When the Covid-19 pandemic struck, thousands of organisations across the globe that use sport as a tool to create social change were forced to cease operations and were unable to provide the therapeutic, educational and/or social service programming or support that many communities rely upon.
thinkBeyond, alongside our sister company Beyond Sport and Laureus Sport For Good quickly recognised that when the world eventually emerges from this crisis, the use of sport as a tool to bring people together, to heal communities through emotional and physical support and connect them to educational, health and employment opportunities will be greater than ever. We set up the Sport For Good Response Fund to protect and support these organisations.
We rapidly built a coalition of funders and partners, securing hundreds of thousands of pounds from the likes of Chivas, Zurich, Comic Relief, Hong Kong Rugby Union Community Foundation and LA84 Foundation and provided funding to 38 organisations in 18 countries.
In addition, thinkBeyond curated and delivered a series of round-table workshops to create solutions designed to address areas including e-learning and digital tools, redesigning and scaling programming, diversifying revenue streams, monitoring and evaluation, fundraising and preparing for the return to play. Outcomes and recommendations of this extensive consultancy support will be made available to the sector through an opensource report to further strengthen the sector for the future.
The Sport For Good Response Fund has secured and enhanced the future of sports role in developing communities and has been achieved through genuine and powerful collaboration.
