The regional sporting organisation reported a loss of $16,779, a year after recording a $49,194 profit.
Revenue was up from $2.91 million to $3.34m, largely due to a boost in Sport New Zealand funding from $970,000 to $1.19m, but offsetting that was expenditure leaping from $2.86m to $3.36m.
Chief executive James Nation, who succeeded the long-serving John Brimble in January, highlighted the ongoing cost of living crisis and "returning to the relative norm in a post-Covid environment" as two of the challenges of the year.
Sport Otago had budgeted for a loss of $31,000, and the board approved a wage increase for staff under strain from inflationary pressures, so the moderate loss represented a "satisfactory result", Nation and chairman Jeffrey Broughton said in their combined report.
The financial performance had been alleviated by a Sport NZ Covid relief top-up grant of $50,000, they acknowledged.
Sport Otago retains a healthy overall financial position with equity of $1.43m.
Among the highlights for Sport Otago was distributing nearly $855,000 to 89 projects across the region as part of Sport NZ’s Tū Manawa Active Aotearoa Fund.
The "Voice of Rangatahi" project surveyed 1602 secondary school pupils to identify barriers to participation and opportunities to support getting youngsters active.
That is still a point of pride for Otago, which reported a physical activity rate for young people of 94%, two percentage points above the national average.
Otago is also leading the way in promoting women’s representation in sports coaching, governance, administration and coaching.
The region’s sporting clubs and boards have a committee membership rate of 51% female, compared with 44% nationally.
Most impressively, 46% of sporting boards in Otago have chairwomen, compared with just 29% nationally.
The financial challenges facing Otago families were highlighted by Sport Otago receiving as many applications for the Sporting Chance programme, which provides help for financially disadvantaged children, in just three months as it would normally get in a year.
The programme was able to deliver $49,000 to help children play sport.
Sport Otago has also been working closely with 13 regional sports trusts across the country to formalise a collaborative network, which has received funding from Sport NZ for a three-year term.
