In

supporter Helen Glover

Winner Lewis Hamilton even brought his dog!

Paralympic skiing champion Kelly Gallagher

Olympic diver Tom Daley

Volunteer Paul Gravatt received a call Lifetime Achievement

winner Sir Chris Hoy

BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year Claudia Fragapane

1

2


RESEARCHWHY WE DO IT

“Long before the first starting gun was fired, those who wanted to bring the Games to London were clear that success shouldn’t just be measured by where the UK appeared in the medals table… it was also about the longer term benefits.”Rob Wilson MP, Minister for Civil Society, at the launch of Join In’s report Hidden Diamonds: uncovering the true value of sports volunteers.

In 2013, Join In recruited and retained 100,000 sports volunteers for what seemed the very reasonable cost of £36 each. What we couldn’t measure as easily however was the total value generated by these volunteers.

So in 2014 we undertook innovative research to try to quantify

their economic, personal and wider community value. We had a strong hunch that this combined ‘social value’ was huge, but the scale of its impact and potential to help tackle some of society’s biggest challenges surprised even us.

Volunteers are essential to participation We revealed that each volunteer creates the capacity for at least 8.5 people to take part in sport and physical activity. The UK’s 150,000 sports clubs are almost entirely volunteer run, and it’s these volunteers that create the opportunity for the health and wellbeing benefits of participation to be realised. At Join In we’ve seen this phenomenon in action, watching clubs grow and thrive as a result of fresh capacity unlocked by new volunteers.

Volunteering in sport boosts wellbeing and happinessOur research confirmed that those who volunteer in sport experience significantly higher personal wellbeing than those who don’t, but also that these benefits are sustainable – levels remain above starting points even after the volunteering stops.

The bigger picture:why volunteering matters2014 also saw Join In release ground-breaking research into the hidden value of sports volunteers. We looked beyond economic cost to measure the true value they create – through participation, wellbeing, trust and community.

The numbersOur report uncovered the true value of volunteers in sport

£16,032Social value created by each volunteer in UK sport, including the benefits arising from sports participation enabled by volunteering.

PER VOLUNTEER

8.5Each volunteer creates the capacity for 8.5 participants in sport.

Above: the launch in Whitehall was attended by (L-R) Join In Local Leaders Amy and Grace, Join In Chair Lord Allen, Minister for Civil Society Rob Wilson and Join In CEO Rebecca Birkbeck.Below: Local Leaders, including ex-Games Makers, surround Jo Pavey. Bottom: Sport England CEO Jennie Price chats to parkrun founder Paul Sinton-Hewitt.

“Volunteering is bigbusiness, with annual turnover well into three-figure billions. But it is a well-hidden jewel, whose social worth is rarely the subject of a public valuation.”Andrew G Haldane, Chief Economist, Bank of England


RESEARCHHIDDEN DIAMONDS

“Volunteering in sport changed my life.”Mel Woodards, a Join In Local Leader, began volunteering by collecting subs at her son’s football club. She went on to set up Somerset North Youth Football League, received a Points of Light award from the Prime Minister and the Helen Rollason Award for Inspiration at the 2014 Sportswomen of the Year Awards (pictured below).

Mel is a big believer in the power of local sports volunteering. In her words, it helped her and her children recover from the trauma of domestic abuse.

“I don’t believe I would have coped over the last seven years with my personal difficulties and traumas without my voluntary work in junior football. It has been a positive distraction and provided an awesome support network for me and my kids.”

“Volunteering has saved my life. Literally, I believe I would be dead if it wasn’t for volunteering. It has turned my life around.”

ALL UK SPORTS VOUNTEERS

JOIN INVOLUNTEERS

£53bnSocial value created by the 3.2 million volunteers in UK sport, roughly the same size in GDP as the energy sector!

£1.6bnTotal social value created by Join In’s target of 100,000 volunteers

L-R: Jonathan Edwards, Lord Allen and Join In’s Director of Strategy and Communications Will Watt, who presented our report.

