Funding community sport - we must become more innovative and enterprising

 Aligning ‘mission and ‘money’ – how to be ‘social’ and ‘enterprise’…at the same time

The way we fund community sport in the UK is facing big changes and considerable challenges. Sport for Social Good/Change is playing a bigger role as is the considerable challenge of getting inactive people more active. (25% of Sport England's funding now goes to getting towards exactly that). 

Also, we are seeing many community sports clubs that just want to 'play their sport' and somehow are expecting 'someone' to help them fund their activities. If you are #JustAClub you will struggle to generate the income you require to drive your club forward. 

We are seeing the dangers of being too reliant on sports-only grants as these tend to be politically motivated and therefore are susceptible to the whims of funders and politicians.

So, how do the traditional sports body and club deal with these challenges and opportunities?

It's no good just to say that 'Government should give us some more money'. Community sports providers need to improve the way they run their enterprises, be it a governing body, sports club or something different. It is all about developing an innovative and enterprising culture and skillset.

There is little scope in just asking funders to 'support our sport/club', if you don't explain to them, in their language, why they should get involved...unfortunately, we do see too many examples like this, like the one below from Ireland:

Some clubs are really good at running innovative and enterprising initiatives which generate income, engage with the local community and attract more people as players and volunteers. Some sports bodies grow their sport and generate income by running events, engage with sponsors and partners and by being #MoreThanSport.  (Our work with Cricket Scotland is called #MoreThanCricket and our up and coming work with Football Association of Wales Trust is called #MoreThanAClub. You get the point, I'm sure).

But...and there is a big but. Why are so many of our 10ks and Half-Marathons run by charities and not by sports bodies or clubs? Why do we see so many festivals, such as Bournemouth 7s (30,000 people @ ￡95.00 + plus bar and sponsorship income) being organised by commercial entrepreneurs? Why don't more clubs copy Lymm RFC and generate ￡20k every year from their 8 nights of panto? And so on...

The more community sport is able to generate your own income, the more you can do the work that you want to do and not just what the grant funder wants you to do. We say that you need to build a ‘balanced income model’ where you generate income from a number of sources, including funders, sponsors, non-sport partners and paying costumers.

So, if you play a bigger and broader role in your community you are more likely to attract non-sport funding and engagement.

Community Sports Enterprise is all about generating income while doing good in order to do more good

Some key pointers on how to generate more income:

• Run an Opportunity Audit where you, honestly and objectively, assess what you should do, what you can do, and what you will do
• Social media reach and community engagement are key to engage sponsors and community partners - get some 15-year olds engaged in running your social media activities (yes, I am serious!)
• Demonstrate that you are making a real impact on your community using baselines (hard facts) and videos (telling stories)
• Engage with non-sport partners from music, art and beyond to create engaging and innovative events which will engage your communities and make a real impact
• Listen, learn and improve using baby steps
• Don't be boring!

 There is too little training for people who work and volunteer in community sport on how they can become Community Sports Entrepreneurs and help secure engagement and funding for their work - SMN are doing something about that.

Two initiatives which will help community sport to grow its income

Funding Community Sport

A one-day conference on how community sport can generate more income while playing a bigger role in society.

October 2018, Birmingham

This conference will focus on how community sports providers have been successful in developing viable, balanced income models and what community sport can learn from successful social enterprises, which generate income while doing good, so they can do some more good.

You will be able to listen to governing bodies of sport, community sports clubs and other providers of community sport and physical activity on how they work with funders, sponsors and customers. You will also be able to learn from funders and sponsors of community sport of what they are looking when supporting bodies and clubs.

If you are interested in this event, either to attend or give a presentation just get in touch with Svend Elkjaer on 01423 326 660 or call on 01423 326 660

Grow your income

A 3-hour interactive workshop

The notion that a community sports club is indeed an enterprise which has to attract, serve and retain customers and make a surplus whilst fulfilling its sporting and community objectives is something that many clubs will need help to embrace. Sports clubs must develop a sustainable income model – getting away from the panicky Dash for Cash often running around literally begging for money.

The key is to look at the whole operation and ambition of your club and then identify and implement projects which can help grow your income to match your requirements, including generating cash reserves for replacements and developments. The creativity and commercial awareness of a number of community sports clubs who are ensuring their sustainability will be shared. 

This workshop will give you plenty of thoughts, tools and to-dos on how you can develop better income generating strategies and initiatives that are right for your club. In your environment, with your skills and contacts and aligned with your mission. It will help you move from a fundraising culture to one of income generation where you provide real benefits that people will pay for and has value to your customers (members, guests, supporters, sponsors)…

Areas covered include:

• How to develop stronger enterprise culture and skills within your organisation
• How to bring everybody together under one purpose, one vision
• How to deliver great, sustainable community sport without compromising your sporting and community objectives
• How to provide really innovative and welcoming customer experiences which fit in with people’s lives
• How to meet the strategic objectives of external partners and funders, whether they are from within sport or from health, regeneration or community services
• How to achieve more by using your resources more efficiently
• How to get things done by working better with people
• How to improve the way you manage innovation and change; the life blood of any progressive sports organisation
• How to you develop sustainable income streams and still grow the number of participants
• How to attract and retain skilled and passionate people who can ensure that you have the right connections with your community and deliver a sustainable community sports enterprise
• How to focus on your personal development and improve your time management, leadership and management skills and work smarter
• How to develop business plans that really work

Participants will be given dozens and dozens of proven ideas on how to generate income and concrete advice on how to implement the most appropriate ones.

If you are interested in hosting this workshop just get in touch with Svend Elkjaer on 01423 326 660 or call on 01423 326 660