DHA’s new research into the long term impact of  event volunteering programmes raises questions about how to balance the needs of an event, the needs of volunteers, and the needs of long term, place-based volunteering infrastructure: needs that are sometimes complimentary, and sometimes in tension.

Read A Lasting Impact? Tracing the Volunteer Legacy of UK Events in full here.

The research, conducted by Tamsin Cox and Kate Rodenhurst DHA Communications, urges organisers of future volunteer programmes to be clear about their objectives, build on existing knowledge, plan for legacy and enable a better legacy of learning across the UK.

The report raises questions about how to balance the needs of an event, the needs of volunteers, and the needs of long term, place-based volunteering infrastructure: needs that are sometimes complimentary, and sometimes in tension.

It finds that volunteer programmes launched as part of Britain’s largest ever sporting and cultural events often failed to meet the impact and legacy expectations of their organisers but strengthened the capacity of places and governing bodies to deliver future programmes, a new study reveals today.

A Lasting Impact? Tracing the Volunteer Legacy of UK Events studies the legacies of volunteer programmes from London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, UK Cities of Culture in Derry and Hull, Manchester legacy of volunteering from the 2002 Commonwealth Games, the Rugby League World Cup 2021 and the Glasgow 2014 and Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

The report recommends:

  • That event organisers are clear and realistic about the objectives of event volunteering programmes
  • They build on existing knowledge and capacity
  • Plan in advance for legacy, including what model or approach they will take
  • The event volunteering programmes themselves should model best practice for volunteer experience
  • That the wider event sector enables better legacy of learning across the UK (and beyond)

Report author Dr Tamsin Cox, from policy and evaluation specialists, DHA, adds: “A key challenge identified is that there is often (not always) a gap between the expectations of the impact and legacy of event volunteer programmes, and what they are able to achieve.

“Nonetheless, the key infrastructural legacy of event volunteer programmes is that places and governing bodies strengthen their capacity – in terms of people, systems and processes, and knowledge and learning – to run more event volunteer programmes, including city welcome programmes, in the future, and to improve and refine those programmes each time.”

Director of Policy & Impact at Spirit of 2012, Amy Heaton-Finch said, “Event volunteers are often one of the best things about events  – and we know the volunteering experience can make a profound difference to people’s lives. But the relationship between an event volunteer programme and long-term volunteering infrastructure deserves more scrutiny.  The models described in this report have a wide variety of strengths and challenges, and we hope that host cities and event organisers can take inspiration from these findings to select an approach that matches their objectives.”