SGA impact assessment
We would love to hear your feedback.
We are undertaking our third annual impact assessment report. This helps us to understand how the sport and physical activity sector uses our services and how we can better support it.
Please get involved.
Complete the 2026 surveyDate: 4th Aug 2026
Author: Craig Beeston, Sports Governance Academy
The Sports Governance Academy is continuing to work with the technology and research company Substance to undertake an impact assessment of our activities. Last year's report gave us an exceptional insight into how the sector is receiving the SGA and what it would like to see from it in the future.
Once again, we are seeking to deepen our understanding of our reach within the governance community of the sport and physical activity sector, the extent to which our support and services meet its needs, and the impact we are having in raising governance awareness and standards across the UK sector.
Complete the 2026 survey
Objectives
The central aim of the SGA is to improve the standard of governance in sport and physical activity organisations across the UK. As part of this, we try to:
- Develop different audiences' understandings of the benefits of good governance and the role it plays in enabling performance
- Inspire and support different audiences to develop the skills and confidence to put good governance practice into action in their organisations
- Support different audiences in embedding good governance in their organisational cultures
- Connect those engaged in governance in the sector - or who are just interested in it
The impact assessment will help us understand our success in meeting these aims and direct our efforts in doing so.
The principal objectives of the exercise are:
- To analyse the effectiveness of the three core delivery strands of the SGA, both individually and collectively. These strands are:
| Knowledge | Learning | Community |
- To develop replicable measures that can be applied consistently over time to assess longitudinally how the various SGA offerings (and the project as a whole) impact the sector and its governance
We will use the findings to shape our future offerings in order to ensure that we deliver the best governance support we can to our community. The report will also contribute to shaping the longer-term future of the SGA, ensuring that the right governance support provision is in place for the sector.
Once again, the assessment will focus on three levels of impact:
| Individual |
|---|
| The development of the people who engage with us |
| Organisational |
| Governance benefits in the bodies they work or volunteer for |
| Sectoral |
| What this means across sport and physical activity |
Methodology
Substance are employing a mixed methods approach, comprising desk-based research, community surveys, case studies and focus groups to assess the ways in which we are achieving this.
We have developed with Substance and all of the Sports Councils a framework of the sector's needs, the extent of the sports governance community and desirable outcomes for the sector's governance. From this, Substance have designed for us a theory of change which provides the backdrop for the results of the impact assessment and enables us to shape our future endeavours to provide maximum benefit for the SGA community.
This year, Substance are also undertaking additional research work to find out more about the sports governance environment beyond the SGA. This will provide further understanding of the SGA's role in the wider ecosystem.
Get involved
We would really appreciate the support of the sector in carrying out this research - both those who have engaged with us or continue to do so, and those who are yet to make use of our services - and urge everyone to complete the survey below. This should take no longer than 10 minutes and will provide us with invaluable feedback.
Complete the 2026 survey
Following the survey stage, Substance will organise focus group sessions with respondents who indicate they are willing to provide more detailed input.
All data collected as part of this survey will be treated in the strictest confidence and will be used solely for the purposes of research. The data will be stored in encrypted formats on secure servers.
You do not need to provide personal name and/or contact details as part of this survey unless you indicate you are happy to be re-contacted. If you do share personal data, it will only be used for these purposes and will not be shared with any third parties.
Substance is registered as a data controller with the Information Commissioners Office (No. Z9541305) and holds ISO 27001 accreditation for information security management. Substance’s Privacy Notice can be found at https://www.substance.net/privacy-notice/.
For more information, or for support completing the survey, please email info@substance.net.
