Clubs that Count

From 2005 to 2008, Clubs that Count worked with over 60 professional sports clubs to maximise their positive impact in local communities. Funded by the Department of Health, the programme recognised the unique role that clubs have as businesses and highlighted how they could reach vulnerable communities through their players, brands and locations.

'The Tracker did what I wanted which was to bring together all of the elements of community work and to give it some kind of validity. It was probably a longer exercise than I had anticipated because I think once you really get into it, to do it properly, you’ve really got to spend quite a lot of time pulling information from the various departments that exist, but….it was worthwhile doing.'  

The goal of the programme was to raise awareness of the benefits of community investment for clubs both internally and externally. The programme recognised that the imperative within clubs' culture to invest outwardly was often marginalised, yet externally, clubs were often the focal point of a community. Since Clubs that Count's inception, clubs have increased their community infrastructure and are seen as valuable partners and vehicles to engage 'hard to reach' demographics and deliver positive messages.

The primary engagement tool for this initiative was the Clubs that Count tracker - an online benchmarking tool that assessed clubs across the four impact areas: community; environment; workplace and marketplace.

What has Clubs that Count achieved?

Over the past five years, the sport sector has developed the community infrastructure to link with professional clubs on a range of issues. Business in the Community is proud to have contributed to the development of this powerful programme and continues to support clubs in celebrating their work; aligning clubs with campaigns and regional initiatives.

Business in the Community has worked with over 60 clubs to manage their community investment and to learn from other clubs and best practice.

The Football League Trust, now a BITC member,  has been established to support and develop community infrastructure across football league clubs. They have integrated the principles of Clubs that Count and are promoting and developing club infrastructure through funding and support.

Likewise, Premier Rugby has used the Clubs that Count tracker to evaluate their Premier Rugby Club of the year award for the last few years. Through this we have profiled and worked with rugby clubs on leading community investment programmes, which has led to many regional programmes expanding nationally.

We have also worked with governing bodies to help them develop their community work and strategy and will continue to build on these relationships through campaigns and future work.