Statistics tell us that we have an ageing population and that this section of the population are generally healthy for longer, have more leisure time and, in addition, have a huge amount of experience. As individuals find competing in some sports more difficult due to age-related issues*, people often begin to want ‘to give something back’ in other ways – this gives us an opportunity to increase our volunteer workforce by targeting older people.
Throughout this text, reference is made to ‘sports clubs’. This term is used to include sports organisations, such as leagues, county and area associations, and other community groups that provide sporting opportunities, whether in an organised setting or a more informal environment.
*runningsports encourages people to remain as active as possible for as long as possible, including competing in sport well into later life. However, if people are doing less competitive sport, then becoming a volunteer is a great addition/alternative for keeping active.
You can jump directly to the main topics on this page by clicking the links below:
> older people as volunteers
> benefits of recruiting older volunteers
> recruiting older volunteers
> potential barriers for older people
> retaining older volunteers
> further information and useful contacts
> download PDF version
older people as volunteers
Growing older can be a sensitive issue for some and a happy time of life for others, so identifying an age at which we will call people ‘older’ can be difficult. However, for guidance, these Top Tips will take 50-plus as a marker for identifying the older volunteer.
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benefits of recruiting older volunteers
| For the Club | For the Older People/Individuals: |
- An increase in volunteers for your club.
- Life experience.
- May have different skills and attributes to younger volunteers, eg people management, financial prudence, planning, practical skills, manual skills, patience.
- More availability and flexibility.
- Loyalty to the club – more likely to be settled geographically and mentally.
- They are often more focused on achieving outcomes.
- Older people often bring a sense of the wider community to your club.
- They will often be less selective about the type of job they will undertake.
- Maturity – life experience can bring valuable interpersonal skills to their volunteering.
| - A great social environment, especially for those living on their own.
- An opportunity to share previous experiences with younger people.
- A healthy opportunity for keeping active.
- An opportunity to learn new skills.
- A place where they still feel useful and valuable.
- An opportunity to remain in sport after a competitive career.
- A therapeutic opportunity; many people use volunteering as an opportunity to regain self-confidence and physical health after a serious life event (eg a stroke, heart attack, personal loss, etc).
- A place to work with people of varying ages.
- Provides a sense of pride and belonging.
- If seeking to stay in employment longer, can gain new experiences volunteering before going back into the world of work.
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recruiting older volunteers
See runningsports Top Tips ‘Finding New Volunteers – Recruitment’ for general advice on recruiting volunteers, but, in addition, you may wish to think about the following if you are recruiting older people:
- Reflect on the different motivations that older people will have for volunteering.
- Ensure that you deal with potential recruits in a professional manner. Many people have spent years in management/supervisory roles in their working lives by the time they are seen as older volunteers; they will not want to join a club or organisation which appears disorganised and incompetent.
- If possible, include older people in designing your recruitment campaign.
- Promote the benefits of volunteering for your club to them, such as utilising skills and experience, meeting new people, socialising and giving something back to the community/sport.
- Involve other local groups/organisations who work with older people.
- Use older people visually on any publicity material you produce (so they can relate to the images portrayed).
- Ensure that campaigns should concentrate on ‘taking action to deliver results’ – what will the outcomes be of someone volunteering, from both the volunteer and sports club perspective?
- Ensure that you have clear roles for people to fill – remember that this group of individuals can be very useful and focused.
- Approach parents and grandparents of younger club members.
- Where possible, work with employers who are encouraging community volunteering, both generally and as part of supporting employees working towards retirement (some companies have pre-retirement programmes, and post-retirement newsletters for their ex-staff).
- Identify groups in your community who have an older membership (people get involved when they are asked to). Presentations to Lions groups, local business networks and similar organisations can be useful.
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potential barriers for older people
| Barriers | Solutions |
- Older volunteers can only carry out undemanding tasks (like making the tea).
- Older volunteers can only, or only want to, work with older people.
- Older people are too frail and ill to volunteer.
- Older volunteers dominate opportunities and put off younger volunteers.
- Older people are very inflexible in their approach (eg ‘I have done it this way for the last 20 years. Why should I change?’).
- Older people have the potential to stop new ideas.
- There are potential difficulties for older volunteers, with insurance upper age limits.
- Older people can’t afford to volunteer if they are living on a pension.
