Sports Grants & Funding

Applying for grants

Grant applications can often seem daunting and can be time consuming. However, with good preparation and planning the process can be made easier.

The majority of grant schemes have strict criteria and guidelines that you or your club must meet in order to qualify, and whilst it may sounds obvious, you should make sure you’re applying for the right grant and match the criteria to avoid wasting time applying for something you don’t qualify for.

Although almost every grant will have slightly different criteria, many will ask similar questions and seek similar information about your club, in order to prepare for this it could be useful to keep all of your answers saved so that you can refer back to them if the come up again in another application.Some other useful tips include;

• In order to avoid rushing applications make sure you submit them long before closing dates.
• Create a calendar with all the grants and their closing dates marked on it.
• Prepare applications in advance and talk them through with your club fundraising committee. It’s always best to get a number of people look over applications before they’re submitted.

How to write a good grant application

A good funding application doesn’t have to be a work of art and your don’t have to be the next JK Rowling in order to write a successful grant application.

Different funders and grants will require different amounts of information from you, however it’s goodKey areas funders may look for in your grant application:

• How your club works within the community
• Are you a well managed club?
• Will the money benefit young people and help to encourage healthy lifestyle?

In your grant application you should:

• Clearly describe your project to the funder
• Highlight what you aim to achieve from the project
• Show how many people your project is likely to benefit
• Clearly explain how your project meets the objectives and criteria the funding organisation are looking for
• Explain why you a seeking a grant and if you have tried any other routes to raise the needed funds (sponsorship, fundraising)
• Make project deadlines clear and also highlight who will be in charge and manage the projects from with your club
• Provide a cost/expenses breakdown for the project – show the funder where the money will go

Where to look

The majority of sports funding grants will come from either government organisations and councils or non-profit charitable trusts and foundations. Each sport and region will have different grant opportunities. Whether you’re looking for £400 or £40,000, playing football or extreme frisbee, there’s probably a grant or funding opportunity out there for you – you just have to find it.

The search for funding and grants can often be a tedious process. In order to give you a head start we’ve built the FundSport.com sports grant directory which allows you to quickly and easily find grants available in your area. This will make a good starting point, but you should also research other opportunities available to you. A good way to do this could be speaking to local and national governing bodies.

Don’t Give Up!

If your application isn’t successful don’t give up! Whilst it won’t always be possible, try to speak to the organisation you applied to and find out why you weren’t successful and how you can improve your chances next time round.