Introduction
Community Sport Insight ("CSI", "we", "us", or "our") provides benchmarking and insight services designed to support grassroots sport. This privacy policy explains how we collect, use, and protect information gathered through surveys and related activities.
CSI exists to help turn grassroots sport data into practical insight that benefits the people running clubs every week — while also supporting governing organisations with better evidence and visibility. Trust and responsible data handling are central to the CSI approach. We will only ever collect what is necessary, handle it carefully, and use it in the ways described here.
Our data principles
Before the detail, here are the three core commitments that underpin everything CSI does with data:
Core commitments
- Club data is never published at club level. Individual responses remain confidential.
- Club data is never shared with governing organisations without explicit permission from the club.
- Insight shared with governing bodies is always aggregated, so that individual clubs cannot be identified.
Who we are
Community Sport Insight provides benchmarking, analysis and insight services for grassroots sport. We work with clubs, county governing bodies, and other sport organisations to turn survey data into practical, evidence-based insight.
CSI acts as the data controller for survey information collected as part of its research and insight activities.
Contact: leo@communitysportinsight.co.uk
What data we collect
CSI mainly collects organisational data about clubs rather than personal data. The survey is designed to understand a club's situation, not to gather information about individual people.
Examples of the organisational information we collect include:
- Participation and membership information (player numbers, junior and women's participation, team structure)
- Club finances and income sources (income, costs, reserves, financial pressures)
- Facilities and infrastructure (ground ownership, pitch condition, changing provision)
- Volunteer capacity and governance (committee size, recruitment, succession)
- Operational challenges and current pressures
- Development plans and priorities
Where personal data is provided — for example, the contact details of a club representative completing the survey — it is only used for communication directly related to the survey or the resulting insight reporting. It is not used for marketing or shared with third parties.
How we use the data
Data collected through the CSI survey is used to:
- Analyse trends and patterns across participating clubs
- Produce tailored insight reports for individual participating clubs
- Produce aggregated insight reports for governing organisations, foundations, and other stakeholders
- Support evidence-based decision making at club, county, and national level
We do not use survey data for advertising, direct marketing, or any commercial purpose outside of the insight services described above.
Legal basis for processing data
Under UK GDPR, CSI processes data on the following legal bases:
- Legitimate interests — to analyse and produce insight that supports grassroots sport sustainability and evidence-based decision making.
- Consent — through voluntary survey participation. By completing and submitting the survey, clubs consent to their responses being used in the ways described in this policy.
Where personal data is processed — for example, contact details of a survey respondent — we rely on consent and the legitimate interest of delivering the insight service that the respondent has requested.
Data storage and security
CSI takes appropriate steps to protect the information it holds. Survey data is collected using secure digital survey platforms and analysed using trusted analytics tools.
Access to survey data is restricted to those directly involved in delivering the CSI insight service. Reasonable technical and organisational measures are used to protect data against unauthorised access, loss, or disclosure.
While no system can be completely secure, we take the security of club data seriously and will notify relevant parties promptly in the event of a data breach that poses a risk to individuals.
Data retention
CSI retains survey data only for as long as necessary to:
- Deliver club insight reports
- Maintain benchmarking datasets that allow comparison over time
- Support ongoing analysis of trends across the grassroots sport sector
Where possible, data used for longer-term benchmarking and trend analysis is retained in aggregated or anonymised form, so that individual clubs cannot be identified from the retained dataset.
If a club requests deletion of its data, we will remove individually identifiable responses as soon as is reasonably practicable, subject to any legal or operational obligations to retain certain records.
Your rights
Under UK GDPR, individuals and organisations have rights in relation to their personal data. These include the right to:
- Access — request a copy of the data we hold about you
- Correction — ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data
- Deletion — request that we delete your data, where appropriate
- Objection — object to certain types of processing, including processing based on legitimate interests
- Restriction — ask us to restrict how we use your data in certain circumstances
- Withdrawal of consent — if processing is based on consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time
To exercise any of these rights, please get in touch directly:
leo@communitysportinsight.co.uk
We will respond to all requests as promptly as possible and in any event within the timeframe required by applicable law.
Changes to this policy
This privacy policy may be updated from time to time to reflect changes in how CSI operates or changes in applicable law. The latest version will always be available on the CSI website.
Material changes to the policy will be communicated to clubs and organisations that have participated in CSI surveys where we hold contact details to do so.
Contact
If you have any questions about this privacy policy, how your data is handled, or wish to exercise any of your rights, please contact us:
Community Sport Insight