HELPING DEVELOP SUSTAINABLE SPORTS AND COMMUNITY BUSINESSES
SECURING ASSETS FOR SPORTS CLUBS AROUND THE COUNTRY
GROWING THE REACH OF CLUBS INTO THEIR COMMUNITIES

Welcome to Sporting Assets

Case Studies

Phoenix Outdoor Centre

Phoenix Canoe Club is a canoe and sailing facility based in North London near the Brent Cross shopping centre and the M1.

Located on the Welsh Harp reservoir it is an oasis of quiet and wildlife. The Centre is a charity offering courses and day experiences on the water, particularly to young people through their schools and clubs. Around 8,500 people enjoy a 2-hour water experience every year, a number that has grown steadily since the Centre was founded in 2004.

As numbers have grown, the Centre has outgrown its facilities which are largely wooden huts. The Centre has secured planning permission for an environmentally friendly purpose-built facility on its existing site. Funded by the London Marathon Charitable Trust, Sporting Assets has worked with the Centre on its new vision and business plan to ensure it has future activities and revenues that benefit the community and enable the Centre to be financially sustainable. The Centre has already been successful in securing some funding for the capital build and news of other grant applications is awaited.

England Athletics

Sporting Assets worked with the Club Support Managers (CSMs) team to pilot a new approach to club improvement around the country.

This involved developing a method to assess where clubs currently stood against key criteria such as facilities and governance, and where they wanted to improve. The pilot was collaborative between the clubs and the CSMs, with a facilitated discussion to systematically go through the criteria, a review of what plans, information and policies that a club had or knew they needed, and then an action plan developed by the CSM with the club for them to work on over the next year.

Sporting Assets developed the process and accompanying documentation, trained the CSMs in its use, and teamed up with CSMs to work on individual pilot clubs – both to offer insights from clubs in other sports and to ensure learning from the pilot was identified and fed into the approach that was agreed at the end of the pilot project.

Emma Hurst, the lead CSM for the pilot said: ‘We really enjoyed working with Sporting Assets and felt they could bring insights from their work on other projects. It was particularly helpful to have them involved in the focused discussion with individual clubs where they could ensure a common approach to them all and to the follow up actions.’

Services

SPORTS AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

We offer a variety of services to help clients ensure that their organisations have the necessary foundations to:

• Plan for future growth or sustainability;

• Communicate this plan to key stakeholders; and

• Become “investment ready” and increase the likelihood of securing investments or grants.

Governance and Leadership

• Legal setup: Review of legal structure of the organisation to ensure it is fit for purpose. Options and recommendations for changes needed for future expansion, change of operational structure or financing.

• Operational structure: Review of operational model. Recommendations on what changes are required to future proof it for business expansion or additional services.

• Skills audit: Consultation with the board to understand what skills are required now and in the future. Skills audit and interviews with board members to identify the range of experience on the board and which areas need strengthening.

Growth and Business Planning

• Market potential review: Work with organisation to refine their understanding of how much they can expand their different services given their position in the market and partnerships. Interviews and market testing across a range of stakeholders to understand the relevant demand drivers and services that might be factored into current or future operations.

• Financial model: Creation of financial model to underpin the business plan. The model can be created for different uses, such as to show how much repayable finance can be serviced or to test the financial impact of different options for growth.

• Business plan: Creation of business plan for a range of uses; such as externally to present a case for investment, or internally as an operational guide.

Financial Management

• Financial management review: Full review of the organisation’s financial systems, controls and procedures, along with recommendations on how to improve each area.

• Financial management implementation: Assist the organisation’s staff with implementing recommendations from the financial management review.

Social Impact Management (Delivered by our partner Substance)

• Theory of change: Workshops with organisation and stakeholders to identify the needs they are trying to address, the changes they want to make, and what they plan to do to achieve this.

• Social Impact Measurement: Set up of impact measurement system and training on how to use it.

Our Team

Tom Hall

Founder Director

Tom has a wealth of experience and is a proven innovative thinker with an excellent track record of delivery. He is an expert business development adviser for sports based social enterprises with specialisms in community asset transfers, sustainable growth strategies, corporate governance and social finance.

Richard Speak

Founder Director

Richard is a Chartered Accountant and trained in law, specialising in corporate finance, equity and debt fundraising. He has turned his focus to Social Investment and was instrumental in setting up the Blackburn Rovers Supporters Trust group of social enterprises and charities, and is now a leading Impact Investment specialist working in Social Finance.

