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Explore British Racing’s Directory of Community and Education Activity…


The Directory maps nationwide activities from over 130 organisations that are harnessing racing’s assets to help people develop skills, increase physical activity and create a more diverse and inclusive sport.

Email lucy@racingtogether.co.uk to add your organisation or retrieve your login details.

Industry Survey: Community Engagement and Education

Showcasing Racing’s Positive Impact – Introduction

Racing prides itself on its contribution to the wider communities in which it is based. In 2019, the sport donated to almost 300 charities, representing a range of causes, including equestrian, educational, health and wellbeing. The COVID-19 crisis has seen racing people help distribute food and open up racecourses as testing-centres to support the national effort.

As racing, we want to tell the story of our involvement with, and the benefit we bring to communities. We want to engage local and national audiences in our sport by highlighting the stories that illustrate this work, and to inspire even more activity nationwide.

Above: Read Racing Together’s 2019 publication detailing just some of racing’s community engagement and education activity.

Above: Watch Diana Cooper, Strategic Advisor – Charities for Godolphin speaking about this project during the 2020 Darley Stallion Parade.

Help us to see the full picture

Attracting and engaging young people, as the racing fans and staff of the future is a key priority of the sport. Being good and welcoming neighbours to our communities underpins a healthy future for racing and its role in educating the widest audiences about the place of horses in our national life.     

The first part of this work, which involves Racing Together, Godolphin, the Racing Foundation and industry leaders, is to distribute a questionnaire that will provide a full picture of all the charitable and community work underway.  It will also provide each recipient with an audit of their own activity engaging local communities. Information is sought about work in the following type of areas:

  • Young people and education (including links with schools and the education system)
  • Equestrian and horse-related (e.g. Riding for the Disabled, open days)
  • Health and well-being, supporting physical and mental health and accessibility (e.g. charitable partnerships; hosting Parkrun or other running events)
  • Older people, running bespoke events or year-round initiatives in the community
  • Inclusion and engagement of diverse local communities
  • There are other types of activity that benefit others and we’d like to capture everything. 

A directory from you and for you

We aim to complete this work by the Autumn, when the directory questionnaire findings will be collated and shared with those who have taken part. Combined the information will help quantify the industry’s social impact, and to identify and share what works well. The findings will be used to make the case for racing’s valuable role.

In line with the current work of Racing Together, we believe there is a great opportunity to coordinate and share as much activity and as many ideas as possible, to maximise the number of people – of all ages and from all communities – upon whom racing can have a positive effect. 

A first industry-wide directory

The questionnaire will ask participants to list and provide information about any community or education initiatives in which they’re involved – it will be managed through a simple and accessible online survey tool. Our request is simple: Please fill it in, and encourage anyone you know to do the same.

What do we want to find out and how can it help tell racing’s story?

  • What’s actually going on around every part of our industry?
  • Who’s benefiting from these activities?
  • What have we learned about what works best, and what’s difficult to do?
  • Who organises the activity on behalf of racing?
  • What kind of help would benefit you most? (e.g. use of social media, tax advice, IT etc.)
  • What capacity and willingness might there be to do more, for example, by supporting a new event to celebrate the place of horses in our sport?

This directory questionnaire for racing will be the most comprehensive ever and will help us to answer these questions.

Thank you for what you already do for our communities and in advance for kindly supporting this directory questionnaire. The link to the questionnaire is below.

Privacy

You can view the privacy policy for this work here.

Further Information

For further details, please contact Lucy Gurney lucy@racingtoschool.co.uk


FAQ’s

What’s Happening?

A Directory is being compiled, which will showcase the work that Racing people and organisations across Britain are doing to boost education and community development.

Who’s Behind This?

A partnership comprising Racing Together, The Racing Foundation and Godolphin are co-ordinating the compilation of the Directory.

Why are we Doing This?

To create a source of information and inspiration for people in the industry, and to open the eyes of others to the scale and value of our contribution.

Why Now?

We all want a thriving future for our industry, and we are all experiencing the pressures and threats created by Covid-19. Showcasing racing’s contribution can raise morale within our industry and attract support from outside. We want this Directory to be part of racing’s recovery.

Who Benefits?

It is great that individual projects and organisations can get additional attention, but ultimately the whole industry will benefit.

How and When will the Directory be visible?

The Directory will be published on the Racing Together website and available to everyone. The aim is to launch it in Autumn 2020.

What’ Support and Input are we looking for?

If you are involved in a community engagement or education project, please complete the Questionnaire. If you are not, please encourage others to do so.

Who should complete the Questionnaire?

If the person completing the Questionnaire has access to the right information, it should not take more than a few minutes to complete the Questionnaire. We don’t expect everyone to be able to answer all the questions but encourage you to provide as much information as you can.