Diversifying Revenue Starts With What You Already Own

Asset first revenue model

Across the sport and recreation sector, the same question keeps coming up:

“How do we diversify our revenue and improve our long-term sustainability?”

Funding is more contestable. Costs are rising. Participants have more choice than ever.

So it’s understandable that boards and CEOs feel pressure to “find new revenue streams” or “be more commercial”.

The problem is, that pressure often sends organisations straight to the wrong starting point:

• What brand-new product could we launch?

• What big new partnership do we need?

• What should we copy from another sport or club?

Those questions can be useful later. But they’re not the best place to begin.

A far more practical starting point is simpler:

What do we already own – and how could we create more value from it?

That mindset shift alone can unlock a very different set of options.

Step 1: Understand What You Already Own

Most sport and recreation organisations are sitting on a bundle of assets and advantages that are visible operationally, but invisible commercially.

Think about your organisation through this lens:

• Facilities and venues

  Playing fields, courts, clubrooms, gyms, aquatic centres, storage spaces, meeting rooms.

  
  

• Brand and community trust

  Decades of presence, club identity, local goodwill, recognition with councils and schools.

  
  

• Participation base and member network

  Members, casual participants, volunteers, alumni, parents, supporters, life members.

  
  

• Coaching expertise and program IP

  Training programs, curricula, junior development models, inclusion initiatives, competitions.

  
  

• Relationships with government, schools, funders, partners

  Local governments, schools, health agencies, sponsors, community organisations.

Individually, none of these feel especially exciting. Together, they are your competitive advantage.

From a revenue perspective, the key question isn’t “what don’t we have?”

It’s: are we fully leveraging what we do have?

Step 2: Look for Adjacent Revenue Opportunities

Once you’re clear on your assets, you can start asking better strategic questions.

Not “what radical new business can we be in?” but:

How could we use what we already do, in slightly different ways, for slightly different people?

Some examples:

Use facilities as a 7-day asset

• Are your facilities largely used in evenings and weekends?

• Could you activate off-peak times with social formats, schools programs, older adult sessions, or community hire?

The goal isn’t to overload volunteers, but to identify 1–2 realistic ways to use your physical assets more often or at higher value.

Package existing programs for new buyers

Your current programs are often designed “for members”. But with small tweaks, they can become offers for:

• Local governments (e.g. activation programs, inclusion initiatives, social sport)

• Schools (before/after-school sport, skill programs, leadership development)

• Workplaces (wellbeing, team-building, social competitions)

You’re not inventing something from scratch; you’re re-packaging what you already do for a different customer.

Create premium or add-on experiences

Not everything has to be “all-inclusive”. Some members will happily pay for:

• Small-group or advanced coaching

• Special clinics or masterclasses

• Game-day experiences, events or camps

• Access to extra content, support or services

The key is to design these in a way that adds value, not takes away from the core offer.

Leverage coaching and program IP

Many sports have developed great program models – for juniors, women and girls, inclusion, or talent pathways.

Could these be:

• Licensed or white-labelled to other clubs or regions?

• Delivered as training or consulting to schools, LGs, or partner organisations?

• Shared as part of a funded project or partnership?

Again, this isn’t about turning into a consulting firm – it’s about recognising the value of your know-how.

These kinds of “adjacent moves” sit close to your core. They’re usually lower risk, easier to test, and more culturally acceptable in a member-owned NFP than big, speculative ventures.

Step 3: Apply a Simple Suitability Filter

Even when you’re building from existing assets, not every idea is a good idea.

Before you invest serious time or money, run each opportunity through a simple filter. This doesn’t need a 30-page business case – just a structured conversation.

Ask:

1. Mission Fit

   • Does this clearly support participation, community, wellbeing or member outcomes?

   • Or does it feel like a distraction from why we exist?

2. Strategic Fit

   • Does it build on our strengths – our facilities, brand, programs, relationships?

   • Or does it drag us into an area where we have no real advantage?

3. Capability

   • Do we have the skills, systems and people to deliver this?

   • If not, can we sensibly build or buy that capability at our scale?

4. Risk & Complexity

   • What could realistically go wrong – financially, reputationally, operationally?

   • Is that downside manageable for a volunteer-led, member-owned NFP?

5. Financial Profile

   • After a reasonable set-up period (say 1–3 years), can this generate meaningful surplus, not just break even?

   • How dependent is it on one buyer, one grant or one partner?

6. Stakeholder Acceptability

   • How will members, local government, partners and staff perceive this?

   • Will they see it as aligned with our mission, or as “mission drift”?

You don’t need a perfect score on every dimension.

But if an opportunity rates well on mission fit, strategic fit and risk – and shows realistic financial potential – it’s probably worth shortlisting for a small, time-bound pilot.

Step 4: Pilot, Learn, Then Scale (If It Works)

The final step is cultural as much as technical.

Rather than expecting every new idea to become a big success immediately, frame it as a pilot:

• Define a clear time window (e.g. 6–12 months).

• Set simple measures of success (participation numbers, surplus, partner feedback).

• Capture what you learn along the way – what worked, what didn’t, what you’d change.

If it works, you can refine and scale.If it doesn’t, you’ve bought learning at a controlled cost – and can move on smarter.

This mindset takes the pressure off “getting it perfect” and makes it easier for boards and CEOs to back sensible experimentation.

You Don’t Need to Reinvent Who You Are

Diversifying revenue doesn’t have to mean abandoning your identity or taking wild commercial risks.

For most sport and recreation organisations, the best new revenue opportunities will come from:

• Seeing existing assets with fresh eyes

• Making adjacent moves closer to your core

• Applying a simple, strategic filter before you commit

• Testing ideas through low-risk pilots rather than big bets

You don’t have to reinvent who you are to grow commercially. You can start by looking closer to home – at what you already own – and using it in a more deliberate, strategic way to support your mission for the long term.