“The Office of National Statistics has just changed the way we define GDP, including illegal drug trading and prostitution. Volunteering doesn’t appear in the GDP statistic at all; it doesn’t make any impact.”Lord O’Donnell, above

Multiplies into communitiesCompared to non-volunteers, those in sport are three times more likely to feel part of their community, four times more likely to trust people locally and six times more likely to feel that they put a lot of time and effort into being part of the community. “Eye-watering” social valueIf you combine these economic, personal and social values for every sports volunteer in the UK, a truly stunning picture is revealed.

We were encouraged further when, in September 2014, Chief Economist of the Bank of England Andrew G Haldane gave a speech calling volunteering a “hidden jewel” of the UK economy whose social value was “eye-watering”.

Mirroring Mr Haldane’s own methodology, our analysis more than confirmed his assertion; each sports volunteer generates over £16,000 worth of wellbeing; not bad for an outlay of £36. And accounting for all 3.2m sports volunteers in the UK this social value is a staggering £53bn every year – an industry equivalent (in GDP terms) to the UK energy sector.

What’s next?Since publication, Join In’s Hidden Diamonds research has been highlighted by Public Health England, listed as an ‘exemplar’ of the Government’s What Works Centre for Wellbeing and, with the ongoing support of former Cabinet Secretary Gus O’Donnell, featured on Radio 4’s Today programme and in the Financial Times.

Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson cited our report in the House of Lords

and highlighted the vital importance of valuing the volunteering resource. “The research report, Hidden Diamonds, found that each sports volunteer generates more than £16,000 of social value every year... These people should be praised, encouraged and thanked… without them, sport as we know it would not exist.”

Our aim is to ensure this contribution is better recognised within public policy solutions and its full social value increasingly factored into public investment and the official measures we use to judge societal success.


WHAT’S NEXTGAME ON

The Join In Trust Limited is a registered charity with Charity Number: 1147768 and a limited company registered in England and Wales with Company Number: 07988193.

Registered office: 5th Floor, 40 Mortimer Street, London, WIW 7RQOperating address: 31a Clerkenwell Close, London, EC1R 0AT

With the support of our Official Partners BT and Intersport and building on our media partnerships with BBC and ITV, we’re aiming to make the headlines and take over Twitter again. Campaigns and events such as BT All Join In, the UK Sport Gold Event Series and the Rugby World Cup will provide great opportunities for us to keep the focus on sports volunteering. We’ll be making sure the road to Rio 2016 is as much about the unsung volunteer heroes of grassroots sport as it is about the new generation of Olympians and Paralympians they’re helping to success.

CEO Rebecca Birkbeck said, “2014 was a great year for Join In and all our volunteers, and already it looks like 2015 will be even better. We are in the middle of a golden decade of sport which we plan to make a golden decade of sports volunteering.”

In everything we do we’ll be sharing our Hidden Diamonds message that sports volunteering makes

people happier and where they live better. We believe that by getting more people involved we are helping to transform communities.

Behind the scenes at Join In HQ we’ll also be working hard to make sure that everyone we inspire to get involved can find the right sports volunteering opportunity for them. We’ll be promoting chances to

2015: Bring it on!Join In shone the spotlight on sports volunteering everywhere from the sands of Fever Pitch to the red carpet of BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 2014. 2015 is shaping up to be even more exciting...

“We are in the middle of a golden decade of sport which we plan to make a golden decade of sports volunteering.”

Rebecca Birkbeck,Join In CEO

volunteer at major events like the London Marathon and the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships 2015.

We’ll also be partnering with National Governing Bodies of Sport, focusing on volunteering within individual sports and getting even more clubs to recruit volunteers through Join In’s website. Soon our new online club resource centre will also go live. And of course we’ll be helping Local Leaders to make an even bigger difference at grassroots level right across the UK.

As the Prime Minister puts it, “Sports volunteering is the single biggest sector of volunteering in the UK and Join In are leading the way, inspiring 100,000 volunteers a year. That’s 100,000 people investing their time, skills and energy in their community, changing their own lives and the lives of others. It’s vital this important work continues.”

We’re looking forward to our 2015, and we hope you want to be a part of it.

Olympic swimmer Rebecca Adlington holds court at

Manchester Handball Club

the join in journal 2014

Documents

local sports communities

sports clubs

local sports knowledge

registered charity

local leaders network

uk sports volunteering

sports stars

local grassroots clubs