In Sweden there is a strong tradition of taking part in different kinds of associations. For many years the associations connected to sports have had the highest share of members out of all types of associations in Sweden, and the interest for being active in sports is strong. This sports culture leads to the existence of many associations which are mostly run by volunteers. This is a very valuable resource for the Swedish nonprofit sector since the work done by volunteers is worth approximately SEK 20 billion every year. Some studies argue that in modern times there are tendencies towards decreasing involvement and that less people are willing to take on a role as a volunteer. Consequently, in order for the flourishing sports culture in Sweden to continue, new volunteers are needed and the already existing ones need to be well-managed. Therefore, we have chosen to draw upon research that has shown that one efficient way of recruiting and retaining volunteers is by focusing on what motivates them. By understanding and matching volunteer motivations with volunteer roles, the volunteers become more satisfied and are more likely to choose to stay since their needs are being fulfilled by taking part in the association.

Therefore, our study sets out to determine which the most prominent motivational factors are among Swedish sports volunteers, and if there are any differences in motivation between associations for gender, age and experience. The associations in our research include Friskis&Svettis Jönköping and IK Hakarpspojkarna. They participated by letting their volunteers answer an online survey consisting of the Volunteer Functions Inventory (VFI), along with three relevantly added functions from other studies.

The functions that ranked the highest for the whole segment were the; Interest, Values, and Understanding functions.Consequently, having determined the top three motivational functions for two Swedish sports associations, we hope that this study will assist them as well as others, in their management of sports volunteers, by trying to match experience with volunteer motivations.