Funding explained
Each year we invest more than £250 million of National Lottery and public money to help people play sport and take part in physical activity.
We know that applying to one of our funds for the first time can seem a little daunting, but here we’ll guide you to the appropriate fund and explain exactly what you need to do.
Funding options
Community Emergency Fund
The Community Emergency Fund aims to help community sport and physical activity organisations who are experiencing short term financial hardship or the ceasing of operations due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
The types of organisations eligible include local sports clubs and voluntary and community sector organisations who deliver or enable sport and physical activity.
Please note, for the foreseeable future this fund is paused to new applications while we’re in the process of evaluating it.
Small Grants
Our Small Grants programme makes awards of between £300 and £10,000 to help more people get involved in sport and physical activity.
You can apply if your organisation is a voluntary or community club or organisation, registered charity, not-for-profit company or community interest company.
Community Asset Fund
Whether it’s the park you run through, the hall you do classes in or the pitch you play on, welcoming and accessible spaces have a big impact on a person’s experience – and likelihood of coming back.
Our Community Asset Fund is a programme dedicated to enhancing the spaces in your local community that give people the opportunity to be active.
Got a Great Idea?
If you could do with a little help but none of our other open funds seem applicable, then you can always just tell us your great idea.
Forget about the application process for now, simply tell us your idea and we'll let you know if it's something we can help you with.
Even if we can't fund you there are other ways we can help, so let's start talking.
Major Event Volunteer Fund
Focusing on volunteering, the Major Event Volunteer Fund aims to ensure people who lend their time at major events can continue to gain from the benefits we know volunteering can provide.
We want to help national governing bodies, event hosts and other organisations make it easier and more attractive for volunteers to continue their volunteering experience in community sport.
Strategic Facilities Fund
Our Strategic Facilities Fund is designed to support the sector to invest strategically so it delivers the outcomes essential to local communities.
This programme is not open via an application process. We work with local authorities and our expert partners to ensure the right major capital projects are in the right places to support our strategic outcomes.
Other ways to generate funding
There are a number of other sources of funding that organisations can apply to and should consider in addition to the programmes we have available.
Find out more about the traditional sources of funding and social sector opportunities out there.
Tackling Inequalities Fund
The Tackling Inequalities Fund has been set up to help to reduce the negative impact of coronavirus and the widening of the inequalities in sport and physical activity.
We’re working with Active Partnerships and selected national partners to connect funding to local community organisations, who are best placed to support our priority audiences through their extensive reach and networks.
Find the right fund
Evaluation framework
We evaluate our investment programmes to gather learning that improves outcomes for existing and future projects. Evaluation reports show and explain impact and return on investment, increase our insight and support advocacy for further sport investment.
We've designed an Evaluation Framework to help our colleagues and partners to evaluate funding streams and projects effectively, and to get maximum value from measurement and evaluation.
Claim and reconciliation forms
If you've been awarded a revenue grant you'll need to claim your funding and reconcile your expenditure.
