A chance to connect with senior leaders from across sport, physical activity, health, education, local government, facilities, investment and the wider active economy before the conference begins.

Policy, Strategy and the 2027 Opportunity Landscape.

• As the sector looks ahead to new funding requirements, changing expectations and increasing pressure to deliver long-term value, this conference will ask what it will take to build a more economically sustainable, investable and impactful future for sport and physical activity.

• What local government reorganisation and devolution could mean for sport, leisure and physical activity services.

• Protecting prevention, community wellbeing and local services during a period of change.

• Developing more integrated approaches to commissioning, investment and delivery across councils, the NHS and local partners to strengthen the contribution of physical activity.

• The support and leadership councils need from national government and sector partners.

• Understand the health funding and investment landscape and its implications for nature-based interventions.

• Explore how nature-based interventions can meet investor priorities through clearer health benefits, stronger partnerships and compelling propositions.

• Consider shared investment challenges and opportunities for nature and physical activity, and how they can make a stronger case together.

• Understand how place-based decisions and local partnerships can connect nature, physical activity and health outcomes with funders’ priorities.

• Shape the next phase of collaboration to test investment approaches and build sustainable funding models for nature, health and people.

• A landscape where physical activity matters more than ever.

• Impact can drive investment opportunities.

• The power of place-based working.

• Understanding the gap in sports and leisure funding.

• Reducing costs and repositioning sports and leisure as social infrastructure. 

• Unlocking new sources of funding for sport and leisure investment. 

Served for all attendees

• Investing In Our Futures. 

• The role of leadership and professional standards in creating economic sustainability.

• Why workforce quality is an investment issue, not simply an operational issue.

• Reflecting on lessons from 35 years of community, organisational and system leadership, including ten years on Greater Manchester’s devolution journey with Greater Manchester Moving.

• Sharing insights into thinking about and working with investment differently to achieve shared goals, focusing on:

• Finding the shared mission.

• Building trust and understanding.

• Unlocking and aligning contributions.

• Bringing together leaders from Greater Manchester Moving, Active Essex and Active Cumbria, this panel will explore how national ambition, local leadership and community priorities can come together to create more active places.

• Drawing on their different experiences and contexts, the discussion will consider:

• Shaping investment around communities.

• Reaching those facing the greatest barriers.

• Shifting power and resources, including the practical challenges.

• What Active Partnerships and the wider sector need to do differently.

• Helping sport and physical activity play their full part in health, education, transport, planning and community wellbeing.

• An open conversation with the panel and audience will share practical experience, explore tensions and identify what needs to change.

Masterclass presentations offer structured, in-depth sessions that connect delegates with the tools, products, and expertise needed to implement the policies and strategies discussed throughout the event.

• Why communities with the greatest need often struggle to secure investment.

• Where strong community ideas are lost in the funding process.

• A practical test to assess investment readiness.

• What effective and scalable capacity-building support looks like.

• Evidence from Build My Bids and its impact on organisations and projects.

• How to create fairer access to investment for community-led organisations.

How investment, specialist support and stronger business foundations can help smaller sport and physical activity organisations survive, grow and increase their impact.

• The future of sport funding should increasingly involve repayable finance (loans) and enterprise support.  

• Loans have been proven to work at the volunteer, grassroots level with clubs and groups in all sorts of communities. 

• Loans can deliver 3x greater social value than the current grant-making system - and, crucially, we get the money back. Done well, they support financial sustainability and impact. 

• Pete will explain how and why this works and what we all need to do to ensure we get the investment the sector needs. 

• New evidence shows that 56% of the social value of sport and physical activity is through physical health benefits - like it or not, we are in the health business!

• The health sector works with evidence, and evidence from Sport England and Greater Manchester Active shows that value varies from £0 for the already active to £20,000 per year for those moving from inactive to active through GP exercise referral.

• With public spending constrained, evidence will have profound implications for how £1 invested in sport and activity should be invested.

• Grants can be up to x 10 more effective if they can evidence working with the inactive 25% rather than the 65% already active.

• 2-course buffet lunch

An interactive session exploring how sports and physical activity organisations can build stronger, more sustainable foundations. Delegates will share experiences, identify common barriers to growth and discuss the professional support, partnerships and investment needed to overcome them.

• What: Plan your monitoring & evaluation for compelling evidence and stories

• Who: Build your network widely and beyond your usual touchpoints.

• Why: Connect for the common good - the opportunity to harness thousands of local stories into one credible national picture.

Diversifying Income 

• What should still be grant-funded, and what should not.

• How organisations can diversify income and strengthen resilience.

• Where commissioning, earned income, investment and partnership can play a greater role.

• What realistic sustainability looks like in practice.

• What Movement for Change set out to achieve and the need it was designed to address.

• Key outcomes and lessons from supporting 79 social entrepreneurs.

• Why funding alone is often insufficient for smaller organisations.

• The importance of business support, leadership development, governance and financial resilience.

• How grants, social investment and other forms of finance can work together.

• What funders, local authorities and sector partners can do to help successful community-led ventures grow.

• The next phase of UnLtd’s work and the opportunity to build a stronger support ecosystem.

• How investment in community organisations, people and partnerships can create lasting opportunities for sport and physical activity.

• What meaningful impact looks like beyond participation numbers—and how we can build a stronger case for sustained investment.

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• Thank you for supporting the Investing In Sports and Physical Activity Conference.