LONDON 4 AUGUST: Five exciting sports volunteering organisations across England will take part in a new programme, run by Spring Impact and Sport England, to scale their impact and reach more people.

The programme aims to scale approaches to volunteering that are successful in engaging a more diverse range of people to volunteer in sport and physical activity. It is focusing on programmes that support volunteers to have an experience that benefits them, as well as the participants and activities they support.

The five selected organisations are drawn from Sport England’s existing pool of volunteering fund grantees, having been chosen for their potential to scale their success. They include:

• Cheshire Wildlife Trust – part of a nationwide movement to improve places for wildlife and people’s connection to it. Its accessible development programme, ‘Go Wild Get Fit’, gives disadvantaged people access to better health and employability skills.
• Cycling Projects – a charity with a mission to make cycling accessible to all. Its ‘Wheels for All’ initiative engages people with disabilities in cycling across many regions of England.
• British Blind Sport – represents people with a visual impairment in sport and physical activity across the UK, helping them to live an active life. The ‘See my Voice’ programme offers young people a leadership qualification and supports them to develop a range of skills and to undertake volunteering roles.
• YMCA Sutton Coldfield – engages BAME girls from low socio/economic backgrounds through its ‘Girls Move’ sports volunteering programme, helping them to grow confidence and motivation.
• Active Life for a Healthier You – delivers physical and emotional wellbeing programmes to people of all ages and abilities in its local community of Southend, Essex. Its ‘She’s Ready’ programme aims to empower more women to become active.

Spring Impact, a global non-profit which enables organisations to scale social impact through consultancy and developing and sharing insight, is running the scaling programme over three years, in partnership with Sport England.

The initiative forms part of Sport England’s broader strategy to grow more inclusive volunteering opportunities to build an active nation, particularly through inspiring increased participation from more diverse groups, such as disabled people, older people, those from lower social economic backgrounds, and women and girls.

Kristen Natale, Head of Volunteering at Sport England said:

“These five organisations have found new and innovative ways to encourage people who might not normally volunteer in sport and physical activity to give their time and take part, enabling others in their community to enjoy an active lifestyle. The Scaling Programme and our exciting new partnership with Spring Impact will support these projects to increase their reach and impact so that many other volunteers and communities can benefit from sport and physical activity across England.

 This is a really important part of our mission to build a nation where everyone, everywhere feels able to get active in a way that’s right for them. The National Lottery players raise £30 million every week for good causes in the UK and we’re excited to be able to use some of this money to support this programme.”

Over the course of the programme the selected organisations will receive practical support from Spring Impact’s skilled team of consultants, who will take them through a systematic process to design a scale strategy. Those reaching the point of implementation will be given specialised support to plan and activate their approaches. 

Mohamed Osman, UK Director at Spring Impact said:

“With renewed focus on the importance of volunteering to people and communities during the pandemic, there is a strong opportunity to build on this and harness its power to change more lives. We are looking forward to working with Sport England and helping these brilliant mission-driven groups to scale and encourage wider participation in physical activity. As the programme will undoubtedly deliver lots of valuable insights about the nuances of scaling a volunteering model, we also aim to work with Sport England build and share this knowledge so it can be of benefit across the sector.”

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About Sport England

Sport England is a public body and invests up to £300 million National Lottery and government money each year in projects and programmes that help people get active and play sport.

It wants everyone in England, regardless of age, background, or level of ability, to feel able to engage in sport and physical activity. That’s why a lot of its work is specifically focused on helping people who do no, or very little, physical activity and groups who are typically less active – like women, disabled people and people on lower incomes.

About The National Lottery

Thanks to National Lottery players, up to £600 million has been made available to support communities throughout the UK during the Coronavirus crisis. National Lottery players raise £30m every week for good causes, funding arts, heritage, sports, voluntary and charity projects around the UK.

For more information on good causes in your area go to www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk