FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES FOR SPORT – Edition 1
This
document attempts to cover the whole related family of fund-raising, marketing
and corporate activity that may be necessary for the modern sports club to
function in a profitable environment. This document is advisory only and is
circulated by Glendon Dallard (ECSN Chair) in August 2006 in an attempt to be a
document that sports clubs in Erewash can ‘dip’ into as a start point in
seeking funding of whatever sort.
Clearly it
does need to be understood that all sources have different criteria and you do
need to contact them individually. Dare
I say – tailor your bid to suit their criteria. I would take the opportunity of
wishing you success in your endeavours. If you find other sources could you let
me know – so that they can be added to the list for the mutual benefit of all
sports clubs in Erewash.
Email me
at glendon@globalnet.co.uk
It is
issued as a MS Word document and all the hyperlinks in the document work and
additionally – if you have an internet connection established – a click on the
website shortcut will take you direct to the appropriate page of the target
website.
Finally,
some of the following points made, may seem elementary and obvious – if so –
please forgive the writer as it is written from a ‘nil knowledge’ perspective.
Contents.
Control - Click on the link below and it
will take you straight to that item within this document
2 Sources of information and help in bid
preparation
3 Marketing your Club & Sponsorship
etc.
4 Community Amateur Sports Club
Registration
7 The Foundation for Sport and the Arts
8 Institute of Sports Sponsorship –
Sportsmatch
11 National & Local Businesses
12 Banks and Building Societies
13 Charitable Trusts and Grant Agencies
16 Council for Voluntary Service
1 Documentation
What documentation may be called upon by
Funding Agencies?
Large grants are
often conditional on supporting documentation that show how your club operates.
Sport
a. Club
Constitution
Here they would be looking for it to contain paragraphs on things
like Equity, Child Welfare and what happens if (for some reason) the club is
dissolved.
Maybe the following paragraphs or something similar should be in
your ‘well written’ Club Constitution at the appropriate point:-
1
Membership shall
be open to all irrespective of Age, Disability, Race, Ethnic Origin, Creed,
Colour, Social Status and Sexual Orientation.
2
XXXX Club adopts the (the Sport Governing Body’s) Child Welfare
policy . The club will appoint a Club Welfare Officer who will undergo the
necessary training and will report directly to the Chairmen on any matters of
concern in child welfare
3
If at any Annual
General Meeting or Extraordinary General Meeting a resolution be passed by a
two-third majority of those present for the dissolution of the Club, the
Elected Officers shall proceed to release the assets of the club and discharge
all liabilities as specified in the resolution at that Meeting. Any grants that
remain wholly or party unspent should be returned to the funding body. After
discharging all debts and liabilities, the remaining assets shall be
distributed for the furtherance of
(sport) development by the (Sport Development Group).
b. Last
Years Balance Sheet.
A comprehensive audited (not by a club member) balance sheet.
c. A
5 Year Development Plan for the club.
It is quite common to have a 5 year development plan in place, and
here the sport governing body should be able to assist in its preparation.
One member of the Club Management Committee should have ownership
of it and be responsible for updating it on a rolling year basis. It details
out basically where the club is now and year on year where it hopes it will be
in 5 years time.
d. Clubmark
Accreditation.
This proves to any outside body that your club has reached a high
standard in all its procedures and policies.
http://www.sportengland.org/clubmark
It is not easy to obtain – but is a very recognisable symbol. Even
a statement like – ‘the club is in the process of obtaining Clubmark
Accreditation’ - a statement that is
supported by your Governing body may help.
Tel 08458 508 508 Monday-Friday, 8am to 6pm Fax: 020 7383 5740
2 Sources of information and help in bid preparation
The first port
of call should be your Governing Body’s website. They may well have information
as downloads on all sorts of issues confronting sports clubs – and that often
does include grant aid information.
