Small Grants Programme from Sport England – Apply by 31/03/24

The Small Grants Programme seeks to develop opportunities for communities to get more people physically active. New projects will be supported through providing National Lottery funding of between £300 and £15,000.

Apply by 31 March 2024.

Sport England
About the fund

Sport England want to support projects that bring communities together and provide sport and physical activities for people who may be less physically active. They also particularly want to support projects focusing on environmental sustainability.

They are looking for applications from projects that demonstrate how they connect with their communities, make best use of the existing skills and assets in an area, and will provide the biggest possible impact to those who need it most.

They also want projects to show how they’ve sought to reduce their impact on the environment through the goods and services they use to deliver the activity.

Please be aware that their priority is to support projects working with people in disadvantaged communities.

Key information
  • Awards of £300 – £15,000 are available to not-for-profit organisations.
  • Multiple applications can be submitted, but organisations can only have awards of up to £15,000 in any 12-month period.
  • Awards are to help inactive and less active people become more active.
  • The priority is to support projects working with people living in areas of disadvantage as defined by the Indices of Multiple Deprivation areas 1 to 3.
  • Applications should explain why there’s a need for the project and how end users have been involved in developing the project.
  • Applications should consider how the project adds value to services currently available in your local community, and work collaboratively with other groups to maximise the impact of the project.
Applying

Who can apply

Applications from a wide range of not-for-profit organisations are welcome, provided your organisation has a minimum of three unrelated/non-cohabiting trustees or directors.

Preparing your application

Remember that Sport England know nothing about your project and so it’s important you take your time to explain the essentials.

  • Who will benefit?
  • Why the project is needed?
  • How you’ll deliver those benefits.

About your project

The best applications explain the problem they are trying to solve.

Think about the people you’re going to work with and be clear how you know why they need this project.

They particularly encourage applications that have been developed by the communities they’ll support, as this helps show there’s a need for the activity.

You should also think about other services that may currently be offered by other organisations in your area and explain how your project adds value to them.

Consider the potential impact or outcomes it’ll have on participants, but be realistic with your targets and ambitions.

Read the guide to the application.

Delivery

Explain the resources you need to deliver the activity and how you’ll ensure your project is a success.

Make it clear how many people will benefit, how many sessions they’ll attend and how you’ll reach that target.

Be clear about whether your project is supporting existing or new participants.

Think about any other organisations you’ll work with to help maximise the benefit of the project and how you’ll achieve a legacy with the project.

Budget

A breakdown of what any potential funding will be spent on.

Consider whether your budget is offering the best value for money and includes all the costs you need to deliver the activity, even if you don’t require all the money from us.

Supporting documents

To make the process simpler, you aren’t required to provide any supporting documents at the time of application.

However, some checks on your organisation will be needed, so documents such as accounts or governing documents may be requested from you.

If you have project plans, budget, letters of support or videos that show the impact of your work then feel free to upload them or provide links to them when you submit your application.

Should you be successful in securing grant funding, you’ll be required to provide evidence of a bank account set up in the name of your organisation.

Register your organisation

If you’ve not applied before, you’ll need to register your organisation before you can start an application – you can do this here.

Submit your application

Sport England are looking for the best ideas, not the best written applications, and you should only write something you think will explain how good your project is.

Apply now.

After you’ve applied

A decision will be sent to you as soon as possible – usually this takes around three weeks, but when there is a very high volume of interest a decision may take longer.

If you’re successful

If you’re successful, you’ll receive an award agreement by email, stating the purpose of the award and containing the terms and conditions, along with the monitoring and evaluation requirements.

Support for environmental sustainability projects

Sport England want to support sports and communities to protect and adapt the environments in which sport and physical activity takes place and work together towards our collective net zero ambitions.

The ideas should particularly benefit those experiencing greater disadvantage and all projects must have a ‘line of sight’ to physical activity, supporting inactive and less active audiences to be active while also addressing environmental sustainability.

The three key areas are outlined below, along with an example project for each.

Reducing energy use

  • What? – Actions and measures supporting your local efforts towards net zero.

Encouraging responsible travel

  • What? – This could include encouraging people to walk or cycle where possible and providing safe cycle/scooter/buggy storage options; promoting accessible and safe public transport routes and lift sharing; and using local community assets to minimise travel.

Reducing waste and improving resource efficiency

  • What? – Measures and actions that seek to reduce and eliminate waste.

More about this funding opportunity

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