2023 Social Skateboarding Survey Results Are Out!

The results of the 2023 edition of the Survey of Social Skateboarding Projects Worldwide by Skateistan and the Goodpush Alliance are now published!

In 2023, we received answers from 134 skateboarding projects working in over 42 countries worldwide — who reached a combined 14,354 participants each week.

This year’s survey was available to complete in Portuguese, Finnish, French and English. A huge thank you to our translators who made that possible. If you would like to help us publish the future surveys in more languages, please get in touch.

The purpose of this annual survey — running since 2018 — is to better understand and document the aims, impact and activities of the social skateboarding world and to support social skate projects through the creation of resources, tailored trainings and access to the wider network.

In 2023, we see an increased focus on the soft skills associated with running skateboarding programs and working with (often marginalized and/or vulnerable) young people. While skateboarding still features in the top five most important skills for skate projects, the other selections emphasize the social elements of our projects: cultural understanding and respect, communication and mentoring skills, empathy and compassion from skateboard coaches.

This year, we also see the highest total combined budget of skate projects since launching the survey in 2018, demonstrating the remarkable resilience of projects returning to full strength after the challenges of COVID-19.

Overview of Key Results:

Who are the project participants?

The 134 projects combined work with approximately 14,354 participants weekly and 44% of these participants are girls
59% of projects work with people of color
57% work with the LGBTQI+ community
45% work with people with disabilities
37% work with migrants and refugees

What programs do the social skate projects offer?

74% of projects run regular skate programs (at least once every week)
48% run education/mentoring/arts workshops
47% run girls-only skate sessions
28% run LGBTQI+ skate sessions
7% run remote or online sessions

These results align with the trends we saw last year with rises across the board. Most significantly, the percentage of projects offering weekly LGBTQI+ sessions has doubled again, and the number of projects hosting girls-only sessions rose by 13%. The percentage of remote sessions has continued to decrease, which we expect to see as programs worldwide are up and running again after COVID-19 restrictions have ended.

What are the annual budgets of skate projects worldwide?

The total combined budget of all 134 projects is 12,323,500 USD. These figures suggest that after the challenging period of lockdowns and program hiatus’, social skate projects around the world have sustained themselves and even developed their programs now that they are up and running again. This is the highest total combined budget we have seen since launching the survey in 2018.

25% of projects have an annual budget of 5,000 USD or less
22% have an annual budget of 5,000-20,000 USD
12% have a budget of 20,000-50,000 USD
12% have a budget of 50,000-200,000 USD
7% have a budget of 200,000-1million USD
3% have a budget of more than 1million USD
19% of projects do not know their annual budget

Some projects who wrote ‘do not know’ commented that their project is in its initial stages, that they are currently applying for funding, or that they operate relying on small amounts of self-funded donations/donations from parents and friends.