Support and Funding

• Themed Rounds (£30,000,000)
• Small Grants  (£7,000,000)
• Innovation Fund  (£5,000,000)
• Sports Match  (£3,000,000)  

Each programme is explained below and some examples are given on how you can relate each one to equestrian sports. 

The BEF strongly urges anyone involved in the development of our sport to apply, as these funding programmes represent a huge opportunity for:

• BHS Riding Clubs
• Pony Club Branches/Centres
• RDA Groups
• Non Olympic disciplines regional clubs and groups
• Organisers of grassroots events
• Riding Schools operating not for profit schemes and charitable trusts
• Organisations looking to break down barriers for members and potential members to grow and sustain participation
• Organisations looking to make improvements to their coaching workforce

Themed Rounds
 
Will provide funds for coaching, equipment, new or extended facilities and sport based programmes.

• £30,000,000 available each year
• Bids of £10,000 or more
• 2 or 3 rounds per year
• First round focuses on provide opportunities in rural communities

Example:

A Charitable Trust using horses to rehabilitate children with behavioural problems, applies to fund a new club house.

 
Small Grants
 
Will provide small amounts of funds for coach training, equipment, new or extended facilities and sport based programmes

• £7,000,000 available each year
• Bids between £300-£10,000
• Applications invited throughout the year

Example:

A youth group gets funding to set up a sustainable link with a riding school to allow children to access horse riding courses.

Innovation Fund
 
Will provide medium to large amounts to organisations that identify how to address specific barriers to the growth and sustainability of sport.

• £5,000,000 available per year
• Bids over £10,000
• Applications invited twice per year beginning 12th May 2009

 
Example:

Investment will be in small-scale but groundbreaking innovations which have the ability to become the scaled-up, widespread activities that deliver high quality community sport in future years.  For example a National Equestrian Road Show.

Sports Match
 
Will match funding received from private companies, trusts and individual donations for projects that increase participation at grass routes level.

• £3,000,000 available per year
• Will match monies received from no more than 3 partners totalling £1,000 or more
• Applications are invited all year round

 
Example:

A local riding club receives £3000 in sponsorship from a local business to support a programme that will help attract new members, they then apply to get the money match funded totalling a £6000 income for the programme.

Top Tips for Applying
  
The advice provided below describes what to expect during the application process and what can be done to ensure that any bids are successful:

• Share the workload of the project equally among several volunteers.  Perhaps appoint a Funding Coordinator, to complete the application form and any evaluation forms so that other volunteers can concentrate on delivering the project.
• Write a project plan separate to the information you provide on the application form.  This demonstrates that the club is committed to the project and has not just submitted an application "off the cuff." The benefit this brings is that the club has a document clearly outlining what it wants to achieve and a document with all the information required on the application form, thus making completing the application form simpler and quicker. 
• Download our BEF project plan template and work through this with your team at a funding meeting.  This template will help focus you in the right direction when completing the Sport England application.

• Demonstrate the project supports at least one of Sport England's three strategic outcomes:

Grow - Increasing regular participation in sport (defined by Sport England  as at least 1 x 30 minutes per week of moderate activity sport) by one million by 2012/13 and working with the Youth Sport Trust to enable young people to access at least five hours of sport a week

Sustain - Sustaining current participation in sport by ensuring that participants have a high quality experience and working to reduce the "drop-off" in sports participation between the ages of 16 and 18.

Excel - Developing and accelerating talent by investing in individual sports, making sure that many more talented performers move on to elite programmes and sporting success.

More information can be found on the Sport England strategy can be found here
 
Demonstrate the need for the project by using specific information, you can get statistics from:

http:// www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination
http://www.sportengland.org/research.aspx

• Follow the SMART principle for Goal Setting. Objectives need to be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time Based.  If successful these will be the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) that Sport England will ask you to evaluate against and report back on.      
• Print out a copy of your club constitution
• Ask your treasurer to prepare a copy of your club accounts to submit with your application.

 
By completing the simple 8 sections in the project plan template you will have accounted for all the variables that Sport England are concerned about in their application, and you will be able to progress through the application form quickly.
 

How to Apply
 

1. Go to http://www.sportengland.org
2. Click on the 'GET FUNDING' button on the left hand side
3. Find more detailed information about each pot of money via the bottom left corner of the screen
4. Once you are sure that your project fits into one of the funding streams you can begin your application by clicking the 'How do I apply?' button on the top left of the screen.
5. This page takes you to a page where you can download a sample copy of the application form, print off a copy of the relevant form and run through the questions you will be asked
6. When you are ready to complete the application form click on the link at the bottom of this page 'Investment Centre' and you will be asked to create a login before you can start your application

The turnaround for receiving a decision on an applications success is only 11 weeks, this includes providing initial feedback of eligibility within 3 weeks after the first submission of a bid.  Clubs can then alter and develop their bid before resubmitting and having a final answer within 8 weeks making a total of 11 weeks.
 
All applications are done online and there is support from Sport England, BEF and County Sport Partnerships when submitting bids. 

Initial submissions and ideas for bids should be submitted to your Regional Development Co-ordinator to put forward to the review panel.  National bids should  be sent to Head of Regional Development Maggie Still.  This needs to be done one month prior to submission.