Social Impact Assessment in Sport: Russian Context

The article is devoted to the analysis of the current practice in the assessment of Russian social projects in the field of physical culture and sports. By such projects, the authors mean initiatives aimed at solving social problems (for example, in the field of health care, education or crime reduction) through sports. Approaches to the evaluation of social projects in general, and its features for sports, in particular, are still poorly represented in the academic literature. At the same time, the reduction in funding and the relevance of choosing a limited number of initiatives from plenty will make this topic even more in demand. As a research methodology, the authors used an analysis of existing grant competitions and review of methods used by charitable organizations. In particular, the provisions of 11 competitions aimed at supporting social initiatives in the field of sports, as well as annual reports of several charitable foundations, were considered. As a result, it was found that expert models and change theory are among the most popular. Besides authors present a comparative analysis of the assessment criteria used. Foreign assessment practice is more focused on monetary models, including SROI and cost-benefit, which are not yet sufficiently common in Russia. The conducted research can be of value for organizations that implement and support social projects in the field of sports, as well as for the public sector, primarily from the standpoint of developing their own assessment methodology and substantiating the criteria used. 

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