We've continued our partnership with ActiveXchange to better understand, measure, and grow our positive social impact across the community.
Using real-time data, the ActiveXchange Social Value Report evaluates the social value generated by our leisure programs - which helps us tailor services to meet evolving community needs and deliver meaningful outcomes.
What is Social Value?
Social Value is a predictive model that monitors the activity of our members at Yarra Leisure facilities over time. It establishes the relative health, education, productivity and drowning prevention savings to the community from the continued participation of our members.
The report found that for the financial year 2024-25, our three leisure centres contributed an impressive $11.5 million in community savings. This highlights the value and impact of our programs on public health, wellbeing, and safety.
What are the key indicators?
The ActiveXchange Social Value Model assesses a broad range of indicators including reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, breast and bowel cancer, type 2 diabetes, and dementia as well as mental health improvements, increased productivity, and health system savings.
Key outcomes
This year's report revealed the following key trends:
- Learn to Swim continues to be our leading contributor to social value, contributing over $3.32m in community savings by reducing drowning risk. This highlights the importance of aquatic safety and education.
- The categories "Improved Educational Outcomes" and "Mental Health Benefits - Affected Disorders" accounted for nearly two thirds of the total social benefit achieved by our leisure facilities and programs.
How do we compare with other facilities?
When compared with benchmarked, like-for-like sites with similar program and facility offerings, our leisure centres achieved outstanding results.
Collingwood Leisure Centre exceeded the top benchmark across the categories of Acute, Chronic, Savings Per Person and Total Social Value.
Fitzroy Swimming Pool also surpassed all benchmarks (except Learn to Swim as the program is seasonal) achieving over $500k in community savings.
Richmond Recreation Centre performed similarly, exceeding Total Social Value of $4.2m. This is an impressive $1.1m more than the highest benchmark group.
How will we use this data?
We'll continue using insights from the Social Value Report to guide our programs and ensure we're building a healthier, safer, and more equitable community for all.
