Assuming your project meets our funding
criteria, you should then ensure your application provides
sufficient detail for us to know what it is you will deliver with
our award.
Below are a number of key points to
consider:
1. Your
organisation is eligible to apply and has suitable governance
arrangements
This means that your
organisation should be formally constituted on a not-for-profit
basis with a charitable dissolution clause. Your constitution
should contain sufficient information to show how you have
appropriate governance and financial controls and you must have a
minimum of three unrelated or non-cohabiting members. If your
organisation’s financial health is not clear on your accounts you
should ensure a full explanation is provided in the application.
More information can be found on our good
governance guide.
2. Your project
should have clear and deliverable aims and objectives
Any award from Sport England should be seen as
an investment to purchase enhanced sporting opportunity. Your
application therefore needs to demonstrate that you have a clearly
defined project that explains what it is you want to do. It should
provide tangible and measurable objectives to be achieved with a
clear statement about how many people will benefit and how they
will benefit. For example, specify how many sessions each
participant will take part in and what they will gain from those
sessions. We would encourage you to consider submitting a project
delivery plan that sets out your targets, key milestones and how
each output will be measured. If you are trying something new you
should consider how you will evaluate the success of the
project.
3. Include a
clear and accurate project budget that represents good value for
money
Your application should contain sufficient
information to enable us to see how your budget has been put
together. Feel free to submit a separate budget page if you cannot
fit this into the application form. We need to know how each budget
heading has been calculated and, for capital items over £5,000,
that three quotes have been obtained where appropriate. We will
assess value for money based on the total project cost, our
contribution, how many people will benefit and the difference the
project makes to those participants. You should, therefore, ensure
your application provides all this information for us to be able to
make a sound judgement.
4. Your
project should show clear evidence of need
We are unlikely to fund a project where the
application does not evidence a need for the work. The level of
evidence will depend on how much you are applying for but we would
usually expect to see some evidence that your project is
complementary to other available provision and that you have
undertaken consultation with key stakeholders, in particular,
potential beneficiaries. If you are organising an event or coaching
sessions for new participants we need to be sure they will turn up.
Discussions with partner agencies such as your county sports
partnership, national governing body or local authority should also
be referenced.
5. The
project or its outcomes should demonstrate
sustainability
This means that, when our funding runs out,
you can either continue to deliver the project through other
sources of funding, or that there are outcomes of the project that
have a lasting legacy. For example, a project that trains young
people to be coaches can have a lasting legacy through the people
they then go on to train. If you do wish to continue the project
after our funding finishes you should explain how this will be
funded and explain how you will minimise the negative impact on
beneficiaries if your fundraising efforts are not successful.
Your referee
Unless your organisation is a statutory body,
county sports partnership or national governing body, we will need
details about a referee for your project. We may contact them as
part of our assessment process so you should discuss your project
with them before you apply. If your application is successful they
will need to sign a declaration and we may also ask them to
complete a brief report about your project when it has
finished.
Your referee should be independent of your
organisation and should be someone with a professional or public
position we can check (for example, your local MP, local councilor,
a solicitor, senior bank official, local authority officer,
national governing body representatives).
Your referee must not be someone who benefits
from our grant, nor related to anyone who will benefit. They must
not be (or have been in the last two years) a member, trustee or
staff member, nor related to anyone in these positions.
Businesses that offer help
Some businesses promote their services by
telling potential customers about Sport England funding programmes.
They may offer consultancy services or imply that they are acting
on our behalf. They might even offer to help you fill in the form
if you pay them a fee or deposit.
While there are some good consultancies
available that may provide a useful service in helping an
organisation consider planning or delivery issues our application
process has been designed in such a way to minimise the need for
any paid assistance. The application form itself is simple to
complete and help is available by calling the Sportsmatch team on
08458 508 508.
It is important that the staff and volunteers of
your organisation have the capacity to deliver the project you are
applying and we are unlikely to fund any project where it is not
clear that this is the case.
Please note we do not act with or endorse the
services of any supplier or consultant and will not pay any costs,
commission or fees that they may charge you to make an
application.
Data protection
We will use the information you give us on the
application form and supporting documents during assessment and for
the life of any grant we award you to administer and analyse grants
and for our own research. We may give copies of this information to
individuals and organisations we consult when assessing
applications, when monitoring grants and evaluating the way our
funding programmes work and the effect they have. These
organisations may include accountants, external evaluators and
other organisations or groups involved in delivering the
project.
We may also share information with other Lottery
distributors, government departments and other organisations and
individuals with a legitimate interest in Lottery applications and
grants, or for the prevention and detection of fraud. We may use
the data you provide for our own research.
We recognise the need to maintain the
confidentiality of vulnerable groups and their details will not be
made public in any way, except as required by law.
Freedom of information
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 gives
members of the public the right to request any information that we
hold. This includes information received from third parties, such
as, although not limited to, grant applicants, grant holders,
contractors and people making a complaint.
If information is requested under the Freedom of
Information Act we will release it, subject to exemptions, though
we may consult with you first. If you think that information you
are providing may be exempt from release, you should let us know
when you apply.