Benchmark

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Benchmark sets it own social benchmark, posting a strong top-10 finish in the EB100

Since 2000, Benchmark’s mission has been clear. A resounding desire to be pioneers, catalysts, funders, educators and game changers, harnessed through the power of network and communities.

Benchmark is a parent company that has funded and developed four world-leading brands and a pioneering global foundation in sport, e-sport, wellness, sustainability and social impact. Recognising that sport had changed his life in a meaningful way, our Founder, Nick Keller, wanted to find a way to leverage sport as a mechanism for positive impact. In the year 2000, Benchmark was born.

Since then, we have created a place where people thrive, develop and lead. Just like the communities and networks we create, ‘Togetherness’ lies at the heart of the way we operate.

It began in 2001 with the launch of the first ever Sport Industry Awards to celebrate the contribution of those driving real positive change in the industry. By bringing the industry together, there was a collective realisation that we could create something unique. 22 years later, the Awards are the go-to event on the industry calendar and the largest global sports awards in the world, while championing and rewarding the industry’s best work on key topics such as purpose, diversity, inclusion, sustainability, education, and support for refugee communities.

In 2007, embedded in our mission to create communities and deliver impact through sport, we launched the Square Mile Relay: a one-mile race between teams of ten runners from blue-chip financial services firms. Sponsored by Bloomberg, and into its 15th year, the relay is now staged in 13 cities around the world, nurturing togetherness and competition through purposedriven sport. Over the last 10 years the relay has contributed $1.3m to local city-based charitable causes, including public health, climate change and education. Ahead of its time, it laid the foundations of what we now know as ‘workplace wellbeing’, has taken ‘teambuilding’ to the next level and is the definitive case study on client and employee engagement.

After 13 years in the industry, we had built an incredible network and created brands with purpose. Yet something was still missing. While we convened the industry, we were not leading it.

In 2009 Benchmark established the Beyond Sport Foundation and over the last 14 years it has led a global movement around sports and its ability, when used with intention, to drive positive social impact. Archbishop Desmond Tutu was our first patron. To date we have funded and built capacity in 480 NGOs in 100 countries and across 38 sports, and we work with some of the most recognised sports organisations in the world.

For example, Beyond Sport United is now into its tenth year of collaboration with the six biggest professional leagues in the USA: NFL, NBA, WNBA, MLB, NHL and MLS.

By the end of 2022 Beyond Sport’s grant funding will have reached almost $8m. By the end of 2023 we aim to make this $13m. We truly believe that by blending business and social impact you can deliver value for everyone.

Beyond Sport’s positive social impact encouraged us to do more.

So, in 2015, we launched thinkBeyond. Today it is the world’s leading social impact and environmental sustainability consultancy, partnering with leaders and organisations to create positive change in and through sport. Clients include Liverpool FC, The FA, NFL, Bloomberg, Unilever, The North Face, UK Sport, World Athletics, Goodwood, ESPN, and Michael Johnson.

This ability to anticipate “the direction of sport” has inspired our latest initiative. In 2017, we launched National Student Esport, an e-sport community via a 15-year partnership with British Universities that recognised the power of gaming to bring people together.