What we want to fund

Strategic Outcomes

Sport England’s strategy for 2012-17 is focused on people aged 14+ playing regular sport, and on developing opportunities for those that want to progress in their chosen sport. We also want to further develop opportunities for disabled people playing more sport. Small Grants will not fund projects that do not impact on this strategy.

What will we fund?

If your project meets our strategic outcomes and your organisation is eligible, an application is likely to be fundable if it meets the following criteria:

• Must fit with Sport England's strategy
• Applications must be for between £300 and £10,000 and total project costs must not exceed £50,000.
• Projects must be deliverable in a 12 month period from the date of our award letter.  
• Projects must be focused on sports that are recognised by Sport England. Please note that for sports that Sport England deem higher risk, appropriate affiliation to the National Governing Body will be required. Please call 08458 508 508 if you are unsure whether your sport fits this criterion.
• Your project must be delivered to beneficiaries based in England.
• Your project start date must be at least 10 weeks after submission of your complete application and supporting documents.
• Your project must be for new activity and new costs delivering new sporting benefit.

What don't we fund?

We can support a wide variety of projects, however there are a number of costs that we cannot cover. The following are examples of projects or costs we will not fund:

• Projects that do not address the Sport England strategy.
• Projects that are for sports not recognised by Sport England.
• The general running costs of an organisation (e.g day to day expenses such as rent, gas, electricity, and insurance costs) This also includes the replacement of existing equipment such as ground maintenance or training equipment. We may fund additional equipment if it produces sporting benefit that you don’t currently provide.
• Repeat or regular events and existing activities (except the extra costs of involving new participants), or repeat funding of projects previously funded by Sport England.
• Projects that cannot measure their impact on Sport England’s strategic outcomes.
• Items which only benefit an individual e.g. bursaries or kit and equipment that is not shared. We may fund team playing kits for new teams or for teams who have not previously had a kit.  We are unlikely to fund training and coaches kits and other items of clothing.
• Salaries - except for coaching costs or fixed term positions needed to meet a specific project requirement. Funding of coaches must be clearly additional to usual club expenditure.
•  Used road vehicles.
• More than £10,000 to the same organisation in any 12 month period, from the date of our award letter.
• Activities that the government has a legal obligation to fund, for example, sport sessions which take place in school during curriculum time. We can also not fund any cost or activity previously funded by state funding or where state funding is due to end. Please see our full additionality statement.
• Projects involving construction or refurbishment of property. We will also not fund the erection of temporary buildings or land improvement work (e.g. drainage, resurfacing of playing surfaces, laying of artificial surfaces or installation of irrigation systems).
• Fixed capital items, for example, goals or nets that cannot be easily removed. We also cannot fund any fixed equipment which may require planning permission or may impact on any lease agreement. Applications submitted with confirmation from the local authority that planning permission is not required may be considered subject to other exclusions.
• Projects that take place or incur costs (including deposits and costs associated in submitting the application) before the date of the offer letter.
• Contingency costs and VAT you can recover.
• Projects involving travel to another country where a similar sporting benefit can be gained in England.
• Sponsorship, endowments or loan repayments.