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Intro
May 2019
At its heart, the Strategic Funding Review is about creating opportunities for all sports to grow grassroots participation and be sustainable into the future.
Coming into government, I failed to appreciate the rationale behind funding for the Organisational Sustainability Program. After meeting with a number of State Sporting Associations (SSAs), I found that they often shared this view. Many said that the work they were doing to grow their sport was not reflected in the funding they received — and they often felt more like professional grant application writers rather than sports administrators.
Launching this review to the industry in early 2018, I made clear my priorities: increasing collaboration between government and industry, and the need for a balanced, value-based distribution of State Government funding that transparently reflected the work done by SSAs. All sports matter, and all deserve to be valued for the work that they do to keep people active and engaged in our communities. Following on from this review, the Industry Investment Program will be more transparent — with clear funding bands and rationale for incremental increases.
The journey that has led to this final publication is a fantastic example of how the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries and the sporting industry can work collaboratively to solve issues facing the sector.
I want to take this opportunity to thank the industry for driving this review, and for providing your insight into how government can more effectively support the work you do delivering sport and recreation outcomes we can all be proud of.
My thanks must also go to the members of the external reference group and to the department, particularly Steve Humfrey, for facilitating this significant review.
The McGowan Government believes all sports have an important role to play in growing grassroots participation, and ensuring a social and healthy future for our State. The changes this review will bring will empower all sports to grow and drive their own future — and provide a clear and open process on how the Government will support them to do so.
Hon Mick Murray MLA Minister for Sport and Recreation
This document outlines the findings of the Strategic Funding Review involving WA’s sport and recreation industry that was initiated in March 2018 by the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries (DLGSC).
The review had been flagged by Sport and Recreation Minister Mick Murray in his Sport and Recreation Sector Briefing where he pointed out that government funding of sport should focus on essential areas that provide sport and recreation with the greatest value.
The review is the result of considerable industry consultation over the past 12 months. It aims to ensure funding decisions will be objective and fair, and there will be increased transparency in the decision-making process.
The review contains 22 findings and 12 recommendations to try to ensure the department’s funding programs are effective in supporting the industry. These findings and recommendations were endorsed in feedback from the industry at a breakfast briefing attended by the Minister in late March 2019.
The new funding model outlined by the review is more equitable, more transparent and it will ensure that smaller sports will not be overlooked or unfairly treated in the funding process.
The review’s findings and recommendations are due to be implemented in 2019-20.
In a nutshell, some 43 sports are likely to have their funding increased by a total of $756,000 in 2019-20. Another 19 sports will have their funding unchanged. A further 25 sports face a potential decrease in funding in 2020-21. However, with the opportunity for a further review process in late 2019, in some cases those sports facing a possible decrease might instead have their funding unchanged.
The Strategic Funding Review commenced in March 2018 following the release of the Minister’s Sport and Recreation Sector Briefing.
The table below summarises the milestones of this project.
Through the development of the Common Ground document, there were 22 findings developed in the following six themes:
Associated with these findings are a total of 12 recommendations — 10 relating to the department’s existing funding programs and two relating to new initiatives.
The highest supported findings were:
The highest supported recommendations were:
Key work that the department has committed to immediately includes:
A summary of the Implementation Strategy by recommendation is available to download above.
A summary of the Implementation Strategy by findings is available to download above.
Some of the 12 recommendations in the Strategic Funding Review have funding implications.
At the commencement of the review process, the anticipated outcome was a decrease in the availability of traditional funding sources. However, a net increase in funding of some $855,000 is now expected for the Industry Investment Program (IIP). While the review will result in an increase in investment into the industry, the fundamental requirements of the review were to focus on essential areas that provide sport and recreation with the greatest value and a greater balance in the funding of, exposure for and promotion of all sports big and small.
In summary:
There is also a parallel process for the consideration of the future funding of WAIS, which is also funded from the SLA.
Table 1 compares the existing IIP baseline ranges (white columns) to the proposed bands and increments recommended by the Strategic Funding Review (coloured columns).
The following section provides an overview of the funding Implications by existing Funding Program.
The Industry Investment Program has two distinct recipients — State Sporting Associations (SSA) and Industry Representative Organisations (IROs). State Sporting Associations can be funded entirely from the Sports Lotteries Account but as a result of some of the IROs being ineligible for this funding, the Industry Investment Program is funded from a mix of the Sports Lotteries Account and the Sports Wagering Account.
Previously the funding for IIP was based on a minimum and maximum value per band and the value an organisation received was based on a combination of base funding and the value of ‘roll-ins’, agreed with the department.
Roll-ins were amounts for specific projects that were in addition to the base funding and could have been for a one-off project or allowances to help develop participation and high-performance initiatives. In terms of the overall implementation strategy of the funding review, the key factor and risk is properly explaining the funding bands and increments that make up the IIP. This is the largest source of funding and this information (the categorisation tables and funding bands) has not been shared with the industry.
The recommendation of the review is to effectively stop the roll-ins and to ‘re-set’ the baseline funding levels. This provides a clear and open process and allows the recipients to understand what the next increment would be.
For sports facing a possible funding decrease, the release of this information will result in responses that will need to be addressed in a short period of time. This is best achieved by having department staff contact the Chair and CEO of the affected sport to arrange a face-to-face briefing to outline the reasons for the change and what improvements can be made. This is to maximise the sport’s opportunity to be considered for an increment increase in 2020-21.
Categorisation Tables and Funding Bands:
Classification/determination:
Overview of the changes:
The department will continue to partner Healthway for the ongoing delivery of the Targeted Participation Program. The value of the request is commensurate with the current grant of $500,000 making for a $1 million program.
The completion of the register of Sport and Recreation Agent process will increase the level of competition among applicants for Category 1 funding, which is currently $50,000 - $150,000 per application.
Active Regional Communities (ARC) grants aim to increase the opportunities for regional people to participate in sporting and active-recreational activities in regional Western Australia. It is tailored to meet the ever-changing demands and challenges of sport and active-recreation groups. It is aimed at the club level or for those groups which are not participating in the department’s Regional Organisational
The current allocation is $120,000 per annum. The proposal is to increase this to $180,000 a year.
An events funding program is being developed. The funding implications of this program have been considered within the recommendations of the Strategic Funding Review. However, the development of the details of this program will require extensive engagement with the industry.
The program is proposed to be funded for the next three financial years over 2019-22.
The funding allocation for these will need to be reviewed following the SRA process indicated above.
The funding allocation is within existing resources.
The development of the Strategic Funding Review has involved the commitment of several individuals over the last 12 months. The department would like to thank the members of the Strategic Funding Review External Reference Group: