The 2020 Giving Ireland Report produced by Sport for Business Members 2Into3 has revealed that sporting bodies are underperforming against other non-profit sectors.
It represents 17 per cent of the estimated 33,000 organisations in the sector that are captured in the report, but only generates 13 per cent of the income.
Fundraising represents a mere 4 per cent of the total of €1.24 billion that was raised in 2018, the latest year for which figures are available.
48 per cent of the money going into the sector is earned income through fees, memberships, tickets and services. This is a strong positive when it comes to the sustainability of the sector. Outside of the Professional and Vocational subsector, this is the highest performing in terms of earned income.
30 per cent comes from state funding through grants and core funding provided through Sport Ireland. Here this is one of the lowest subsectors, another positive, with Arts, Culture and media relying on 53 per cent of its funding coming from the state.
An area where Sport and Recreation has room for improvement lies in the per capita contribution which is only €10.30 versus €14.46 in Arts, Culture and Media, and €22.04 in Philanthropy and Volunteerism.
One area of significant interest when it comes to Fundraising is the cost associated with the raining of each Euro.
The sale of goods delivers only a ten per cent margin on the cost of running that as a fundraiser, versus three times that return when the focus switches to regular or committed giving.
Corporate giving at seven per cent is more than twice the rate in the UK but less than half that of New Zealand where 20 per cent of fundraised income comes from the business world.
Lest we think finally that Ireland remains a paragon of virtue in terms of giving, our contribution per head in 2018 was €255 as opposed to €353 in new Zealand and 398 in the UK.
Sport for Business Partners
