Eighty footballers have now signed a pledge to donate 1% of their earnings to Common Goal a central fund that then allocates the money to high-impact organisations to ‘harness the power of football to advance the United Nations Global Goals’. In its first year, Common Goal has distributed $1m to 34 NGOs with a further $500k being donated in April 2019 for the first half of this year.
Founded in 2017 by Jürgen Griesbeck (who also created streetfootballworld) alongside Juan Mata, the Spanish Manchester United midfielder, Common Goal’s purpose is to ‘unite the global football community in tackling the greatest social challenges of our time’.
Common Goal is a really simple, yet effective ‘cause for good’ campaign and could easily be rolled out across other sports and sporting teams. The Common Goal members pledge a minimum of 1% of their earnings to a central fund. The charity then allocates the funds to ‘high-impact football NGOs’ – all part of the streetfootballworld network. Those that pledge can choose to select the NGOs that receive the donation and also receive regular updates on progress.
Some big names from the world of football have already signed including Shinji Kagawa (Besiktas Istanbul), Kasper Schmeichel (Leicester City), Mats Hummels (Bayern Munich), Alex Morgan (USA and Orlando Pride) and Serge Gnarby (Bayern Munich).
The high-impact organisations which receive the funds support the advance of the United Nations’ 17 Global Goals, agreed in 2015 by world leaders for ‘a better world by 2030 [and to] have the power to end poverty, fight inequality and stop climate change’.
Common Goal now wants to widen its net. As Matthew Campelli, editor of the Sustainability Report, reports, Griesbeck is eyeing transfers and television rights:
According to UEFA’s latest benchmarking report, European transfers alone hit a total of €6.4bn ($7.2bn) in 2017/18, while the largest domestic football broadcast deal, belonging to the English Premier League, was settled at £5.13bn ($6.69bn) for the three seasons from 2019.
“We would also like to see agents embed Common Goal as a value proposition for players, to have sponsors sign up, and for clubs to contribute 1% of what the fans are paying without the fans having to pay more,” Griesbeck told The Sustainability Report.
A simple collective like this is something that any rights holder could include in a partnership deal, a team to include in their employment contracts or agencies in the activation of the partnerships.
Aside from charitable element, the opportunities to inspire even wider are broad. From bringing the chosen charity to the event and activating on site, to engaging an internal employee audience around a common goal, to spreading the word through athlete engagement – the opportunities are only as broad as the imagination.
Could Common Goal, or a similar project, be woven into the brand vision going forward? Food for thought for the next brand strategy meeting.
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