The 2012 Olympics and Paralympics will inspire thousands of new volunteering roles and engage people who haven’t previously volunteered. The Office of the Third Sector is providing funding for Volunteering England and YouthNet’s ‘Inspiration and Legacy from the 2012 Games Project’, which will ensure everyone who is inspired by 2012 can find those volunteering opportunities quickly and easily.
We aim, over the course of this programme, to enable organisations to create, promote and manage volunteering opportunities that have been Olympics inspired, particularly in the fields of sport, arts / culture and the environment / conservation.
Nationally and regionally, we work with organisations to develop Olympics inspired* volunteering opportunities, and guide them towards ensuring that their opportunities are registered on the National Volunteering Database at www.do-it.org.uk . This work is achieved in partnership through infrastructure bodies such as regional Volunteering Development Councils, consortiums of volunteer centres, and the national and regional bodies for sport, culture and the environment. The Cultural Olympiad also links in with our Inspiration and Legacy from the 2012 Games Project, as we will be working in partnership with regional cultural forums.
The Inspiration and Legacy from the 2012 Games Team are producing guidance on how volunteering opportunities and activities can harness the excitement of the Olympics, linking organisations that involve volunteers with good practice advice on how to do so. We will ensure that our plans link in with other volunteering development and Olympics focused strategies, such as the Government’s Legacy Action Plan.
*An Olympics inspired volunteering opportunity is ‘a role which engages individuals in either sports, culture or the environment / conservation sectors, that is based on the Olympic values and which harnesses the power and excitement of the Olympics to engage more people in volunteering’. For examples of specific definitions, please see the ‘Get Involved’ page.
