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Attracting a Grant to Fund Your Sports Club

By: Jennifer Lowe - Updated: 26 Sep 2022 | comments*Discuss
 
Funding For Sports Local Sports

There are grants available in all different forms, from equipment to scholarships, so it is worth checking out what you are eligible for.This sum of money is given to cover part of the costs involved in the sports project and in the majority of cases doesn't have to be paid back providing all the conditions are adhered to.

Grants Available & Where To Find Them

There are a variety of grants available from a range of sources, such as the government, the European Union, local authorities and agencies and even charitable organisations.The Community Investment Fund is the National Lottery funding available from the nine regions of Sport England (formerly Sports Council for England).

Sport England funds projects that help people get involved in sport and physical activity. The money received can be put towards refurbishment costs, the building of new facilities, or used to develop activities that improve help and education within local communities.

There is, however, a very complex application process for this form of funding, and the final decision is made by the Sport England Board. This is mainly because of the large amount of money being given, the minimum grant being £10,000.

Sports England is also committed to developing sports nationwide, and as a result of this, there is a national investment grant available to those who are eligible.The national investment is designed to inject funding into sports that are governed nationally, subject to a business plan, and have other investment partners.

Stages of Application

If you are thinking of applying for one of the grants from Sport England, then you should be prepared for a process that is broken down into two stages.The firstly stage is known as the Enquiry Stage, which looks into how the project conforms with Sport England's main goals.

At this stage you will be required to provide information about your project so that it can be compared to the criteria and objectives.Your project can be rejected at this stage if it does not meet these criteria. However, if it is accepted, then it will go on to stage two - the Full Application.

At this stage you will have a personal adviser that is there to help you through the process. They are also there to help with establishing key relationships with other bodies within the local area, such as the Community Sports Network.

SportsAid

SportsAid has a key role in the development of sports in the UK. As a registered charity for sports people, their aim is to help young athletes to succeed in their chosen sport on a professional basis. They are the first charity to offer this form of service to Britain's young sports people and, in particular, offer a helping hand to those families that find it financially difficult to support their child's sporting talent.

The main difference SportsAid has over scholarship schemes and national training schemes is that it doesn't go talent spotting. Instead, a persons mentor, coach or peers can nominate them for the award.

So, lets get down to business. Whilst SportsAid do offer some financial help, they don't have enough funds to allow the athletes to go full-time in there chosen sport. What they offer is a way to ease the financial pressure parents or legal guardians are facing when they have to provide their youngster with equipment or entry to various competitions.

