Bean Research was commissioned by Wembley Stadium Foundation (WSF) to independently evaluate the first year of its Anyone Can strategy, a three-year commitment to tackle the barriers that stand between young people and opportunities in sport, movement and the arts, and to widen who gets to feel Wembley is theirs.  

WSF’s funding spans sport, movement and the performing arts, from seven multi-year strategic partners to place-based community grants in Brent, kit giveaways for grassroots teams and stadium visits for young people who had never set foot inside Wembley. 

We took time to deeply understand each of the funded programmes, the outcomes they were delivering and the contribution of WSF’s funding, endorsement and wider support to those outcomes. Drawing on partner monitoring data, interviews with funded partners and people supported, and contribution analysis, the evaluation identified cross-cutting barriers WSF’s funding was reducing, reported on the resulting participation of young people, and the positive outcomes of this participation on young people, and the people and communities around them.  

The findings were published in WSF’s first Anyone Can Impact Report, and used to shape WSF’s next strategy, evolving how it uses the power of Wembley Stadium for maximum benefit for people and communities. 

Bean is now building on this work as WSF’s funding portfolio widens, working alongside WSF through the launch of the WSF Communities Fund in the build-up to UEFA EURO 2028.