The aim of the fund is to award grants to small voluntary sector organisations and sports clubs delivering Sport for Development (see definition below), who have been adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, either operationally or financially, and which require funding to save, resume or adapt their activity. Grants must benefit children and young people age 5 – 25. Organisations must have annual expenditure less than £75,000.

Size and use of grants

Grants will be £2021 (or you can apply for less if this amount exceeds your needs) and the funding is unrestricted so can be used for core funding, capital costs, programme/service delivery costs, and/or as match funding for leverage for a larger programme. Some organisations may require urgent funding that will be used straight away, including adaptions to ensure that they can resume operations in a COVID-safe environment. Other organisation may wish to use funding for longer term services or development. The important thing is to illustrate how the use of the grant will support Sport for Development activities for children and young people age 5 – 25.

Sport for Development

Sport for development is defined as the intentional use of sport or any physical activity to achieve other social outcomes and is a powerful tool to support young people. What differentiates sport for development from general community sport, is it intentionally uses community sport provision to deliver wider social outcomes, such as improving mental health, developing life skills or reducing anti-social behaviour or crime, rather than focussing on providing and widening opportunities to participate in sport. Sport for development is often delivered by organisations working in disadvantaged communities who collaborate with other partners to meet local need and may offer cross-sector activities.

Fund priorities

• The Fund can only support clubs or organisations which intentionally use sport or any physical activity to deliver social outcomes – specifically, one or more of the following outcomes, which are described in more detail in the Guidance to Required Outcomes – CLICK HERE

1. Developing Life Skills
2. Improving Mental Health
3. Reducing Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour
4. Developing Employability Skills
5. Building Stronger Communities

• We will prioritise organisations who need funding support to save them from closure
• We will prioritise smaller organisations according to their annual expenditure, as follows: Priority 1 – Up to £25,000, Priority 2 – Up to £50,000, Priority 3 – Up to £75,000
• We will prioritise organisations who work primarily with children and young people age 5 – 25, although organisations who work with people outside this age range may apply if the funding can be ringfenced to costs related to work with children and young people
• We will prioritise organisations whose work compliments the ‘Adapt, Support and Respond’ campaign, which highlights how charities and organisations have continued to use sport for development to support young people throughout lockdown, and how they will do so on an ongoing basis. https://www.sportfordevelopmentcoalition.org/article/adapt-support-respond-coalition-launches-initiative-showcase-sectors-contribution

Whilst the funding is unrestricted, we would pleased to know if and how the grant can be used as match funding to leverage other grants or income, and if and how the grant can be used to strengthen or ensure the sustainability of the organisation or funded activity.

Eligibility

Eligible organisations:

• Registered Charities
• Constituted Community and Voluntary Organisations
• Community Interest Companies (please see additional guidance for CICs in appendix 1 of our full grant-making policy – CLICK HERE)
• Social Enterprises (companies limited by guarantee that have a clear not-for-profit clause in their governing document and clear charitable or social objectives)

To be eligible the organisation must have:

• A management committee or board of Trustees/Directors with at least 3 unrelated people
• A written constitution or set of rules that sets out the purpose and management of the organisation
• A bank account in the name of the organisation with at least two unrelated cheque signatories required for payments
• An appropriate Safeguarding Policy

Please also note:

• Organisations must be local to Dorset. We do not fund national charities but can fund local branches if they are managed separately and financially independent.
• Organisations must have annual expenditure of less than £75,000 to apply to this Fund, according to latest annual accounts or a financial forecast for the coming year.

Exclusions:

• Schools are not eligible but we can fund PTA groups if they meet our eligibility guidelines
• We cannot fund the promotion of religion or political causes
• We cannot fund public bodies to carry out their statutory obligations
• We cannot fund animal welfare organisations
• We cannot offer retrospective funding for items already purchased or work completed
• Organisations with more than 12 months’ unrestricted reserves are usually not funded

Note to applicants

Made By Sport is offering the opportunity thanks to support from the Cash4Clubs scheme. The Cash4Clubs scheme is funded by Flutter Entertainment Ltd. The donation being made by Flutter is the amount it benefitted from as a result of business rates relief, which was put in place from March 2020 to March 2021 for its shops in England. All applicants should consider this before applying for funding.

To apply:

Please read the information above AND the attached Guidance to Required Outcomes – CLICK HERE

The Fund opens for applications on 12^th April 2021 and the deadline to submit your application is midday on 21^st May 2021. THIS FUND IS NOW CLOSED

We aim to award grants to successful groups by the end of June

In order for us to follow our decision-making process, the information given in your application will be shared with our independent panel members and/or donors as appropriate. Panel members are subject to a confidentiality agreement. Please see our Privacy Policy CLICK HERE for more information on data sharing and storage.

If you are unsure about any of the above criteria or have any other queries, please contact our Grants Manager Ellie Maguire on 07592 032666 or at grants@dorsetcf.org.