Scuders

The Scuders walking challenge is a behavioral health and sports-funding initiative developed by the Italian social enterprise platform Scuders. Its premise turns daily 5 km walks from sedentary participants into funding for local sports teams using a direct 1 km = €1 conversion model.

View deck: scuders.org/scuders_202701

Project cooperation: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/aVbVbeSrM2Y (1:15)

Expertise: https://youtube.com/shorts/l9ECgSghpBk (1:06)

Partnership: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/BbwjqcTwRmA (1:09)

Core Concept and Philosophy

Traditional fitness challenges typically attract and reward people who are already active. Scuders flips this model:

• Sedentary-Only Eligibility: The challenge explicitly recruits sedentary participants. Already-fit athletes are excluded; the baseline requirement targets individuals unable to walk 1 km in under 10 minutes.

• Walking as a Transaction: Inactivity is treated as a behavioral design problem. By tying movement directly to community impact, participants are motivated not by abstract long-term health metrics, but by generating tangible, immediate cash for their local sports teams.

Social return and economic efficiency are no longer separate goals. With one budget, they are one and the same.

How the Challenge Works

• Group Size:  Minimum group of 6 participants per project

• Daily Target: Up to 5 km per day, split into separate 1-km activities

• Pace Window: Each 1 km must be completed in under 20 minutes (verifying walking pace vs. motorized transit)

• Standard Duration: 30 days per project (up to 150 km / €150 per person, or €900 for a standard 6-person group)

• Annual Cycles: Structured into 4 longitudinal editions per year (up to 3,600 km total per group of 6 across a year)

Funding and Behavioral Design

• 100% Payout: Corporate sponsors fund the target distance pool. When a participant completes a verified kilometer, 100% of that euro goes to the sports team's project account without cuts or transaction fees taken from the walk.

• The Cost of Inaction: Payouts are not guaranteed. If a participant skips a walk, that money is permanently lost to the club rather than rolled over or automatically awarded. This creates mutual accountability between the team and the walker.

• Privacy-First Tracking: Walks are verified via smartphone GPS solely to confirm speed and completion; the platform deliberately avoids storing or displaying route maps to protect participant privacy.