Every child should be active

Vision

Sport and games are an important part of a child’s proper, healthy development. Exercise is every bit as important as learning to read and write. It is for good reason that the right to sport and play is ensconced in the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child.
In reality, however, children all over the world are playing less and becoming less active – including children in the Netherlands. Participating in sport and games makes children happier.

Strategy

Since 2014, the Cruyff Foundation has been working with the OGSM method (Objective, Goals, Strategies, Measures) as a management tool. The overall OGSM is: the Cruyff Foundation gets significant numbers of children in the Netherlands, Spain, and the UK active by pursuing and propagating winning projects both internally and externally. Building on this overall OGSM, each department makes its own OGSMs designed around the same principles. Throughout the year, the OGSMs are reviewed in weekly team meetings where we evaluate whether we are on track to meet the objectives and, if not, where we need to adjust the approach to do so.

Impact on society 

Today, the Foundation’s work is more relevant to society than ever. Because by getting children and young people active, and keeping them active, the Cruyff Foundation is making a positive contribution to four major issues facing society today:

Core values

An active world is a better world. This is the fundamental philosophy of the Cruyff Foundation.
The core values that the Foundation adheres to are:

Professional

Wherever possible, combining our own knowledge and experience with external expertise. Improving our performance depends on independent evaluations and analyses.

Effective

The Cruyff Foundation is a practical and small-scale organisation dedicated to achieving objectives. Effectiveness is a top priority. In 2015, we decided to increase our focus in the 19 countries in which we are active. As part of this, as of 2016 we identify specific objectives in each country.

Connecting

Cooperation is the guiding principle in all that the Foundation does; by connecting, we can achieve more. We make these connections with a wide range of other groups, like sports teams, other foundations, associations, local authorities, and, of course, corporate partners.

Different

The choices that the Cruyff Foundation makes to achieve its objectives are all its own. That sense of originality is sometimes expressed in the choice of project, and sometimes in the working methods. 

Catching

Sporty and enthusiastic are the hallmarks of the Foundation. On the Open Day, the people of the Foundation’s partner organisations come out and get active as volunteers. These words describe the approach we use to get people excited about what we do and achieve objectives.

Strengths and weaknesses analysis of the Cruyff Foundation

Impact

It is vital to show what we are doing and what we are achieving with our funding: for example, the outdoor sports days in which non-disabled children and special education students come together to do sport, the Cruyff Court for use by girls and boys, the family weekend, or the large numbers of children active on a Schoolyard14. We take every opportunity to show the world the impact of our work. We can do this most clearly by documenting the qualitative and quantitative aspects of what we do. Our goal is to make the social impact of our work as clear as possible to all. 

CSR

Corporate Social Responsibility is a process on which the Cruyff Foundation wishes to make ongoing progress. CSR must become an integral part of all the processes in our work.

Sustainability begins with people. This is the essence of the activities of the Foundation: activating young people, and giving them an active role in society wherever possible, from helping young people with disabilities to discover their talents and learn self-confidence to enabling young people in the cities get active for people in the community through the Cruyff Foundation Community Program (Heroes of the Cruyff Courts).

But attention to our own people is also part of CSR. The Cruyff Foundation gives its staff a high level of responsibility, and encourages them to grow and get the most out of their talents. We give our people the opportunity to take courses and training as part of a longer-term development plan agreed in consultation with the employee. We provide good working conditions, and employees have an input on our policy. We encourage our employees to lead an active and healthy lifestyle. They can exercise and do sport twice a week during work time, and can take advantage of our commuter bike scheme.
The Foundation offers a number of work placements every year.

Our volunteers are an essential part of our organisation. They are selected through a process of close collaboration with our recruitment & selection partner In Person. We look at a person’s preferences and capacities to make sure that we put the right ‘player’ in the right place. Volunteers are given real responsibility, and when they prove suitable, can take on a more pivotal role.

