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19 January 2018

Racing looks to tap into pool of enthusiastic volunteers

A new site designed to help racing charities and other organisations in the sport recruit volunteers has been launched with the support of The Racing Foundation.

This facility is designed to be a one-stop shop to encourage and distribute support for all of horseracing’s volunteer activity, and sits within the Racing Together website.

There are an estimated 167,000 charities in the UK and about the same number of voluntary organisations, providing plenty of choice for members of the public considering giving up their time and energy as volunteers.

The Racing Foundation’s Grants Manager, Tansy Challis said of the website:

It is incredibly exciting to see the horseracing site up and running and we very much hope industry stakeholders and organisations will help promote it to help attract more volunteers and raise awareness of the sport’s charities.

Racing’s volunteer site is a collaboration developed by the Do-It Trust and The Racing Foundation, in consultation with a number of the sport’s human and equine charities. It was identified that these charities would benefit from a central resource to aid their recruitment of volunteers – for ongoing support or one-off events.

One of the charities signed up is The Racehorse Sanctuary & Rehoming Centre. Dr David Ray is a patron for the charity and has already experienced the benefits for his organisation getting on board.

“Do-It for Horseracing has been a revelation; we have successfully recruited Michelle, an experienced equine veterinary nurse, who looks after her own ex-racehorses, as our Area Field Officer in Essex,” said David.

“Michelle has the support of her employers House and Jackson, who see this as win-win arrangement: career development for Michelle and good PR for the Equine Hospital in Blackmore, whilst we can fulfil our commitment to the lifetime aftercare of the horses we have rehomed or fostered in the region. Michelle is also keen to help with fundraising for the charity.”

The Do-It for Horseracing gateway enables racing’s charities to reach out to over 120,000 volunteers already registered on the main Do-It Trust site, as well as those who directly visit the horseracing site and sign-up.

To view the site, simply click on the Volunteer tab at:  www.racingtogether.co.uk or visit www.horseracing.do-it.org