Sport for Business gathered a strong group of members on Thursday November 28th to look at the opportunities that exist in the areas between sport and philanthropy.
It was the latest in our popular series of monthly round tables and produced a real sense of enthusiasm to waken the sleeping giant of sport when it comes to giving, whether at a corporate or individual level that is aimed at creating real and lasting benefit within communities.
Among those gathered were Jim Glennon, Chairman of Edelman; Dessie Farrell, CEO of the Gaelic Players Association; Heather Wright of the Irish Football Association; Dennis Cousins of Cricket Ireland; Colm McGinty of the Irish Sports Council; John McGrane of Ulster Bank and the British Irish Chamber of Commerce; Hugo MacNeill from the Ireland Funds; Colin Regan from the GAA; Donagh Morgan from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport; Paula Kelly, Campaign Manager for the One Per cent Difference Project at Philanthropy Ireland who kindly provided the facility for the meeting; Jim Radmore, President of the UCD Smurfit Business School Rugby Club and Cormac Dunne, also from UCD Smurfit. The meeting was chaired by Rob Hartnett of Sport for Business
Here are 10 take aways to emerge from the meeting and which set a potential blueprint for how the opportunity can be brought to life and made real:
1. To paraphrase a leading US fundraiser in the field of the performing arts it was agreed that whatever projects are brought forward need to ‘start, middle and end’ with sport.
2. There needs to be a very clear focus on what is being asked of those who are approached to give; on the impact their funding will have and on ‘the amazing power’ of sport to unite and motivate communities.
3. There is a skills shortage within sports clubs and indeed across many sports bodies about how to go about effective fundraising.
4. The value of creating clear, tangible outputs that will benefit a community through sport is often understated and at times overlooked. The real benefits in terms of economic, health and social inclusion impact of sport are closely aligned to the motivation of many philanthropic donors but may not be sufficiently well formed within Irish sport at present to be as effective as they might be.
5. There does not exist the kind of ‘slick machinery’ that is often present at University level for fundraising and to a greater degree than sport within the arts. It is not perfect there and we heard stories of donors who responded in years gone by and were willing to do so again but had either not been presented with a compelling case or had not been asked again.
6. Ireland has a growing capacity for social entrepreneurship and a willingness to change that is in many ways ahead of most other developed countries. The power of an ability to leverage imagination and creative thinking is great but we need to find a way to harness the power of sport as part of that.
7. This power of sport to engage within communities is ideally positioned at a time when there is a growing awareness of the need for corporate and individual ‘giving back’ to society. It would be a serious lost opportunity if we cannot create a framework to align the two.
8. At a time when trust in the old institutions and icons of leadership is fading or broken, new models of leadership are emerging within local or smaller communities. Sport has a huge role to play in this new dynamic of trust. The place and the respect for sport within our society as a whole will be examined by our group and proposals put forward to raise it to a level it deserves.
9. There is a challenge to be overcome in looking beyond the immediate and critical, though short term needs of clubs and sport to fund day to day activity. We need to raise the horizon and encourage ambitious thinking on what it may be possible for sport to deliver in a much wider context.
10. We need sporting groups and organisations to work closer together and to collectively form relationships with those who have the experience and skills to effectively present the ‘amazing power’ of sport in a fashion that will connect with those that have the capacity to make great things happen.
The role of Sport for Business within its membership is to bring smart people together and channel small ideas into real and lasting difference in the way things are done. This Round Table was a classic way in which sport, business and social groups that might never meet in common purpose can come together and emerge stronger.
We will always insist though on being a forum of achievement rather than well meaning but unfulfilled aspiration. To this end we will always put forward initiatives to emerge that can be made concrete and followed up.
In the case of sport and philanthropy there are many ideas that were given an initial breath of life through this meeting of smart people with the capacity and desire to make them grow.
It needs reflection though in order to shape them into the kinds of proposals that will bear real fruit and be of benefit to sport, to donors and most critically our wider society.
With this in mind we will meet again within the next three weeks to bring that reflection back to the table and move from the abstract to the real in terms of how sport and philanthropy can be a winning partnership in 2014 and long beyond.
Sport for Business is a membership organisation. We help sport reach out to business, and business to engage the power of sport in its management, marketing and values. We publish a free daily news digest on the commercial world of Irish sport, we bring together smart minds in round table and larger formats, and we create initiatives among our members that make a difference. %