Often – your
Sport Development Group may hear of local grants that are only available in
your locality, and these groups are there to share that knowledge. Sports Clubs
& their members should keep a close eye on newspapers. There are lots of
very locally based funds to apply for which are publicised.
One particularly good source of
information is at
http://www.cibfunding.org.uk/prepare/page3.htm
Phone:
01924 239063 01924 239431
The website
helps you prepare to make good funding applications.
If a club is
successful they need to try & work closely with the donor to maximise
publicity for the donor and the club. If grant aid bodies believe they are
getting good publicity & value for money they are more likely to be
favourable from other sport related bids.
Share successes
with others as often it is sometime before a recipient club can reapply to the
same organisation. Again without wishing to emphasise too often – the channel for
that information is your Sport Development Group.
3 Marketing your Club & Sponsorship etc.
Again your
sport’s Governing body – may well be able to guide you in seeking sponsorship
or in marketing your club. If clubs are to attract business partners, (note the
use of the word partners) – there has to be something in it for the business.
In return for sponsorship – what is the business getting in return?
One area often
neglected in this regard is the use of the internet as a resource for promotion
of a business partner. A website that comes up with the sponsor’s logo and a
link to their website on the Homepage of the sports club is a very powerful
tool.
To have your own
independent website is fairly simple to anyone who is computer literate.
One of the
easiest ways is to purchase a domain name via a company like www.easily.co.uk and they will host for you for a fee. You do
need to be computer literate and it will need updating regularly. To do that
you will almost certainly require some form of file transfer protocol. Remember
to, that a connection to the internet exposes your computer to viruses. A
simple but effective virus scanner is available free from:-http://free.grisoft.com/doc/2/lng/us/tpl/v5
Another useful
website that will promote your club may be found at:- www.derbyshiresport.co.uk. For
further information look under Clubs.
It is vital that
one person be designated as Sponsorship & Fundraising Manager for the club.
It is that person’s responsibility to seek out and obtain business partners.
Club Assets
One of the major
assets of sports clubs is the clubhouse.
Use of this does need to be maximised. An Active Social Committee at the club
with events around the clubhouse is essential to a successful club. It is quite
easy to attract people to a bar when the sun is shining. Out of season in the
depths of winter – is much more difficult. Typical activities revolve around
quiz nights, race nights etc – but all of these activities increase bar
takings.
Increasingly,
business partners look to staff training days or ‘Away Days’ out of the office
and away from the office environment and the telephone. Could your club fill
that niche market? On arrival for these corporate events – tea and coffee, a
mid morning break for coffee and biscuits and maybe a lunch thrown in.
Businesses are quite used to paying fairly hefty for the privilege.
The Bar
An essential
part of any club is the bar and its profitability. An active Bar Committee and
strict financial control can see a hefty mark-up on prices going straight into
club coffers. A brewery or middle party are quite helpful in setting up a bar
for you and depending on the deal done with that supplier may make you a loan
repayable on a barrelage charge on sales or alternately they may give you a
barrel for some special event, as a gesture of goodwill. Get out there and
negotiate a deal to the best advantage of the club. Do remember though, you do
need a licence when you have a bar!
4 Community Amateur Sports Clubs
Tax relief is available to
clubs who register with the Inland Revenue as Community Amateur Sports Clubs
(CASCs). Go to the link below for further information
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/casc/index.htm
The Big Lottery Fund
For further
information about Lottery Funding visit:-
http://www.lotteryfunding.org.uk/england.htm
This site includes a funding
search engine which may help you identify a source.
0845 275 0000
Sport
Support is given through
many different programmes – go to:-
http://www.sportengland.org/index/get_funding.htm
Tel
08458 508 508 Monday-Friday, 8am to
6pm Fax: 020 7383 5740
Awards for All
The main aim of the programme is to fund projects which involve people in their community; bringing them together to enjoy arts, sports, heritage and other community activities. Sometimes quite small sums of money can have a big impact. The maximum grant size is £10,000.
http://www.awardsforall.org.uk/england/index.html
Telephone 0845 600 20 40
County and City.
