11th January 2013
11th January 2013
The Community Sport Activation Fund is a £40 million Lottery revenue fund and forms part of Sport England's Youth and Community Strategy 2012-2017.
A cornerstone our 2012-17 Strategy is making sure funding gets down to a local level where it is most needed and can make a real difference. The new Community Sport Activation Fund is one of the ways we are doing this and will help increase and sustain once a week participation in sport targeted at people aged 14 and above. The Fund is due to be formally launched on Tuesday 15th January 2013.
The Fund has been developed in direct response to a need expressed by local partners for flexible local funding to support grassroots activity. We have worked with local authorities and other local partners to understand the difference that very localised revenue funding could make, and how we can maximise local opportunities to increase participation.
The vast majority of the fund will be awarded through five open funding rounds and full details of Round 1 are now available on the application portal (see the link below). This includes the prospectus, on line application, frequently asked questions and a pre application check list.
In Round 1 we are looking to invest in a small number of strong, well-developed projects which can start to deliver by June 1st 2013. We are clear that to achieve this timescale many of the factors for successful delivery (e.g. clear evidence and need, match funding, partnership approach) will already be in place with project ideas already well formulated. For this reason the application portal for Round 1 will be open for a short time starting today, Monday 7th January, and closing on Monday 4th February. In terms of forward planning, the application portal re-opens for Round 2 on Tuesday 7th May and closes on Monday 1st July.
We are encouraging all potential applicants to read the documentation on the application portal carefully and in full before deciding to apply. We are also strongly encouraging the completion of the Pre-application Checklist as this will help partners decide whether this is the right funding stream for their project. We do not want you to waste your time.
It's important to note that almost 90% of the funds will be allocated in Rounds 2 through to 5. We are therefore encouraging applications to only be submitted when the best strategic case backed by local evidence, secured match funded resource, a partnership approach and a delivery plan for year 1 are in place. This will mean your application stands the best chance in what is likely to be a highly competitive environment. Sport England will only fund those bids which offer the best opportunity to invest in sustainable participation increases.
Please click here for the link to the application portal for Round 1