Quins Foundation Launch Software to Assess Social Impact of Sport
November 15, 2019
The Harlequins Foundation, the independent charity of Premiership Rugby club Harlequins, has announced Sport Value Bank (SportVB), an online tool which enables sports organisations to accurately assess, record and value the impact of their community sports activities.
The launch of SportVB comes at a time when an increasing number of clubs, governing bodies and charitable organisations are seeking to establish the true value of sport to society. SportVB is the first tool that employs robust, internationally recognised methods for valuing social impact, as set out by the UK HM Treasury Green Book (2018) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development guidelines.
Developed in conjunction with leading social value research consultancy Simetrica, Everton FC and Beyond Sport winning group, Everton in the Community, other organisations taking part in the extended pilot scheme include Premier League Football Clubs, Premiership Rugby clubs, Foundations and Active Partnerships.
Organisations can access SportVB via an easy-to-use online portal, where they record a range of data for projects such as inputs (e.g. staff costs), outputs (e.g. number of participants) and outcomes (e.g. participants’ recorded self-esteem improvements).
The system then calculates the overall net social value to society and provides additional data to interpret the source of that social value. SportVB also measures the ‘secondary benefits’ of outcomes, such as cost savings to government via reduced welfare payments or increased tax revenue. These are valued using current government data sources.
“SportVB directly addresses the issue that so many sports organisations, clubs and foundations struggle with,” said Marc Leckie, Head of The Harlequins Foundation. “SportVB provides clubs with consistent and robust valuations of their impact that organisations can then use to report and feedback to their stakeholders, sponsors, funders and local partners.”
Daniel Fujiwara, Director of Simetrica, the research consultancy that has developed the tool, said “SportVB will for the first time allow sports organisations to measure and communicate their value rigorously and with real authority, using robust best-practice methods.”
Once the pilot is complete in early 2020, SportVB will be available to purchase as a 12-month licence, with the cost dependant on the annual turnover of the organisation. To support the work of smaller organisations, SportVB will initially be free to those with an annual turnover of less than £250,000.