- Older people lose confidence in their abilities and skills after they retire.
| - Many older people are very fit and active. Ensure others in your club are more aware of older people who play active roles (eg most of our top politicians, including the Prime Minister, are over 50, most of the best coaches in the country are over 50, Mick Jagger is over 60, etc).
- Older people enjoy working with a variety of age groups and often have a great affinity with young people.
- Each person is an individual. Assess a person by what they are able to do (and not their age) against the volunteering activity and make reasonable adjustments to accommodate an older volunteer.
- Ensure that your club policies are such that no one, young or old, can dominate positions. Do you have succession plans, trainee volunteer posts, agreed durations of time that people can serve on committees, etc?
- Use pilot projects within the club to show everyone that new ideas can work. Also ensure that club policy doesn’t allow for anyone to have so much control that new ideas can’t be considered.
- You can’t prevent these people existing, but if club policy and ethos is to encourage all views and new ideas, it will be difficult for this type of person to exert influence.
- Age should never be an excuse for exclusion. Where an insurance policy has an upper age limit, discuss this with the company to alter it, reassuring them that all volunteers are risk-assessed, or change insurers! This issue is unlikely to occur until the volunteer is 70. There are then sometimes restrictions put in place by some insurance companies on some policies. Ensure you work with the individual to talk to insurance companies about any issue. Other useful organisations to talk to if there are continued problems are Volunteering In The Third Age (VITA) and Age Concern.
- Many people have an issue with not having enough income to volunteer, not just older people. Make sure your policy for paying agreed out-of-pocket expenses is made clear when you are recruiting.
- Working with employers before people retire could ensure a transition which helps reduce this loss of confidence. For those who have already lost confidence, ensure your recruitment information shows how people with a wide range of skills are welcome, and state how you support all volunteers once they are in your club.
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retaining older volunteers
Older volunteers are more likely to be settled in your community and less likely to move away than young volunteers. However, that doesn’t mean you should assume that nothing can be done to ensure older volunteers are retained in the club. The following tips may help:
- Don’t try to delegate uninteresting activities/tasks to older people. Ensure that the roles and tasks they are undertaking are satisfying to the volunteers/individuals.
- Ensure that you consider how the roles could be enhanced, assisted and developed.
- Ensure that volunteers aren’t out of pocket. This may mean considering things like phone bills and travel expenses.
- Consider the volunteering routine you would like. Be prepared to be flexible.
- Many older people take extended holidays out of season. Have you considered this in dealing with rotas, roles, tasks and high-season activities?
- Don’t assume that older people don’t want to access skills, training or qualifications – treat everyone as an individual.
- Where possible, involve volunteers in decision making.
- Ensure that volunteers are thanked and feel valued for the tasks or activities they do.
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further information and useful contacts
VITA – Volunteering in the Third Age
Garden House
Milton Hill
Steventon
Abingdon OX13 6AD
Tel: 01235-442 961
Fax: 01235-861 166
Email: info@vitavolunteering.org.uk
http://www.wrvs.org.uk/vita/resources.htm
(The website includes information on insurance and the older volunteer.)
REACH
89 Albert Embankment
London
SE1 7TP
Tel 020 7582 6543 or 0800 328 7528
Fax 020 7582 2423
Email mail@reach-online.org.uk
www.reach-online.org.uk
REACH recruits people with career, organisational or management skills, and finds challenging volunteer roles for them in the voluntary and charity sector. They especially welcome people with years of experience in a working environment.
RSVP
Retire in action with RSVP (the retired and senior volunteer programme)
237 Pentonville Road
London
N1 9NJ
Tel: 0207-643-1385
Email: rsvpinfo@csv.org.uk or jmcarthy@csv.org.uk
www.csv-rsvp.org.uk
Age Concern
For more information about volunteering opportunities, contact Age Concern:
Tel: 020-8765 7200
www.ageconcern.org.uk
CSV - Community Service Volunteers
For advice and services related to volunteering, contact CSV:
Tel: 0800-374 991
www.csv.org.uk
Institute of Volunteering Research
Further information on older people volunteering can be accessed by contacting the Institute of Volunteering Research:
Tel: 0845-305 6979
Email: Instvolres@aol.com
www.ivr.org.uk
Volunteering England
To access more information, advice and news about volunteering, contact Volunteering England:
Tel: 0845-305 6979
Email: volunteering@volunteeringengland.org
www.volunteering.org.uk
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