What is a Key Result Area?

In the context of strategic planning, 'Key Result Areas' are areas of business operations where it is profoundly important to achieve results.

For non-profit Sport organisations, typical Key Result Areas would include:

Membership - The number of people who sign up and pay a fee to become a member of the organisation so that they can access the facilities, programs and services offered by the organisation. It is usually the case that Sport organisations want to ensure that the number of members stays within an upper and lower limit. A sport organisation can suffer major problems if the membership is too high or too low.
Coaching - This is a Key Result Area because sport organisations need coaches to offer basic services to the membership. It is not only the number of coaches that is important but, very importantly, the skills and abilities of the coaches to provide quality programs. Generally, when coaches are highly skilled, membership increases as participants are attracted to the organisation. When the standard of coaching service is less than expected, people move away from the club.
Funding - It is often the case that sport organisations rely on commercial sponsorship and government grants to maintain or improve the quality of services offered to the membership. This reliance on money coming into the organisation from outside is because organisation management committees are often cautious and reluctant to increase membership fees and other charges levied on members. Government grants are typically sought to develop improved facilities and commercial sponsorship is often needed to run athlete development programs or club teams.
Facilities - A very crucial key result area that is often partially overlooked. People who participate in sport, at any level, take delight in high quality facilities e.g. good playing surfaces, clean and tidy change rooms and amenities, floodlighting (of outside), air-conditioning (if inside), social areas, safe areas for children, etc.
Volunteers - As anyone who has experience in the management of a sport organisation knows, the existence of a highly committed cohort of volunteers is extremely important to the success of the organisation. Volunteers are needed for the management committee, canteen, coaches, referees, event organisers, and on special occasions when the club has need for workers.
Events - Many sport organisations would simply have a season of rostered matches on a weekly basis. But other organisations need to specifically organise events for particpants at all levels within the club. Such events are much more complicated that the simple weekly rostered match and require significant planning, financing, promoting, and organising. Events is a Key Result Area because the sport organisation has to devote much time and energy to their success.
Athlete Development / Team Achievement - It is often the case that a sport organisation must invest resources in achieving success in nurturing athletes to a high performance level, or ensuring the success of the number 1 team in the club. If a sport organisation is not competitive, or is less competitive that neighbouring organisations, there is likely to be an effect on the number of members.