Women’s sport is at a pivotal moment – the sector is growing fast, but how it grows matters. Striking the right balance between commercial success and building a more equal future for women is essential if we want a future that’s not just bigger, but better.
The Firebird Collective recognises that sport, like the arts, is a powerful cultural force. And within that, women’s sport is both an area of persistent inequality and a significant, underleveraged opportunity. That’s why Firebird made a grant to the Women’s Sport Trust (WST), which is part of a wider interconnected portfolio of investments across the women’s sport ecosystem, including equity investments in companies, investments in funds and grants.
This holistic approach to boosting the women’s sports ecosystem sets Firebird aside from a typical investor. Their approach is rooted in a single mission: to drive gender equity and justice for women and children. Every financial and philanthropic decision they make aligns with that purpose. It’s a deliberate departure from the traditional separation between investing for return and giving for impact. “What if we only invested in things that are aligned to one purpose and mission?” was the founding question. The result is a model where impact and profit are not competing goals, but interconnected outcomes.
Women’s Sport as a Strategic Priority
Firebird believes the growth and professionalisation of women’s sport has the power to shift societal attitudes towards women, making it a natural fit with their mission. That’s why over the past two years, most of their mission-aligned investing has been focused on building out a deliberately diverse women’s sport portfolio.
“Women’s sport is an incredible vehicle for change,” says Isabel Newman, Investment Director at Firebird. “And, because of the wide range of stakeholders involved in growing it, we’ve had the chance to show how mission-aligned investment can work in practice. WST was on our radar from the outset because we use their insights so much. As investors in women’s sport, we needed data-led insights, and WST brings that with depth and neutrality, which is invaluable. Firebird understood WST’s value as a strategic enabler. “Lots of data out there is coming from a narrow perspective. But WST’s work is wide-ranging and picks up on much deeper points about what moves the dial in professional women’s sport.”
Every investment or grant is made with the bigger picture in mind. The aim is to test and demonstrate different ways of entering and supporting the women’s sport sector. Crucially, Firebird’s strategy targets areas where structural barriers are limiting progress, particularly when it comes to unlocking capital.
Understanding who watches women’s sport, how they engage, and where the commercial opportunities lie is essential, not only for investors, but for broadcasters, sponsors, rights holders and teams. One of our roles at WST has been to help fill that gap.
“As investors, we need visibility into who’s watching, where they’re watching, how they’re engaging”, Isabel explains. “WST’s work in this space has helped shift the dial, not just for investors, but for everyone working to move the sector forward.”
Fuel for the Future
Firebird’s model represents something different: a form of capital that doesn’t treat social impact as an add-on but builds it into the core of every decision. Women’s sport is a powerful example of how that plays out, an area where capital can catalyse cultural change while building a commercially valuable industry.
Their decision to support WST shows how aligned capital can remove systemic barriers and unlock opportunity. It’s a clear example of how mission-led investment works in practice, and a powerful model for others to turn purpose into practice.
By supporting the work of WST, Firebird is helping to ensure that decisions across the industry are grounded in evidence rather than assumption. At the same time, their intentional investment approach across women’s sport demonstrates that it’s possible to rethink the system, proving that mission-led investing doesn’t require sacrificing return. It simply requires starting with purpose.
As a charity, the Women’s Sport Trust relies on funding partners and individual donors to drive systemic change across women’s sport. If your organisation is serious about shaping a stronger, more sustainable future for the sector, we’d love to talk. Supporting WST isn’t just a donation; it’s an investment in the future of women’s sport.
Find out more about Firebird Collective https://firebirdcollective.co.uk/