MEASURING THE SOCIAL IMPACT OF SPORT:

INTRODUCING THE ASVB SPORTS WELLBEING VALUES

Sport creates significant social, health and wellbeing benefits, but until now many organisations have struggled to consistently measure and communicate that impact beyond participation numbers.

In response to this challenge, the Australian Social Value Bank (ASVB), in partnership with GippSport and with support from VicHealth, has released a new set of Sports Wellbeing Values.

These values allow organisations delivering sport and recreation programs to measure and demonstrate the social value created through sport participation, including outcomes related to confidence, inclusion, motivation, physical activity and wellbeing.

The following outcomes are now captured within the ASVB calculator:

• Increased motivation and engagement in physical activity
• Increased opportunity to engage in preferred physical activity
• Developed confidence to take part in lots of different physical activities
• Started to enjoy playing sport
• Developed a sense of being good at lots of different physical activities
• Participated in physical activity, people with a disability
• No longer face barriers due to lack of equipment
• No longer face barriers due to lack of facilities
• Received coaching
• Participated in individual physical activity
• Participated in group physical activity
• Played non-competitive sport
• Played competitive sport
• Attended professional sport

FROM PARTICIPATION NUMBERS TO DEMONSTRATED SOCIAL VALUE

For organisations delivering sport and recreation programs, this changes what can be demonstrated.

Sport has always created value beyond participation alone, and many organisations have previously used individual ASVB outcomes to capture parts of that story. However, when GippSport approached ASVB looking for a more precise way to measure the impact of sport participation, it highlighted a broader need across the sector.

Until now, many organisations have been limited to reporting how many people participated, how often they attended, and whether they enjoyed the program. While useful, this only tells part of the story. It does not clearly demonstrate whether meaningful change has occurred, or the social value created through that change.

The Sports Wellbeing Values shift this.

They allow organisations to move beyond activity reporting and demonstrate what actually changes as a result of sport participation. This includes outcomes such as increased confidence to participate, stronger feelings of inclusion and belonging, greater motivation to stay physically active, and improved engagement in sport and recreation activities.

Importantly, the framework recognises that participation itself can create measurable wellbeing benefits, while also capturing the attitudinal and behavioural changes associated with sport.

This shifts reporting from activity, to outcomes, and ultimately to value.

SUPPORTING OUTCOMES-BASED FUNDING AND DECISION MAKING

The Sports Wellbeing Values sit within the ASVB cost benefit analysis framework. This allows organisations to express social impact in dollar terms, demonstrate net social benefit, and calculate a benefit cost ratio.

This aligns directly with how governments, councils and major funders increasingly assess value for money and outcomes-based investment. Organisations can demonstrate not only that their programs are needed, but the measurable social value and wellbeing outcomes they create.

Because all ASVB values are derived using a consistent wellbeing valuation methodology, organisations can also compare programs on a consistent basis, whether across different sporting activities, delivery models, cohorts, or even against other types of social programs.

This strengthens:

• internal decision making
• strategic investment decisions
• evidence-based funding applications
• program design and prioritisation
• social impact reporting
• advocacy for sport and recreation

More broadly, this creates a stronger evidence base for the sport and recreation sector. It helps demonstrate the role sport plays in improving wellbeing, strengthening communities, and delivering measurable social outcomes.

At its core, this represents a shift in how sport is understood, from participation numbers to demonstrated social value, and from “we know this is good” to “here is the value being created”.

WHAT ORGANISATIONS CAN NOW DEMONSTRATE

Using the Sports Wellbeing Values, organisations can now:

• Demonstrate the social impact created through sport participation
• Measure wellbeing outcomes beyond participation numbers alone
• Capture the value created through confidence, inclusion, motivation and physical activity
• Compare programs on a consistent basis across activities and delivery models
• Make more informed decisions about where to prioritise investment
• Demonstrate value for money using net social benefit and benefit cost ratios
• Strengthen grant applications and funding proposals with credible evidence
• Communicate impact to stakeholders in a clear and meaningful way
• Build a consistent organisation-wide approach to outcomes measurement and social impact reporting

HOW THE ASVB CREATED THE SPORTS VALUES

Unlike the broader ASVB values, which were developed directly from Australian datasets, the Sports Wellbeing Values were developed by adapting existing sport-specific wellbeing research into the ASVB framework.

The broader ASVB values have been built using robust, large-scale Australian datasets, including HILDA and Journeys Home, alongside a consistent wellbeing valuation methodology designed to ensure comparability across outcomes and sectors.

However, developing entirely new Australian sport wellbeing values from scratch would require significant long-term datasets and investment. When GippSport identified the need for sport-specific values, the focus became identifying the most rigorous and defensible pathway available to ensure sport outcomes could be measured consistently within the ASVB framework.

The ASVB’s existing wellbeing values were developed in partnership with Simetrica-Jacobs, global leaders in wellbeing valuation methodology. Simetrica-Jacobs had also undertaken the Sport New Zealand work, providing a strong and methodologically consistent foundation for the development of sport-specific values within the ASVB.

The Sport New Zealand research had already identified how different forms of sport and physical activity impact wellbeing, using large-scale survey data and statistically robust wellbeing valuation techniques.

Importantly, this research focused on two key categories of sport outcomes:

• changes in attitudes towards sport and physical activity
• changes in levels of participation in sport and physical activity

This included outcomes such as increased confidence to participate, enjoyment of sport, motivation to be physically active, and participation in individual, group, competitive and non-competitive sporting activities.

The outcomes being measured, and the way they influenced wellbeing, were also highly relevant to the Australian context given the close social and cultural similarities between Australia and New Zealand.

Crucially, the ASVB did not simply adopt the published New Zealand dollar values.

The original Sport New Zealand values were monetised using a New Zealand Treasury WELLBY approach. Instead, the ASVB worked with Simetrica-Jacobs to take the underlying changes in wellbeing identified through the New Zealand research and apply the ASVB methodology and Australian income coefficient to express those impacts in Australian dollar terms.

This ensured the new Sports Wellbeing Values remained fully aligned with the broader ASVB framework and could sit alongside existing outcomes while maintaining comparability across sectors.

SUPPORTING ORGANISATIONS TO APPLY THE VALUES CONSISTENTLY

Introducing sport-specific values also required practical guidance to support organisations using the framework in real-world settings.

Because sport programs can create multiple related outcomes, dedicated guidance materials were developed to help organisations:

• identify the most appropriate outcomes
• avoid overlap between outcomes
• ensure each change is treated as distinct and only counted once
• apply the values consistently across programs

This guidance is further supported through one-to-one assistance from the ASVB Customer Success team, helping organisations apply the values confidently and consistently within their own programs.

LOOKING AHEAD

The current approach provides a robust and defensible foundation for measuring the social value created through sport.

Over time, future Australian-specific sport and youth wellbeing datasets may further strengthen the precision of these values and continue building the evidence base for investment in sport and recreation.

This represents an important step towards improving how the sector measures outcomes, demonstrates value for money, and evidences the contribution sport makes to individual and community wellbeing.

If you would like to explore how the Sports Wellbeing Values could help your organisation measure and demonstrate the social impact created through sport, contact the ASVB team to discuss how the framework could be applied within your programs.

Contact the ASVB Team