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I love being active!
And after 6 years of visiting the climbing gym, twice a week, almost every week – I still cant do this!!
(I’ll probably never be able to even attempt this….!)
So why do I try?
Because climbing is addictive! It’s great fun. I get some ‘me-time’. It pushes me, it rewards me – and it keeps me active!
I played Rugby League for 10 years. I became a coach, a coach educator, and then a Development Manager.
I switched to Taekwondo for a few years and I loved that too, but my choices of contact/impact sports began to hurt too much, and I couldn’t cope with the bruises anymore!
Why am I telling you all this?
Because having an opportunity to take part in sport Changed. My. Life.
I went from leaving school at 16 with no qualifications – and a job serving up Wimpy burgers (do you remember Wimpy Bars? I had to wear those awful red dungarees…)
To having a focus in life. Sport was the catalyst that grabbed my attention, and made me realise that I wanted (and deserved) more.
And it was all because someone, somewhere (I don’t actually know who) took the time to sit down and write a grant application form, managed to get a little bit of funding – which then gave me the chance to attend a Level One Rugby League Coaching Award.
Within 5 years, I was the one training the coaches!
So if you are wondering if applying for funding is worth it. Take it from me. It is.
You are changing peoples lives.
If you run a sports club, if you run physical activity sessions, if you want to encourage your pupils to run more, if you want to raise aspirations, if you want to engage young or old people, if you want to use physical activity in any shape or form to change peoples lives for the better – this issue is for you!!
And remember – some funders are passionate about funding sports and physical activity. Some don’t really care what you do – but they do care about the difference you make to peoples lives. Think outside the box – what changes in peoples lives when they get involved with your organisation – look for funders who want to support these changes.
Sports, Physical Activity & PE Funding News
The Thomas Wall Trust believes that communication skills are critical capabilities for people who want to improve their employment prospects, self-confidence, resilience, and life chances. They will fund projects or running costs for charities that equip disadvantaged people (aged 18 and over) with the necessary communication skills ready for employment.
Sport England: Return to Play: Active Together
A £7.5 million fund, with up to £10,000 in match funding, as part of a support package to help clubs and organisations set up and run crowdfunding campaigns related to Covid-19, such as for a loss of income due to the pandemic.
Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Activity Fund
The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Activity Fund aims to use sport and physical activity as a means of bringing a community together and tackling inequalities via awards of between £300 and £10,000 from a pot of £5 million of National Lottery funding.
Vinci UK Foundation supports small and medium size registered community interest or non-profit organisations which aim to tackle the issues in the following four areas of action through an innovative approach and which will make a positive, measurable impact on the local area :Access to employment; Insertion through housing; Inclusive mobility; Building better communities.
Viridor Credits runs three funding schemes in England and one in Scotland. Will fund: community, heritage and biodiversity projects.
The Big Give Women & Girls Match Fund is a match funding campaign for charities that are working to improve the lives of vulnerable, disadvantaged or underrepresented women and girls in England and Scotland.
The Bruce Wake Trust will consider grant applications related to the provision of leisure activities for the disabled but favour particularly applications whereby the potential beneficiaries meet one or all of the following criteria:
- The potential beneficiaries are physically disabled wheelchair users – unable to raise the required funds
- Improved access for wheelchair users is proposed
- A sporting or leisure activity involving disabled wheelchair users is proposed
The Dan Maskell Tennis Trust supports people with all disabilities, (e.g. physical impairment, deaf, learning disability, visually impaired etc)
The Football Foundation has a number of funding streams for everything from new goal posts – to defibrillators.
Other Useful Stuff!
Sported is a UK wide charity promoting fairness and equity for young people through grassroots sport and physical activity. Their role is to empower the local heroes running these groups by providing much needed professional expertise, resources and operational support, free of charge, to help their group survive and thrive.
Sporting Heritage works closely with grass roots and professional sport groups and organisations, alongside NGBs, museums, galleries, schools, universities and councils to help promote, preserve and protect sporting heritage collections – basically it’s about keeping our sporting stories alive! A big thank you to Victoria for bringing this back to my attention – she has suggested checking out the Digital Toolkit which you can find out more about here
Following on from the Sports Heritage theme – I also better mention the Women in Rugby League Project or my great friend Julia Lee will never forgive me!
Thriving Communities are running a webinar on Physical Activity and Social Prescribing on the 25th January 3-4pm. For more info, or to book, head here
The Youth Sports Trust have tonnes of free resources on their website – make sure you take a look!
Sport England have published their Active Lives Children and Young People Survey Academic year 2020-21 great resource to help you build your ‘case for support’.
Take a look at the Volunteering Research published by the Sport & Recreation Alliance here
Finally (well done if you made it this far!)
I was always going to squeeze a bit more climbing in somewhere! But just a reminder that changing lives starts with completing that grant application! This is a fantastic example of how it does just that: Rokt Foundation
If you happen to be close to me (Kirklees), and you work in a school, then you need to read this:
ROKT Foundation and Invictus Wellbeing charities have joined forces and secured funding to support mental health and wellbeing for children and young people aged 12-17 years old in Kirklees schools.
It is completely free. Thanks to the generosity of One Community in Kirklees and their commitment to supporting mental health for young people through their grant programme Rokt Foundation can do this potentially life-changing work. Continue reading
I hope this has been useful
Please feel free to forward this on to any other organisation you know of that might also find it useful. If they want to receive future issues of the free newsletter direct – they can sign up here
If this newsletter has motivated, and enthused you to apply for grant funding – but you are not sure where to start – did you know I have an e-book?
The Straight Forward Funding Toolkit is available to purchase here.
At just £5 it will give you a head start on your ‘grant funding journey’. It’s packed full of tips and strategies, and templates – and will go a long way towards answering many of your questions.
Take care – I’ll be back soon!
Lisa