Geoff Nichols

This paper considers the role and limitations of mutual aid associations in meeting society’s needs. It does this by examining responses of community sports clubs (CSCs) in the UK to COVID-19 restrictions. We firstly make the case that CSCs typify mutual aid associations. Using two qualitative research studies we show how the clubs’ responses focused on meeting the needs of their own members, expressing bonding rather than bridging social capital. Clubs’ resilience was facilitated by the commitment of key volunteers, understood as serious leisure, and the complete overlap of governance and delivery in club management. These insights allow us to discuss the potential and limitations of this particular type of mutual aid association in meeting society’s needs, and qualify general assertions that the voluntary sector would respond to the COVID-19 crisis by developing social capital. It reinforces the need for a typology of the voluntary sector to inform understanding and research.

This paper reviews recent work on community asset transfers (CAT): a transfer of management of facilities from the public sector to the third sector, largely led by volunteers. The emergence of CATs is placed in the context of the development of community organisations and their relation to the state. Transfer has been stimulated by cuts in local government budgets since 2010. The review focusses on leisure facilities because these are non-statutory and so more vulnerable to cuts in public expenditure. The experience of CATs is reviewed, including: the motivations of local government and volunteers; the transfer process and management of CATs post-transfer; and the market position of facility types. The methodological approaches and theoretical frameworks used in research are contrasted; in particular, how these have balanced agency and structure in analysing a contested neoliberalist discourse. The practicalities of research in this area are considered before concluding with research questions.

Regular voluntary engagement is a basic resource for sports clubs that may also promote social cohesion and active citizenship. The satisfaction of volunteers is an imperative factor in this engagement, and the purpose of this article is to explore individual and organizational determinants of volunteer satisfaction in sports clubs. Theoretically, our study builds on the actor-theory concepts where volunteer satisfaction depends on subjective evaluations of expectations and experiences in a sports club (‘logic of situation’), so that positive evaluations lead to higher satisfaction and, hopefully, retention of volunteers. This research uses a sample of 8131 volunteers from 642 sports clubs in 10 European countries, and is the first analysis to combine determinants at the level of the club and the volunteer (multilevel). Results show that the most important determinants of satisfaction are the conditions of volunteering (recognition, support, leadership and material incentives) and the workload of volunteers. Surprisingly, club characteristics, size or having paid staff are not significant determinants of volunteer satisfaction. The results of this analysis can assist more effective volunteer management in sports clubs that are facing challenges of individualization and professionalization.

This article considers the balance between promoting volunteering in sport by emphasising the personal rewards to prospective volunteers themselves – the dominant management approach – and promoting it by the long-term development of the values of volunteering. We review the motivations and rewards of sports volunteers and how these can be used to promote volunteering as being a transaction between the volunteer and the organisation. This is contrasted with a lifecourse approach to understanding volunteering, and evidence that an understanding of the value of volunteering can be inculcated that underpins continued volunteering. The two approaches regard potential volunteers respectively as ‘consumers’ and as ‘citizens’. We suggest that a shift to treating volunteers as consumers can lead to volunteering being regarded as transactional. The discussion has implications for volunteering in general – in particular, how it can be promoted in a society where narratives of ‘the consumer’ increasingly dominate over those of ‘the citizen’.

A significant legacy of the 2012 Olympic Games was to demonstrate how such an event could be delivered within the governance structure of "regulatory capitalism." The delivery of the London 2012 Games was contracted to a private company, the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG). LOCOG subcontracted packages of work, including Games research, which was conducted by a market research company as "sponsorship" in kind. Through an autoethnographic account of researching volunteers at these Games, working with the market research company, it is shown how: public accountability was reduced by the selective availability of research results; the access to research became a marketable resource; and research ethics of the private company were inconsistent with those required within a University. Therefore, the delivery of the Games through regulatory capitalism reinforced the unequal power relationships between the different event stakeholders. This leads to a discussion of implications for researching mega-events and the relationship between academic research and commercial researchers. These include the need for researchers to pay for access and to protect their intellectual property.

Rationale/purpose: This paper shows how the transfer of public sport facilities to management led by volunteers has increased the responsiveness of services to local needs; while at the same time reducing running costs. It provides a contrast to previous research on transfer to large leisure trusts.Design/methodology/approach: It draws on interviews with key personnel at eight sport facilities transferred to small volunteer-led community groups. Findings: Running costs have been cut because of the greater attention to detail and flexibility of volunteer-managed services. The service has become more sensitive and flexible to the needs of the local community because volunteers are their own marketing information system, rooted in that community. The positive outcomes are driven by needs to attain economic sustainability and to renew volunteer effort by changing the public perception of the facility to an asset created by the community, rather than just as a public service consumed by it.Practical implications: The paper shows the progressive potential of the small trusts in meeting local leisure needs, making a case to support this type of sport facility delivery. Research contribution: These small leisure trusts retain advantages of the large leisure trusts, established in the 1990s, but with further advantages derived from local production.

Mega-events such as the Olympic Games involve huge numbers of volunteers from the host community, necessitating the development of a large volunteer program, which will only operate for a short time. Leveraging this volunteer energy to lead to longer-term community volunteering has become a legacy goal for many event organizers. Mega-events typically use a top-down "program management" approach for their volunteer program. This article examines how the program management style impacts on the volunteer experience, using in-depth interviews with volunteers at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The study found that the program management approach had a negative impact on many volunteers' preevent experience, leading to some rejecting the offer of a role at the event. However, the anticipated "once-in-a-lifetime" experience of volunteering for the Olympic Games overcame most of the preevent shortcomings. The article considers the impact of volunteer management on repeat volunteering. Recommendations for better management of mega-event volunteers, leading to a volunteer legacy, are offered.