Aims/priorities: The Sport England Small Grants Programme aims to support local community sport projects that seek to encourage people in England, regardless of age, background or level of ability, to feel able to get involved in sport and physical activity. And, in particular, projects which meet one or more of the following aims of Sport England's ‘Towards an Active Nation’ strategy:
- Getting inactive people to become more active.
- Developing lasting sporting habits.
- Developing more positive attitudes among young people.
The aim of the fund is to bring communities together and provide sport and physical activities for people who may be less physically active. The funders are also looking to support activities which focus on environmental sustainability. Types of costs which can be covered include:
- Coaching – providing opportunities for those less likely to be active, offering them an activity they want to participate in.
- Volunteer training – develop an organisation’s volunteer base through offering training to both new and existing volunteers.
- Service alterations – providing new ways of delivering existing activity to attract new participants/members, for example offering outreach or web-based classes or targeting new audiences through connecting with other providers in the locality.
- Additional equipment – to enable expansion of activity or safer delivery of activity, for example a defibrillator and associated costs (such as training for its use) as part of a wider project to deliver sport and physical activity.
- Minor facility alterations – examples include adapting a community space to make it more accessible for those with mobility impairments, refurbishing a space to enable sport and physical activity to be offered or improving a space to make it more energy efficient.
Sport England has updated its Small Grants guidance to enable funding for organisations affected by recent flooding, and to commemorate the Coronation in 2023.
January 2023 Flooding Support
Grants can cover emergency costs to help restore sports facilities and will support minor works. Examples include:
- Skip hire to remove sediment and rubbish.
- Minor electrical works to restore power.
- Decontamination works or clearing of blocked drains.
- Cleaning work to get showers and changing rooms back up and running.
- Securing buildings.
King's Coronation 2023
During the year of the Coronation, two additional priorities have been added to the fund which reflect His Majesty the King's personal passions:
- Projects which focus on sustainability while reducing the impact on the environment, such as purchasing locally made equipment to extend capacity in a club or using local community assets to minimise travel.
- Projects which focus on developing skills in young people. This could include supporting them through coaching qualifications or relevant sports administration courses, or trying new sessions to bring new participants into the club.
Who can apply? Applications are accepted from:
- Community amateur sports clubs (as registered with HMRC).
- Unregistered voluntary and community organisations with a not-for-profit constitution.
- Registered charities.
- Not-for-profit companies (limited by guarantee without share capital or charitable incorporated organisation).
- Community interest companies (CICs) or other social enterprises.
- Community benefit societies.
- Schools using their facilities for wider community benefit.
- Local authority bodies (including town, parish and community councils).
Applicants do not have to be a sports organisation to apply as Sport England is more interested in the applicants' knowledge of and track record in the community that will benefit from the project.
In order to be eligible for funding over £10,000 applicants must meet Tier One of the Code for Sports Governance. Organisations applying for projects involving sports that Sport England deems higher risk will be required to have appropriate affiliation to the national governing body.
Grant amount: Grants of between £300 and £15,000 are available.
Application process: Guidance notes and the online application form are available on the Sport England website.
Deadline: 30 June 2023
Contact information: Tel 03458 508508, Email funding@sportengland.org
Website address: www.sportengland.org