Relevance and Impact

This area focuses on organisations communicating and managing relationships through a variety of communication platforms and engagement tools, which enables the organisation to keep informed of and evolve based on the needs of its core audiences and wider societal trends. There is a strong sense of heritage and brand, as well as deep understanding of the community being served. The organisation manages and projects its reputation and assets with confidence, whilst being able to harness the platform of sport for positive change and impact in society and the environment.

This area includes three main components:

• Relationships and Communications
• Social Impact
• Environmental Sustainability

A trusted and relevant organisation - communicating effectively with and listening to its athletes, participants and networks, whilst looking beyond into how the world and people within it are changing.

Sport organisations trusted to govern and administer their sport are responsible for, and answerable to, the people and organisations within their networks. It is therefore essential to connect and communicate with them on their level, listening to them, responding to their needs and understanding their different audiences, whilst also maximising the organisation’s broader societal influence and long-term relevance.

Example indicators:

• The ability to engage and communicate through a variety of methods with key audiences; the content, quality, usability, and accessibility of the organisation’s communications, including digital technologies.
• The engagement and communication with stakeholders – the strategy, tools and processes in place, and how effectively they are used to engage, listen to and respond to audience need.
• The reputation of the organisation and how this is managed (e.g. media relations, incident response and crisis communications plans). 
• The understanding and use of the assets at the disposal of the organisation (including its heritage, brand, any high-profile events, and individuals); the ability to harness and amplify the voices of athletes and participants in order to promote, adapt and improve their sport and ensure its relevance.
• How trusted staff and volunteers are; their skill and ability to project a coherent and cohesive image of their organisation and what it stands for.
• A distinct sense of identity and custodianship, working for the present as well as future generation.

Harnessing the power and platform of sport on society -  including that of the organisation, its sport, its athletes and events.

So much of sport’s role is to power positive change for people, and we know this is increasingly important to athletes, fans and brands. It is vital that this is connected to an organisation’s strategy and purpose, athletes and major events (where appropriate), and the wider sport. To drive this, social impact activity should be outcome-led, informed by the needs of the communities that it serves and monitored and evaluated to enable continued learning and development, as well as being proportionate and sufficiently resourced.

Examples indicators:

• The level of understanding of the role of the organisation and its sport in addressing social issues and contributing to positive change.
• The level of clarity of approach to social impact being taken by the organisation to harness its assets and the outcomes it is seeking to achieve, including the logic underpinning this and the ability to tell a compelling story of impact.
• The connectivity of any social impact activity with the organisational strategy, its athletes, any major events being hosted in the UK, and key stakeholders within the sport.
• The extent to which the organisation is able to identify proportionate and sufficient resource (staffing and financial) to deliver against its intended social impact objectives/outcomes.
• The extent to which the organisation is able to identify and form effective partnerships (commercial and otherwise) that support them in driving positive change.
• The extent to which the activity being undertaken is monitored and evaluated, how learnings are identified and any resultant adaptations.

A clear commitment to environmental sustainability, underpinned by an understanding of the organisation’s environmental impact and plan for action.

Sport at all levels is already, and will increasingly be affected by climate change, as will the human beings that compete, coach, volunteer, participate, spectate and administer sport. Sport therefore has a responsibility to reduce its own environmental impact to ensure its long-term viability and relevance. Furthermore, sport has a platform and influence within society that gives it a unique and additional responsibility to act and to credibly influence the actions of others.

Example indicators:

• The extent to which the organisation has developed and published an environmental sustainability action plan (in line for instance with the UN Sport for Climate Action Framework), which is targeted, proportionate, resourced, and informs decision-making.
• The extent to which the environmental sustainability action plan considers responsible consumption and biodiversity, in addition to climate action.
• The extent to which the organisation has committed to upskilling and supporting its workforce and wider spheres of influence such as volunteers, members, and fans.
• The extent to which the organisation engages in knowledge sharing and transfer; and has considered the role of local, national and international partnerships to support the delivery of its action plan.