How etrainu's Reporting is Helping Sports Meet Their Participation Funding Requirements

July 12, 2023

National sporting organisations (NSOs) are vital to the lifeblood of sports across Australia. They are the representatives and advocates for the development of their respective sports, from community participation to high-level performance.

NSOs manage various sporting organisations across Australia, including state sporting organisations and clubs.

Like any organisation, NSOs need funding to maintain their level of support for their sports, often from external sources. 

The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) is a key provider for these NSOs. Understanding how the ASC funding process works and meeting reporting requirements are crucial for NSOs to secure financial support. 

Let’s explore how this happens.

Who provides NSOs with funding in the first place?

The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) is the government agency responsible for developing and administering sports and sports-related activities in the country. The ASC plays a crucial role in supporting and promoting sports at all levels, from grassroots participation to elite competition.

They are also the body responsible for providing funding to NSOs across Australia.  To receive financial support from the ASC, NSOs must:

  • Be already established
  • Meet the recognition criteria from the ASC and demonstrate that they are the peak body for their sport

How do NSOs get this funding?  

For NSOs, the key to unlocking their funding is data. 

Specifically, they need to provide data on accredited and non-accredited coaches and officials in their sport as part of the ASC’s Participation Growth Funding.

Participation Growth Funding is the Australian Sports Commission’s annual investment in supporting NSOs. It aims to deliver quality participation outcomes and increase accountability within NSOs, ensuring that those involved in NSOs have the required capabilities to help promote and develop sports.

Looking back

Let’s take a look at how funding was granted previously. 

With the old system, NSOs would typically receive a notification from the Australian Sports Commission reminding them of their reporting obligations.

The NSOs would then manually compile this data and submit it using a template provided by the ASC. They would report on their coaches and officials, outlining who had accredited and non-accredited certificates/courses.

For NSOs, gathering the required data felt like pushing a boulder up a hill—it was hard work. A representative from the NSO had to collect all the data (the boulder) for the Australian Sports Commission. 

They then had to find out which coaches and officials had completed accredited and non-accredited courses (pushing the boulder up the hill). And because they tended to do this manually, there may have been inaccuracies that needed to be fixed—which took a long time (they struggled to get momentum up the hill). 

In essence, traditional data collection has been paper-based and highly labour-intensive.

Looking ahead

The Australian Sports Commission implemented a new system to cover the funding and development process.

This meant:

  1. NSOs are required to have current strategic and business plans with clear performance targets
  2. NSOs’ key performance targets will sit in one or both of these categories: 

    - Category A: Engagement (full active members)
    - Category B: Exposure (program participants; event participants; school-delivered programs; school-managed competitions; and Exercise, Recreation and Sport Survey/Australian Bureau of Statistics)
  3. NSOs are held accountable for their performance based on key performance targets
  4. NSOs must report annually by September/October
  5. Funding is provided based on performance against the NSO’s plan 

This new system means that NSOs must now provide specific information to meet the ASC’s funding requirements.

However, obtaining accurate data, particularly for non-accredited training, can pose challenges for NSOs.

That’s where etrainu comes in.

How can etrainu help NSOs get participation funding data?

Our Learning Management System (LMS) has the reporting capabilities NSOs need to provide evidence of their coaches and officials to the Australian Sports Commission. 

With the etrainu LMS, you can create and customise reports according to your individual reporting needs. Our reporting features can allow you to filter by date ranges, completion status, participant groups, and training groups.

All reports can be exported in Excel, CSV, and PDF formats.

And our platform also allows for easy integrations with partner platforms, such as revolutioniseSPORT, which helps you look after your organisation’s finances, memberships, events, etc.

We recommend using the Training Status Report to submit data to the ASC, as it allows administrators to see which learners have completed which courses throughout the year.

With the Training Status Report, you simply:

  • Select the Participant Group for which you need data, e.g. accredited coaches or volunteer coaches
  • Choose which courses they need to demonstrate their certifications
    Filter their Traingin Status to see their progress, e.g. “Complete”, “In Progress”, or “Awaiting Final Competency”
  • You can filter the reports on the specific date range, which is usually the previous financial year/financial year closing
  • You can even include additional filters to provide specific information, e.g. Gender for the number of female participants

Then, you can easily export that data by saving the report and submitting it to the Australian Sports Commission without any dramas. 

Final thoughts

Securing funding for NSOs is a multifaceted process that requires diligent reporting and compliance with the ASC’s criteria.

By leveraging etrainu’s dynamic solution, NSOs have the ability to streamline their reporting processes, provide accurate data, and boost their financial support prospects. And, as more data funnels through, it will help create a business case for more sponsorships, state investment programs, and more.

Aalia Hussein
Instructional Designer and Writer
Imaginative and inventive, Aalia is etrainu’s resident writer. She has a passion for weaving words together and storytelling. She’s in charge of etrainu’s content, creating engaging and immersive experiences across learning and marketing.
SEE MORE ARTICLES

Latest Articles

etrainu partners with Sir Graham Lowe to launch "Kick for the Seagulls - Community Coaching"

etrainu is excited to announce a new partnership with Sir Graham Lowe, marking the launch of "Kick for the Seagulls - Community Coaching".

Unpacking the Changes to NDIS Legislation

On 3 October 2024, the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) saw a number of changes come into effect.

5 Tips to Motivate Staff to Complete Training

Your staff aren’t completing the training. This is a concern that we hear from some of our customers. So what can be done? Here are our top five tips to motivate your staff about training.

Subscribe to Our Newsletter
SUBSCRIBE NOW