Want to know more about Yardstick programmes by type?
Find all the details about benchmarking and user surveys, or a bit more about the history of the Yardstick programme.
At Yardstick, we provide the numbers so you can get back outside!
Parks and recreation deserve better data, so we’ve made it our mission to provide it. In doing so, we enable the industry to achieve consistent standards, empowering park managers to effectively communicate improvement needs or celebrate successes with councillors and residents alike.
Why Yardstick
Decisions Made Easy
Making decisions doesn't have to be a puzzle. Rely on Yardstick for easy decision-making and more peace of mind. We've got the benchmarks you need – relevant, meaningful, and ready to roll.
Keep Up with Best Practice
Easily keep up with best practice through our external audit process each year and best practice indicators in the programme. Receive annual ‘State of Nation’ industry reports on the current years Yardstick data.
Demonstrate Your Value
All industries require evidence and hard numbers to demonstrate the value they bring to their organisation and communities. Find easy access to the numbers you need for presentations, reports and proposals.
Justify change and funding needs
Get the numbers you need to prioritise funding in the right areas. Demonstrate with data the need for more resource, or re-allocation of finances into an area of dire need.
Pivot tables not needed
Save time on your spreadsheet analysis with downloadable charts, tables and data right at your fingertips.
Find the gaps
Need to know what is working and not working with your plans and budgets? We've got your back with timely insights that make planning a breeze.
Parks user surveys made easy
We’ve done the work, so you don’t have to. We have the questions and software set up so that you can ‘plug and play’ to find out meaningful park user satisfaction data quickly. Use the software with your own team on iPads or tablets or use our in-house survey team.
Join a global community of parks people creating better data
There is only one way to get better data across our industry – sharing. Join our community of cities, districts, and municipalities who know that the way forward is together. Make connections with similar sized organisations, learn lessons from auditors who have worked with organisations across the world.
What is Yardstick?
Yardstick is a global parks and recreation best practice programme, developed by and for the industry. While the first editions of Yardstick were on paper, it now operates through a bespoke online tool, face-to-face visit from one of our Yardstick auditors, and a Yardstick survey team.
Yardstick provides two key services:
Benchmarking
An annual benchmarking programme for government agencies looking to compare to other similar sized organisations and check their progress against best practice indicators.
Our current benchmark programme covers parks. Our new recreation facilities benchmarking programme is being released in September 2025!
User Surveys
An online survey tool and question sets specifically designed for park user surveys. These can be delivered by your team or ours. The results are able to be compared against your own results as well as other participating organisations.
Our User Surveys include options for parks and recreation facilities.
Facilities Benchmarks
Learn more
Example Insights
Differences between Starter, Light and Pro memberships
What Facilities are included
User Surveys
Learn more
Standard Questions
Survey Collection Options
Types of Analysis and Reporting
Ready to go?
Sign up for any of these options
Parks Benchmarking
Facilities Benchmarking
User Surveys