Financially, the Foundation is transparent regarding its costs and revenues. The goal is to channel as much money to the causes as possible, while incurring the minimum possible expenses, year after year. We promote cost consciousness on the part of our employees and volunteers. We have always met and exceeded the conditions required for the CBF (Central Bureau for Fundraising) quality mark.

The Foundation has a sustainable procurement policy.

ANBI (Public Benefit Organisation)

The Dutch tax authorities have designated the Cruyff Foundation as a Public Benefit Organisation. This means that donations to the Foundation are tax-deductible.

Complaints

In accordance with the requirements established by the CBF, the Foundation has a complaints procedure in place. In 2015, the Foundation received twenty-one complaints, on issues including noise or other nuisance, the location of a planned Cruyff Court, and confusion on the rules/organisation of the national Cruyff Courts 6vs6 tournament.
 All submitters of a complaint receive a response. The complaints are incorporated into evaluations as constructive criticism. Naturally, our goal remains to prevent complaints, because our policy is that any complaint is one too many.

Risk management

The Cruyff Foundation is very much aware that anyone working with other people’s money carries a huge amount of responsibility. The foundation is a learning organisation and works to improve constantly. Process descriptions are updated regularly, partly on the basis of the findings of audits by the management team or independent auditors.

Process monitoring
The basis for the Cruyff Foundation working method is set out in the annual work plans that are approved by the management. The OGSMs described above are incorporated into these work plans. They describe in detail the objectives and the way they should be achieved. They also list the points for improvement from the previous year.
The procedure for all projects is set out in a protocol, which contains a number of set points for verification and evaluation. Clear objectives are formulated in advance for each project. Once a project is approved, interim reports are drafted, and any interventions or adjustments necessary are carried out.
The projects that receive multiyear support are required to produce and submit detailed reporting twice per year. They are also required to submit annual financial reporting including all underlying documentation/receipts. Projects that receive over €25,000 per year are also required to submit an audit statement.

Financial risks
The budget assumes a balance between income and expenditures. This was by no means a given in the years that the economy was not doing well. The Foundation now practises more rigorous financial control by making a bigger distinction between incidental and structural revenues. Along with this, the Foundation is devoting its efforts more towards fundraising activities.
Expenses are evaluated by the strictest of standards, and wherever possible efficiency is increased even further. The number of employees has been stable for many years.
The Foundation maintains a reserve to keep the achievement of the objectives from being jeopardised by difficult economic times.

Risks in internal organisation

Changes in the organisation
Seven of the fourteen employees on the team are new, including the director. This had an impact on the fundraising activities in particular, as a result of which not all of the set objectives were achieved. Further, a number of changes in the organisation were made: a management team was established, and marketing was placed under communications at the end of 2015. Before that time, all marketing activities were in the hands of the fundraising team.

Internal communication
In order to keep costs low, the Cruyff Foundation does a lot with a minimum number of personnel. This can ultimately cause internal communication to suffer. In order to keep all employees on top of everything that’s going on, we are working towards a better consultation structure and improved reporting in the database. More active internal communication increases our efficiency and effectiveness, and helps us enhance each other’s strengths through knowledge-sharing.

Risks in partnerships
The Cruyff Foundation works with a large number of partners, partly because we are convinced that teamwork produces better results, and partly because the Foundation needs all the help it can get to reach every child and get them exercising, but wants to do so with only a minimum of staff increases.
A project stands or falls on the quality of the partners. Partners and potential partners are selected very carefully, and image does play a role in this process.
Abroad, the professionalism of the partners is not something that can always be assessed, and in terms of quality, there is room for improvement.

Image risks
There have been a few cases of complaints concerning nuisance received from residents in the immediate vicinity of Cruyff Courts. Although this does not fall within the Foundation’s liability, this does tarnish the Foundation’s image. Detached or fading Schoolyard14 coatings can also detract from our good name and reputation. We try to minimise this risk to the extent possible in our selection of material, in close consultation with our supplier.

Risks posed by government budget cuts

Municipalities are responsible for the maintenance of the Cruyff Courts and the activities that take place on them. These are things that budget cuts can put under pressure, and that would reflect negatively on the Cruyff Foundation.