Economic dimension of volunteering in sport

Background Sport is the biggest civil society movement in the European Union with structures based on voluntary work, on which the provision of sport depends in most of the EU Member States. Volunteers are essential to organised sport and form the basis of what is known as the European Sport Model. To preserve the voluntary-based sport movement in Europe, the value of voluntary work needs to be measured, monitored, controlled and supported through evidence-based policy-making in the field of sport. Objectives The project was designed to support public authorities and sport governing bodies to formulate sport-related policies and programmes that are favourable to the voluntary-based structures in sport. The end goal of the project was to support evidence-based policy-making in sport and improve good governance in the sport sector to increase the social utility of sport in the European Union. Implementation First, a harmonised methodology was developed, then applied in research on the economic impact of voluntary work in participating countries. Research results were used as the basis for evidence-based recommendations to policy-makers. Recommendations were presented and discussed with key stakeholders at the consultative conference to ensure transferability and to inform the study on economic dimension of volunteering in sport as the main output which was presented at the final conference. Achievements Science is pivotal to good policy-making. The best scientific advice possible needs to inform policy development. To that aim, the following intellectual outputs were produced: Methodological manual on measuring the economic impact of volunteering in sport, Report on the economic dimension of volunteering in sport in the EU-8 with recommendations to policy-makers, Report on the EU-wide consultation on recommendations to policy-makers, and Study on the economic dimension of volunteering in sport.