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Hi there, I am enquiring on behalf of the gliding club I belong to. We having a thriving membership of around 100 people with an age spread of 14 - 93 but we are lacking the opportunity to offer flying in gliders to disabled or more infirm people. We wondered if there are any suggestions how we could gain grant money to purchase a new sailplane with disabled controls to enable our club to offer this to a wider range of people. We are a community amateur sports club (CASC) but lack the expertise to gain grants for this sort of thing. Any advice welcome.
GS - 26-Sep-22 @ 2:09 PM
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Auntydad - 24-Aug-22 @ 9:21 AM
Hi I am the chairman of a junior league football club that are struggling to afford a place to train and play games it would be helpful as we don’t want to discourage the children from playing football and some of the children have played for the club for 5 years so it is a difficult time for us all right now thanks
A - 20-Aug-22 @ 5:09 PM
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grumpy - 13-May-21 @ 6:01 PM
Hi, To get back to netball meeting the covid 19 new rules and restrictions, we are looking for a fund of £350 to purchase additional equipment such as bibs, and balls as we are not allowed to share.Our club has suddenly had a massive influx of new people who are so enthusiastic to play, many for the first time since school, we don't want to discourage them.We are currently covering the costs of all the additional hand sanitiser, wipes and other paraphernalia etc that is needed to run the club. Do you know of how we can apply for any small grants to help towards these additional costs? Many thanks.
Millie - 23-Oct-20 @ 6:06 PM
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Ten men - 28-Sep-20 @ 11:13 PM
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PRESCOT MUAYTHAI ACA - 13-Jul-20 @ 2:08 PM
I am fund raiser for my bowls club in Buckingham and I am looking for funding for major repairs to our clubhouse.The foundations and roof need urgent attention and I have been searching for funds to help cover the extensive costs.Are there any funds which would assist?
Hoppy - 3-Jul-20 @ 12:53 PM
Hi, I am the chairman of an adult Football Clubthat concentrates in keeping lads in football once they have left the under 18s and focuses on keeping them in the game by introducing them to full Amateur saturday league football. We have a new 2nd team and were looking for funding to help with those costs of a new 2nd team and we also have a project in mind to buy our own land and develop a local run sports club and join up with our local towns ladies team.
Sprucey - 3-Jul-20 @ 12:51 AM
Hi Mr Fraser, my name is Arthur Parker and I am a Committee Member & Vice President of Victoria Bowling Club Est 1887, Torrance, East Dunbartonshire. We would like to know where we could obtain a grant for making our full club facility wheelchair friendly including ramp entrances to the cluband rear ramp emergency exit. The rear access point would need repaved for safety reasons and to meet health and safety criteria. Lastly we need the installation of four ramps all around the green, we also would need especially adapted wheelchairs for lawn bowls. Looking forward to your reply. Kind regards, Arthur Parker Vice President
Victoria Bowling Clu - 21-May-20 @ 7:39 PM
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Ed - 12-Mar-20 @ 2:43 PM
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Merv - 4-Mar-20 @ 2:54 PM
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Kungfulisa - 20-Feb-20 @ 10:04 PM
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Robbo - 16-Feb-20 @ 11:21 AM
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Al - 11-Feb-20 @ 8:16 PM
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Tricia - 4-Jan-20 @ 8:25 PM
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Eileen - 10-Dec-19 @ 9:14 PM
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Mickeygriff - 3-Nov-19 @ 1:34 PM
Hi I am secretary and qualified volunteer LTA coach at our local village club. We are all inclusive and not for profit community club. We rent the facility from Water Orton Parish Council and set up 10 years ago.In May this year we signed a new 20 year lease. We have two tarmac courts which are not floodlit and we have 120 members of all ages and abilities. From that 120 members 70 are juniors aged 5 to 16 years and the rest are adultsWe also welcome two schools to our facility every school term week from April to October for children with learning difficulties. We have done this voluntary for five years now and involves up to 35 children each week. We are now looking to get both courts resurfaced as they are breaking up quite badly in places. The original village club was there 53 years and then ceased to exist as no one wanted to run it. We as a club were operating three miles away at a multi sport facility where we could not get a lease so we moved in at this present location. The original club struggled as they had no coaching team an therefore few children as members.We have three volunteer coaches and two other youngsters ( 17 years old ) who we are training to be coaches already having passed their level one badges. We have several local teachers on our members list who we work with via their schools so we have a constant update of our junior membership groups. If you can suggest or point us towards funding opportunities where we would get support with this resurfacing project it would be much appreciated.We need to raise up to£20k in total to get this professionally do. Thank you Paul Messenger
Paul - 5-Oct-19 @ 6:55 PM
We are a afootball club in kyankwanzi Uganda supporting the youth through sports so far having a team 21members as per now but having a hope to add on talented,well disciplined,members that's where I call upon any one to support me
Mandela - 19-Sep-19 @ 11:05 AM
We are 11 football players at rural area in limpopo ( marble Hall), we are requestinghelp for sport attires and locks.
Funza - 4-Aug-19 @ 6:40 PM
Hello I'm an ex military service man and believe sport has helped me as an individual deal with stress in my life. My idea is to help young and old help them deal with stress through sport and appeal to all diverse and different backgrounds to help people intermingle in society.
Jordan Talbot - 18-Jul-19 @ 1:28 PM
Hi, I am a member of a Roller Derby team in Hereford. We're currently participating in British Championships and are level 2. We are a relatively small team, only 10 members currently, but are well respected as we are mid board against other teams who have double this number. Funding would help us to be able to train and to recruit more members in our local area.
Charlotte - 8-Jul-19 @ 2:07 PM
Hi there, where can I look for funding to help run a boxing club for my local community?
coach scott - 12-Jun-19 @ 7:23 AM
My son and his mate are running a teen scene dances one a month and are looking for funding to do a youth club for the kids which would involve exercise computers for after school work mentoring sport sessions and would like to know where he can get funding for this
Ladyeleanor - 21-May-19 @ 10:21 PM
Dear director , I am George from Uganda -East Africa , the manager of REAL STAR FOOTBALL ACADEMY , in Luwero District , which currently has 140 children both boys and girls who are passionate about foot ball careers. My coach and I struglefuly try to support these children with trainings and to provide the necessities of this academy to promote the sport talent of these children. But we lack some funding according to what is needed , we would have helped many others but unable because of the limited resources. Allow me inquire whether there is any opportunity forbeneficiaries in Africaof your grant , and the process to acquire the grant and any connection recommended to support us. Will be glad. George Real stars football academy -Luwero. Uganda
Manager - 28-Apr-19 @ 11:32 AM
We are looking at building our own basketball arena as there are no such facilities in East Anglia (only courts attached to schools). Do we have to be a registered charity or CASC to apply for a grant and what is the maximum we could apply for?Many thanks
Wendy - 22-Apr-19 @ 3:57 PM
I am a member of a relatively Un known sport called Octopush aka underwater hockey we play three times a week in ipswich in to different pools. We have a 22strong team and want to develop a juniors squad but the pool fees are approximately 2k a year. The adult club has sponsored the first six months of pool time and bought some basic kit but we need more funds to one raised awareness of the game for adults and junior club and to help the junior club get developed. We currently have 8 regular juniors attending weekly an appropriately 10 not so regular. Our aim is to grow the junior club and put on more sessions during the week, purchase more kit and develop all abilities and ages both in the sport, over all fitness and conference and bring new grass roots players into the game. Is this somthing that could get funding??
Flipper - 16-Apr-19 @ 10:48 PM
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