Increasing attractiveness for volunteers

20 years after the start of voluntary service in sport (first FSJ in sport and later supplemented by BFD in sport), we can still say that it is a successful model. As a year of education and orientation, young people gain insights into sports clubs, schools and other non-profit organizations. In addition to qualifications such as training as trainers and coaches, they get to know voluntary structures and can form an in-depth opinion about their future career path. They leave behind many positive traces and give a lot back to the volunteer organizations and to us.

Around 800 young people in Lower Saxony are currently involved in sport. Looking at the birth cohorts, it is clear that it will become more challenging to attract young people in the future. Training companies, universities, foreign services and other providers of voluntary services are trying to attract school leavers. Earnings are also playing an increasingly important role here.

Experience and feedback from the past few months show us that voluntary services in sport have become rather "unattractive" for young people, especially when it comes to earnings. This is an increasingly important argument for young people. Also in relation to the constantly rising cost of living.

Together with our cooperation partner, Sportjugend Niedersachsen, we have decided to react and improve the framework conditions for young people in order to remain competitive. The clear aim is to make the voluntary service in sport more attractive and to offer the volunteer placements a better position with young people.

In concrete terms, this means that we will be paying volunteers €400 per month from the coming 2023/24 cohort.

With this step, we want to use our funds to better address potential volunteers and are confident that Lower Saxony's assignment locations will continue to be able to offer young people the opportunity to do voluntary service with a focus on sport.