Volunteer and Recognition Awards 2010 - nominations open, for more information, click here!
Paddlesport Rewards Scheme - for more information, click here.
Canoe England's Volunteer Focus
Across the country, volunteers are making outstanding commitments to Paddlesport and without these coaches, officials, committee members, administrators and helpers the sport could not exist as it does today. A special thanks goes to all the volunteers.
Click on the following links to read more about some of the many oustanding volunteers in Paddlesport:
August 2007 - Neville Simmons
October 2007 - Mick Nadal
December 2007 - Brian Kelly
February 2008 - Andy Dancer
April 2008 - Kathrin Webber
August 2008 - Canoe England Volunteer & Recognition Awards 2007
December 2008 - Catherine Guy
February 2009 - Canoe England Volunteer & Recognition Awards 2008
June 2009 - Caroline Barnes
August 2009 - Mark Wilkinson
If you would like to nominate a volunteer for Focus please email or use the nomination form.
Rewarding and Recognising your Volunteers:
If your club is thinking about how you can ensure your volunteers feel valued and rewarded for thier time. then this is the section for you! Whilst awards are a great way to reward volunteers, there are many other ways that you can thank your volunteers.
Volunteers are the lifeblook of sports clubs - without them the majority of clubs just couldn't function. Volunteers are extremely valuable and deserve considerable praise and thanks. So it's essential that volunteers feel that their role and their actions are important; they want to feel welcome, needed, useful, part of the club and thanked.
So how can you reward your volunteers? Sometimes it's the simple things that make a difference - just saying thank you of offering praise while they are doing their role. Other ways you could thank your volunteers include:
- Nominate your volunteers for Canoe England Volunteer and Recognition Awards
- Have an interest in how your volunteers are getting on
- Praise your volunteers for what they are doing
- Nominate your volunteers for Volunteer Focus
- Ensure volunteers are formally recognised at committee meetings / presentations
- Acknowledge your volunteers in club newsletters and on the notice board
- A thank you goes a long way
- Download the volunteer certificate and give this to your volunteers
- Make sure you nominate your volunteers for local awards
- Nominate your volunteers for other National Awards
- Send them birthday and Christmas cards
- Listen to their ideas and implement their suggestions where possible
- Organise a social event for volunteers
- Pay for your volunteers to attend relevant skills and training events
- Provide deals on club membership
- Give them complimentary tickets to special events and functions
It is also worthwhile to ensure club members understand the impact that volunteers have on your club. This can be done through raising awareness of what the volunteers do within the club. Your club could produce articles in the club newsletter which focus on a particular role - for example, 'a day in the life of your club secretary'. Your club could also create a noticeboard that explains the different roles at the club.
Most volunteers get pleasure from volunteering but we all like to be treated well and thanked when we give our time for free. Rewarding volunteers is an essential part of retaining your club's workforce - it can't be left to chance!
Many thanks to runningsports for their help on the above article. Top tips and quick guides are available on their website for volunteers and clubs, click here.