Paul Ebied

Director

Paul is a Chartered Accountant who previously worked in accountancy practice and the infrastructure industry. He has completed the On Purpose programme; a one year fellowship designed to develop leaders in the social enterprise sector. He specialises in developing financial models to plan business growth, acquire funding and ensure long-term sustainability. Paul joined Sporting Assets in July 2015.

Pete Maguire

Director

Pete is an experienced business consultant with nearly 20 years’ experience advising businesses and sport sector VCSEs. Pete supports community organisations across a range of issues from initial feasibility and asset transfer through to large scale social investment readiness; and works with national bodies, supporting the development and delivery of their facilities and investment strategies.

James Mathie

Senior Consultant

James has been supporting community led sports projects for more than 12 years, starting off at Sport England with the Sports Match scheme before moving to Supporters Direct and setting up the SD Club Development consultancy. He has helped more than 50 sports clubs restructure and realise the benefits of community ownership, including helping to raise over £7 million from community share offers.

Jemma Leathley

Investment Manager

Jemma is our investment manager and is responsible for managing our investment funds. She has over 10 years’ experience in making investments and grants into environmental projects and now leads the investment activity for Sporting Capital, our social investment fund. Jemma is a netballer having rediscovered the sport through Back to Netball over 10 years ago.

Dylan Evans

Senior Consultant

Dylan has over 20 years experience in community sport and leisure provision. He has a wealth of experience from strategic planning, capital investment and acquiring assets to community led sports projects. Previously Dylan was strategic lead for leisure in South Oxfordshire & Vale of White Horse district councils, and prior to this worked at the FA as a regional manager across London and South East.

Anna Quick

Senior Consultant

Anna has a strong background working with active partnerships, national governing bodies of sport and local authorities. A former national ClubMark manager, Anna has supported organisations and individuals in developing sports clubs and volunteers to develop and grow. She is a highly skilled communicator with an in depth knowledge and understanding of key issues surrounding community sport.

Eleri Owen

Eleri has experience in developing and managing funds in the community sport sector. Formerly Club Development Manager at the Welsh Rugby Union, she has experience in advising and supporting sporting organisations on the development of their facilities, working with local authorities, national organisations and community volunteers. She has a passion for community sport and its positive impact.

Testimonials

Four reasons to come to us

	W106 Vox Studios
	1-45 Durham Street
	London
	SE11 5JH
	0203 637 2924
	enquiries@sportingassets.co.uk

Phoenix Outdoor Centre

Phoenix Canoe Club is a canoe and sailing facility based in North London near the Brent Cross shopping centre and the M1.

England Athletics

Sporting Assets worked with the Club Support Managers (CSMs) team to pilot a new approach to club improvement around the country.

Cycle Pathway CIC

Sporting Assets supported Leeds City Council, British Cycling, Sport England and Cycle Pathways, with their ambitious plans to develop Leeds Urban Bike Park, a mountain bike centre in the heart of Leeds.

StreetGames

StreetGames launched in 2007 to change lives, change communities and change sport. Today, StreetGames helps over 900 community organisations across the UK to take sport to the doorstep in disadvantaged communities.

Lewes CFC

Lewes Community Football Club is an English football club based in Lewes, East Sussex, who play at The Dripping Pan stadium. The men’s first team are members of the Isthmian League Premier Division, and the ladies first team are members of the FA Women’s Championship.

East Lancashire Football Development Association

We supported three not for profit, unincorporated amateur football leagues in Blackburn and East Lancashire with an initial feasibility study. The three leagues had come together as an action group to lobby the council on the state of football pitches in the area.

British Canoeing

Sporting Assets supported British Canoeing in a strategic review of its owned or leased facilities (known as Places to Paddle).

Vintage Trains

Baytree Centre

City of Birmingham Rockets

City of Birmingham Basketball Rockets (COBR) is a thriving basketball club in the heart of Birmingham, based at the Nechells Wellbeing Centre.

FEASIBILITY STUDIES

SPORTS AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

RAISING FINANCE

Tom Hall

Founder Director

Richard Speak

Founder Director

Paul Ebied

Director

Pete Maguire

Director

James Mathie

Senior Consultant

Jemma Leathley

Investment Manager

Dylan Evans

Senior Consultant

Anna Quick

Senior Consultant

Eleri Owen

INFORMATION