Interactive Member Portal motivates Participation in Volunteering

A traditional and long-term commitment poses a major challenge for many volunteers. Balancing a voluntary role with work and family life has become far more difficult for many people. With increasing professionalisation of association and club structures, bureaucratic and personnel demands rise. As a result, the requirements placed on a voluntary role are undergoing a transformation. Traditional volunteering is giving way to the newer, more flexible and less binding “Volunteering 4.0”. Instead of long-term commitment at operational or functional level, many now participate only occasionally or at one-off events.

An interactive Member Portal motivates both the coach and the treasurer to participate according to their own interests and independently of their role and location. Date coordination for the upcoming sports week or collecting agenda items for the general assembly take place clearly and centrally via the Member Portal. Members’ opinions and special interests become visible and increase participation and feedback during, for example, general assemblies. As a result, engagement can be expanded and intensified and at any time.

In the younger generation, the potential for engagement is highest. According to the BMFSFJ (Volunteering Survey 2014), 84.4 per cent of non-volunteering pupils are willing to engage in voluntary work in the future. However, Generations Y and younger (all born after 1980) have grown up in a digital and interactive environment. Asking for knowledge and expertise on demand is second nature to them. So why not introduce mechanisms from the digital world into a sports association to make access easier for the younger generation? An interactive Member Portal motivates young people to participate actively in the association because it integrates seamlessly into their daily lives and replicates familiar mechanisms from social media.

Sport has the highest number of volunteers and at the same time the most to lose. Nevertheless, the requirements for a voluntary role today are very different from those 10–20 years ago. “To make use of the existing potential for engagement, it is increasingly important for organised sport to initiate innovative club offerings that appeal to new members and motivate them to take an active part in the association/club (DOSB, 2015).”

This presents sports associations with further challenges in retaining existing volunteers and attracting new voluntary workers. According to the BMFSFJ, a large proportion of non-volunteers are willing to take on a voluntary role; however, they have so far not been persuaded to do so. An interactive Member Portal motivates greater participation due to its low time requirements and makes the association more attractive to non-volunteers. Within just a few clicks, votes, opinions and responsibilities can be determined. The portal automatically informs all members about topics relevant to them and thus motivates participation.

Voluntary work and sports associations thrive on the interaction and cooperation of their members. Until now, this interaction has largely been confined to the football pitch or the clubhouse. An interactive Member Portal does not revolutionise the sports association, but it does offer numerous new opportunities for volunteers to contribute to the association. By categorising themselves into groups, projects or committees, members can decide for themselves where and how they want to participate. The Member Portal therefore motivates members to pursue their interests within the association and, for example, to participate in digital committee work. Furthermore, date coordination, surveys and even task allocation for events take place quickly, centrally and clearly in the Member Portal. Minutes, agendas and knowledge can be retrieved by topic to answer recurring legal questions independently of time and place. The Member Portal motivates members to independently seek out information relevant to them or to initiate an exchange.