Volunteer Recruitment Fund Creating Opportunities
Rugby clubs in England can apply for a £500 grant to support the recruitment of more volunteers
The Volunteer Recruitment Fund provides clubs with the opportunity to apply for funding and access a range of resources to help plan and deliver a volunteer recruitment activity. This could be a volunteer open evening, targeted, a volunteer work party or targeted marketing & communications, with clubs also asked to consider the longer-term support on offer to volunteers.
The fund has been created following the results of the National Rugby Survey, which highlighted that volunteer recruitment is a challenge being faced by clubs and also builds on a recently delivered pilot.
Askean RFC have benefitted from the fund in their recruitment efforts. Club secretary Paul Walsh said: “We feel that the Volunteer Recruitment Project has been a very worthwhile experience, which has laid the groundwork for ongoing volunteer engagement and has encouraged us to look at our structure for the future.”
The objective of the fund is to help clubs to create new opportunities to recruit, raise awareness of the benefits of volunteering to new audiences and embed volunteer management in club working practices.
The aim is to overcome barriers highlighted through previous research; including the majority of the public not realising that community sports clubs rely on volunteers and nearly a fifth stating that the reason they don’t volunteer is that they have not been asked.
Clubs (National League 1 & below) can apply for the fund, with the opportunity for up to 100 clubs this season to receive support packages of £500, along with access to online learning modules and additional guidance to plan a successful volunteer recruitment activity. With a funding window also over the next two seasons, clubs are provided with the opportunity to apply at a time suitable for them.
Before you apply
We encourage all potential applicants to first read the funding guidance notes (including FAQ's & Terms and Conditions, which can be found here).
- Applications can be made and are open until Friday 24 March 2023 (17:00)
- Apply Now
