The Community Investment Fund is the National Lottery funding available from the nine regions of Sport England. This section contains more information about the fund and steps to consider before applying.

Who makes CIF funding decisions?
Sport England’s nine Regional Sports Boards make decisions about community funding (grants over £10,000) to projects in their region. These boards comprise experts from sport and related fields and they are responsible for the development of sport in the region. All nine regions have produced a plan for sport and investment in their region, detailing their priorities. When making investment decisions, the boards look for evidence that projects will help meet these priorities and support Sport England’s work to get more people involved in sport – with a focus on hard to reach groups – and help them stay involved throughout their lives.


Advice before applying
Sport England has to prioritise the investment it makes to ensure maximum impact and we therefore look for evidence about how projects are going to help us achieve our objectives.. Suggestions on things to consider before you apply is therefore provided below:  

• Partnership Funding: This helps the money we invest go further, and enables us to fund more projects around the country. We therefore look for secured partnership funding to be in place when applications are made. The suggested ratio, as identified in the Government’s 2002 strategy for sport (Game Plan), is 2:1, £2 partnership funding for £1 Lottery funding. To find out more and what is considered eligible funding please click here.  
• Regional Sports Plans and Investment Strategies: Sport England has a clear mandate from Government to increase the number of people involved in sport. We look for evidence of this, and other regional priorities, in applications for funding. It is extremely important that you read the relevant Regional Plan and Investment Strategy (below) before applying to see if your project is likely to help meet these priorities. This is how we will judge the strength of an application.
  
  Regional Investment Strategies:
  East
  East Midlands
  London
  North East
  North West
  South East (PDF)
  South West
  West Midlands
  Yorkshire
  

What is the process for applying?
Do you think your project is in line with the region’s plan and investment priorities? If so, you could be ready to consider a ‘Stage 1’ application. There are two stages, with questions in each of the two stages designed to pull out the information we need to make an investment decision.   


Basic monitoring and evaluation requirements
From Autumn 2007 all projects funded by Sport England to deliver sport and active recreation, and those that concentrate solely on coach development or volunteer support, will be required to report every quarter on a minimum of one and a maximum of five standard Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). The number of KPIs depends on the type of project.

The online application process is in the process of being updated.

Please see the step-by-step guide for more information on the new requirements, and bear this in mind when providing data.

We have also provided some suggestions for data collection and supporting tools.

Are you ready to make your Stage 1 application?
Sport England has developed a checklist for potential applicants. We strongly recommend completing this as a check on progress or self-assessment. It is not compulsory, and your project may still be encouraged if you cannot tick all the boxes, but it will help you gauge if you are ready to complete the Stage 1 application.
View the checklist

I am only looking for a small grant. Are there any other options?

Yes. If you are looking for a grant of between £300 and £10,000 you should consider applying to the Awards for All grants programme. This is a joint National Lottery programme designed to support community projects, including sports projects. Awards for All is supported by Sport England and the other distributors of Lottery funding, including Arts Council England, English Heritage and the Big Lottery Fund. Click here to visit the website.

Next Steps: Additional guidance on how to proceed is available on the Sport England website (please see ‘About the funding process’ and ‘Resources to help you'.