The Australian Sports Foundation (ASF) has conducted a second national research study to help it determine the ongoing impact of Covid-19 on community sport across the country and found Australia’s 70,000 community sports clubs are still facing serious concerns in three key areas: financial instability, declining participation and declining volunteering.
Off the back of these findings, the ASF has launched the Back to Sport Fund to provide an avenue for tax deductible donations for all sport fans to support community sports recovery from COVID-19.
Following the first study in May 2020, the ASF sought to understand how clubs are faring 12 months on from the start of the pandemic and has found community sports clubs have little in the way of financial reserves to weather unexpected financial pressure due to COVID-19.
As a result, 13% of clubs reported concerns around financial solvency - indicating that around 9,000 clubs all over Australia are at risk of going under.
Nearly 83% of respondents reported lost revenue, with an average decline of $18,500 and almost every revenue stream affected - particularly sponsorships, fundraising and membership income.
Against a backdrop of reduced revenues, it is concerning that 88% of clubs reported that running costs had either stayed the same or in 47% of cases increased.
The most common increased costs included new hygiene measures and extra equipment due to COVID-19 protocols, member refunds (due to shortened or abandoned seasons) and overheads, such as insurance which increased despite a reduction in playing and participation.
Clubs frequently mentioned offering free or subsidised memberships to their communities as a way of keeping families engaged in sport in these difficult times, and of offering mental health support to their members - again underlining their vital role in social cohesion and connecting their local communities.
The ASF highlights three ways everyone can immediately support community sport today:
Back to Sport Fund
Everyone can support the recovery of community sport in Australia today. The Australian Sports Foundation has launched a campaign drive for tax-deductible donations into its Back to Sport Fund to support community sports recovery from COVID-19. If you would like to help these vital community institutions across Australia survive, you can make a tax-deductible donation to the Australian Sports Foundation at our donation page. Money donated will be allocated to community sports clubs via the Back to Sport fund grants to support them through this crisis and to help grow participation in their communities. The Australian Sports Foundation calls on all who value community sport to join us in this campaign and to assist in any way you can.
Donations to the Back to Sport Fund can be made here https://recovery.sportsfoundation.org.au/donate-to-covid/
“While different levels of government have stepped in to provide some support to the sector, responses showed that this had only covered less than a third of the revenue shortfall, indicating much more support will be needed in the months ahead.
To solve a problem of this scale requires a collaborative approach, so we are calling on all who care about the role of sport in creating healthy, inclusive communities to help us fund grassroots sport’s recovery,” said Australian Sports Foundation CEO Patrick Walker.
The survey revealed:
“Our task now is to continue to help community sport survive COVID-19. Having highlighted the ongoing crisis, we want to work with Australia’s political, philanthropic and corporate leaders - and everyone who cares about the role community sport plays in our way of life - to help solve the issue,” said Mr. Walker.
“The Australian Sports Foundation believes that community sport plays a vital role in the Australian way of life and will be critical to sustaining mental and physical health and the resilience of our communities as we face the ongoing challenges of this pandemic. It is clear that community sport needs more support if it is to survive, and at ASF, we are determined to do all we can to assist,” said Mr Walker.
The ASF national survey commenced Wednesday 30 June and closed on Monday 19 July and asked respondents for detailed information on how the COVID-19 crisis has affected community sports clubs, its participants and its volunteers.
The survey collected 833 responses from clubs, organisations and associations and covered 94 different sport types from the mainstream like football, netball and cricket, to sports with only one or two respondents, like dodgeball and kendo.
The full report can be found here: https://covid.sportsfoundation.org.au/
The first Australian Sports Foundation report released in September 2020 on the effects of covid on community sport clubs can be found here: https://covid.sportsfoundation.org.au/our-research
About the Australian Sports Foundation
The Australian Sports Foundation is Australia’s leading non-profit sports fundraising organisation and charity, and the only organisation to which donations for sport are tax-deductible.
In the last 30 years the Sports Foundation has distributed hundreds of millions of dollars to Aussie sports clubs to help develop an inclusive and active sporting nation, and to strengthen local communities.
For more information please visit covid.sportsfoundation.org.au
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