The FMHA

16/04/2026

If you've ever lost a funding application and wondered why — it probably wasn't your club that wasn't good enough.

It was the application.

Professional organisations have impact teams. Dedicated staff who speak the language of social value, SROI, and wellbeing outcomes. Grassroots clubs have volunteers who also drive the minibus.

Proof of Play levels that. Your club gets the same evidence base, the same language, the same credibility - in ten minutes.

Free. For now. No login.
https://withinu.net/grassroots-sports-club-social-value-calculator/

16/04/2026

Unpopular opinion: grassroots sports clubs are some of the most underfunded community assets in England — not because they lack impact, but because they lack the language to describe it.

The Football Foundation, Sport England, your local NHS Integrated Care Board, your council — they all have a methodology for measuring community value. It's called social value. It uses HM Treasury and Sport England frameworks. It produces a pound figure.

The clubs generating that value often don't know the language exists.

Is that a club problem? Or is it a sector problem?

https://withinu.net/proof-of-play-social-value-tool/

Proof of Play calculates the social value sports clubs generate every week - in the language funders, local authorities and commissioners use to make decisions.

16/04/2026

Local newspapers, radio stations and council newsletters cover sport.

But "local club wins league" gets two paragraphs.

"𝗟𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗯 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 £𝟭.𝟮 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿" 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗮 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲.

𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆 produces a ready-to-send press release, tailored social media posts and a full community impact narrative. For clubs that want profile, with funders, with the council, with potential sponsors, that visibility is worth considerably more than a match report.

15/04/2026

Active Partnerships are under funding pressure.

Five-year cycles end. Sport England budgets change.

An AP that has built a licensed 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆 dashboard, with club data flowing in, aggregate social value growing and a clear evidence base for systemic impact, has something that makes the case for its own continued investment.

The tool doesn't just help clubs. It gives the AP the data infrastructure to demonstrate that it is doing what Sport England is paying it to do.

That's a survival argument dressed up as a service improvement.

15/04/2026

A grassroots football club in Bedfordshire. 444 players. Volunteers who show up every Saturday morning without a second thought.

£1.97M in social value is generated for their community every single year.

They had no idea until ten days ago.

Most clubs don't. Not because the value isn't real - but because nobody's ever put a number on it.

Proof of Play does. Ten minutes. No login. Free. For now.

What's your club worth? 👇
https://vault.thefmha.com/football-club-social-value-calculator/

15/04/2026

Schools increasingly want formal community partnerships, with measurable outcomes, not just a pitch booking.

A club that approaches a local school with a 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆 report showing youth player wellbeing value, health outcomes and community reach is presenting itself as a serious community organisation, not just a football club looking for young players.

That framing opens doors to PE partnership agreements, community use of school facilities and joint funding applications that wouldn't otherwise be available.

15/04/2026

Most grassroots clubs know their fixture list, their player numbers, and their league position.

What most don’t know is the number that shows what they’re actually worth to their community.

A few hours after seeding clubs into Proof of Play, 39 clubs had already surfaced:

£43.7M in social value
9,187 participants
1,954 volunteers

That’s the point.

Grassroots sport creates enormous value every week through participation, wellbeing, volunteering, connection and community impact - but most clubs have never had a simple way to see it, quantify it, and use it.

And when you can’t show it, it’s harder to defend it. Harder to fund it. Harder to grow it.

Proof of Play was built to change that.

Ten minutes of club data can turn into something far more useful than a form filled in and forgotten. It becomes evidence. Something a club can use in funding conversations, council discussions, sponsorship approaches and local storytelling.

Grassroots clubs have been creating this value all along.

Now they can finally see it.

https://withinu.net/proof-of-play-social-value-tool/

14/04/2026

Most grassroots clubs lose grant applications not because they don't deliver impact — but because they can't prove it. Grant panels don't reward effort. They reward evidence.

Proof of Play calculates the social value sports clubs generate every week - in the language funders, local authorities and commissioners use to make decisions.

14/04/2026

Volunteering is one of Sport England's core measurement areas, the primary value model attributes £8.6 billion in annual social value to adult volunteering in sport.

Active Partnerships are expected to support and grow volunteer capacity across their networks.

𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆 captures volunteer numbers, hours and economic value at club level and aggregates it across the AP dashboard.

For the first time, an AP can say: "The clubs in our network are supported by X volunteers contributing Y hours of economic value annually."

That's a workforce intelligence picture no AP currently has.

14/04/2026

The Public Services (Social Value) Act came into force in 2012.

It requires councils to consider social value when making procurement and planning decisions. That includes pitch leases, facility agreements, planning applications — the decisions that determine whether grassroots clubs survive.

Most grassroots clubs have never heard of it.

They're walking into those conversations without the one piece of evidence that would change the outcome.



https://withinu.net/proof-of-play-social-value-tool/

Proof of Play calculates the social value your club generates every week - in the language funders, local authorities and commissioners use to make decisions.

14/04/2026

Most County FAs offer the same services: player registration, discipline management, affiliation, training courses.

𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆 is a differentiator.

A County FA that gives its clubs a professional social value reporting tool, one that produces HM Treasury-aligned reports in ten minutes, is offering something few County FAs currently provide.

14/04/2026

Sport England's Movement Fund and related National Lottery-linked programmes prioritise inactivity reduction, barrier removal and reaching underserved communities.

Applications need to demonstrate how the project addresses these priorities, not just that activities will happen.

𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆 produces the supporting evidence: wellbeing value by age band, NHS savings, deprivation context via IMD decile, community programme reach.

For clubs in the right postcodes with the right player demographics, this is the difference between a competitive application and a weak one.