Sport England announce a further £15 million in lottery funding has been added to the Community Emergency Fund, taking the investment to £35 million

SPORT ENGLAND are making up to £35 million of funding available in a Community Emergency Fund to help the sport and physical activity sector through the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

Sport England announced on 11 May that a further £15 million in lottery funding has been added to the fund, taking the investment to £35 million and that the Fund will be paused at 11.59pm tonight (14 May). 

This extra £15 million is intended to help meet the demand of the existing applications and those likely to be submitted in the coming days.

As of 11 May it has seen 2,268 applications from National League System and grassroots clubs, requesting £12.8 million, which accounts for nearly a third of the 8037 applications.

So far, 1,700 football applications have been assessed with a 76% success rate, awarding £4.2 million to football with an average award amount of £3,200. Overall, 5,714 applications have been assessed, awarding 14.8m to grassroots sport.

A statement said: “The Community Emergency Fund aims to deliver immediate funding to those most in need. It's specifically targeted at organisations, including those not currently supported by Sport England, who have a role in supporting the nation to be active but who are experiencing short term financial hardship or the ceasing of operations due to the ongoing crisis.

“The types of organisations eligible include local sports clubs forced to close at short notice but who are facing ongoing costs around maintenance and utility bills, and voluntary and community sector organisations who deliver or enable sport and physical activity.

“This £20 million fund is designed to complement other sources of funding from the government, such as funds targeted at small businesses. Please click here to see the funding support that the government has available before you consider applying to this fund.”

Who can apply?

Any organisation delivering community sport and physical activity can apply if it’s experiencing short term financial hardship or the ceasing of operations due to the impact of coronavirus.

These organisations include:

• Local sports clubs
• Voluntary and community sector organisations that deliver or enable sport and/or physical activity, including organisations that are not solely or primarily sports organisations and have an important role to play in keeping people active, that may need support for other parts of their organisation to remain open
• Small charitable trusts that do not qualify for financial help elsewhere
• Regional or county level organisations or leagues that have already paid out funds for activities that are now cancelled and are not able to claim funds from elsewhere

How can the funding be used?

The fund has been developed to help community sport and physical activity organisations meet their obligations, in particular fixed costs, which are no longer supported with revenue as a result of coronavirus. This might cover expenditure on:

• Rent 
• Utility costs 
• Insurances 
• Facility or equipment hire 
• Core staffing costs (including casual workers) that cannot be met elsewhere by other government funds
• Retrospective losses dating from 1 March 2020

For example, the fund can be used to support a local league that has paid for equipment to run a competition which is now cancelled and therefore will not receive the money the players in the league would have paid.

How much can be awarded?

Awards will be between £300 and £10,000. In exceptional circumstances Sport England will consider awards of more than £10,000.

How to Apply:

To read more about the fund and start your application, please visit the link below.

https://www.sportengland.org/how-we-can-help/our-funds/community-emergency-fund