Substantial
Grant Aid can be available from County and City Councils but must be supported
by the
County Council has some
funds available – typically:-
Treasure Chest Fund
Education Dept - Lifelong Learning
Voluntary Organisations
Green Action Grants Scheme
Borough, District and Parish Councils.
Local Authorities usually
have funds available for various activities and typically they are given to
Voluntary Organisations & Charitable Bodies. Typically - Leisure Support
Fund,
Disabled Access Grants, Disabled Facilities Grants & Environmental
Projects.
The Sports Development
officer (SDO) is probably the best person to help.
Parish Councils
may give financial assistance for recreation projects in their areas or
facilities at subsidised cost.
7 The Foundation for Sport and the Arts
Funding is
limited from this body. Priority is given to measures to increase participation
in, and enjoyment of, sport and the arts by the community.
http://www.thefsa.net/aboutus.htm
8
This matches £
for £ sponsorship from commercial organisations. The maximum award is £50000 –
minimum sponsorship required is £1000.
Quite a few clubs have used and benefited from this funding source.
Telephone 0207 273 1942 Fax 0207
273 1981
http://www.clubnet.org.uk/jkcm/clubnet/Club%20Home.cms
Telephone 0870
620 1260
Tel: 020 7833 5360
11 National & Local Businesses
Many National & Local
Businesses sponsor or offer grants to community groups, charities and sports
organisations within their local area.
Typical of these are:-
The ASDA Foundation
Biffa Award
BT Community Connections
The Dixons Foundation
Marks and Spencer
WH Smith
Boots Community Investment
Fund
Co-op Community Dividend
B&Q You Can Do It Awards
Ikea
Landfill Tax
National Grid - Community
Awards
Shell Better
Tesco
Sainsbury Charitable Fund
TRANSCO
Wilkinson
For the last two you need to be under the
flight-path or close to the airport.
Derbyshire
Aggregates Levy Scheme which is available to clubs close to communities
affected by mineral extraction
12 Banks and Building Societies
Abbey - Community Partnership
Alliance & Leicester
Barclays – Community
Involvement
Bradford & Bingley
HBOS Foundation
HSBC
Lloyds TSB Foundation
RBS Group
The Nationwide Foundation
Many others give to projects local to their branches. It may help if your group
bank with them or if group members bank with them.
13 Charitable Trusts and
Derbyshire Community Foundation (Local network Fund)
Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Esmee Fairbairn Foundation
Jack Petchey Foundation
New Horizons Trust
Duke of
Police Auction Fund
14 Landfill Tax
The provision,
maintenance and improvement of a public park or other public amenity in the
vicinity of a landfill site (about 10 miles).
Telephone: 020 7273 1740
16 Council for Voluntary Service
http://www.navca.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/AF628618-60BE-4ED0-8A85-B72709E15113/0/fundingresources.doc
While the characteristics, history and even name of
individual CVS may differ from place to place, they share the same purpose and
values. All CVS support, promote and develop local voluntary and community
action through the following five key functions:
Services and support, Liaison, Representation,
Development work & Strategic partnerships
17 Derbyshire Sport
http://www.derbyshiresport.co.uk/
A relatively new
initiative being actively promoted by Derbyshire Sport is Local Community Sport
Networks – whereby all sports in a District come together to share information
and common practice. The idea is that Derbyshire Sport will be cascading down
money to support local sports initiatives that meet local criteria (within a
Derbyshire Sport Framework.)
http://www.derbyshiresport.co.uk/resources/funding-guide
Just a thought!
If you cannot get a grant – how about a loan?
There are two other obvious
sources of loans – your members you may be prepared in the short term to make
an interest free loan to get a facility in place now – or even more obvious the
bank who may well be prepared to live with an overdraft for a short time.