Women-powered. Purpose-led. Designed to leave every partner better than before.

Built Differently: How a Women-Powered Collective Is Rewiring Sport × Social Impact

When we launched Affleck & Co., the brief was simple and ambitious: bring brilliant women together and build a consultancy that works for real life, real communities, and real outcomes. We didn’t obsess over an org chart. We focused on trust, clarity, and impact. The result is a Collective model — women-powered, purpose-led — that swaps hierarchy for fit-for-purpose teams and theatre for delivery.

Clients rarely ask for layers. They ask for people they can trust. Specialists who can flex. Work that aligns to purpose, not process. That’s what we built. And it works.

Yet the wider system hasn’t caught up. Women are starting more businesses than ever, but the funding landscape remains stubborn. Meanwhile, women’s sport is accelerating. Growth at the top; gaps at the base. The question isn’t whether women can build differently. We already are. The question is whether investment and infrastructure will match the pace — and potential — of what’s happening on the ground.

The overlooked frontier sitting in plain sight

We’re constantly told the “next frontier” is tech, AI, green energy. True — and. There’s another growth story hiding in daylight: sport × social impact. Community sport generates enormous social and economic return; women’s sport is expanding fast; and brands, funders and public bodies are finally recognising that women and girls are participants and consumers in their own right. The opportunity is obvious. What’s missing is attention — and allocation.

For investors and commissioners, this is a practical invitation: back delivery partners who are close to communities, who understand the nuance of place, and who measure value in outcomes, not overhead. If you’re hunting for sustainable growth, fund the people turning participation into possibility.

From “is it a risk?” to “this is the backbone”

Ask women about consultancy and you’ll still hear the same doubts: Will I make it work? Is the system set up for me? That hesitation doesn’t come from lack of skill or ambition; it comes from structures that weren’t designed with women in mind — from procurement hoops to childcare cliffs to financing that assumes a traditional 9–5.

What we’re seeing now is a shift. Women-led consultancies aren’t a side note; they’re becoming the backbone of impact work — closer to communities, agile in approach, experienced enough to deliver without drama. The more we remove unnecessary risk from the model, the more talent steps in and stays. That’s good for the sector. It’s good for outcomes. And it’s good for value.

Portfolio careers with intent

The portfolio career isn’t a stopgap. It’s a choice. A choice to design work around life, to own impact without hierarchy, and to prioritise purpose over job titles. In our Collective, this looks like fair day rates, shared standards, and collaboration over competition. It’s not romantic; it’s rigorous. We set minimum expectations, we hold each other to them, and we build teams around the needs of the work — not around who happens to be on a payroll.

If portfolio careers are the future (and they are), then procurement, finance, and commissioning must evolve. Right-size requirements so independents can bid. Score for local fit and outcomes. Build financial products that work for consultants. Remove the cliff-edges that push women out. When the system flexes, capability compounds.

Knowledge is infrastructure

So much progress gets stuck in people’s heads — the shortcuts, templates, and small wins that make delivery faster and better next time. Our answer is simple: treat knowledge like infrastructure. We don’t hoard it. We lay it down.

That looks like shared IP, open playbooks, learning loops between projects, and toolkits that travel — especially into grassroots environments where time and resource are tight. Sport and social impact doesn’t need twenty groups solving the same problem in twenty places. It needs one solution improved twenty times — then shared. That’s how ideas become momentum.

Representation that changes outcomes (not posters)

Representation isn’t a campaign. It’s a structure. Who’s in the room shapes what gets designed, funded, and delivered. When the people planning programmes reflect the communities they’re for — across lived experience, discipline, and background — strategies sound different, funding bids centre access, and delivery plans feel possible in real spaces.

This isn’t optics; it’s risk management. Projects land better when trust, culture and context are designed in from the start. If representation matters on the pitch, it must matter in the rooms where decisions are made.

Purpose as an operating system

For us, purpose isn’t a slogan. It’s the operating system of the Collective. We choose briefs that align to impact. We build teams around what communities need. We measure contribution, not just completion. And we leave partners more capable than when we arrived.

You can see it in the outcomes that last beyond a project end date: a club with a plan it can actually use; a school that opens doors after the pilot; a local partner with the confidence to carry on without us. That’s the point. Purpose shouldn’t make us indispensable. It should make the system stronger.

So what now?

If we want the sector to meet the moment, a few practical shifts unlock outsized returns:

• Fund closer to delivery. Back women-led partners who know place, people, and context.

• Fix procurement for independents. Open frameworks to collectives; score for outcomes and local fit.

• Finance portfolio careers. Create products that work for consultants; remove childcare and admin cliff-edges.

• Scale what works. Treat knowledge as infrastructure; fund shared toolkits and communities of practice.

• Bake representation into governance. Set expectations for who’s in the room and how decisions are made.

• Measure legacy, not just delivery. Reward the capability left behind, not just the hours logged.

This is what “built differently” looks like in practice: women-powered, purpose-led, and designed to leave every partner better than before.

Work with us

If you’re ready to invest in outcomes — not optics — we’d love to talk. We help organisations design strategies that stick, programmes that work where life happens, partnerships that create value, and measurement that tells a meaningful story.

Email: hello@affleckandco.com

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