Business Support
In addition to support available to facility providers through a number of our Member Bodies including the British Equestrian Trade Association, British Horse Society and Association of British Riding Schools, many equestrian facilities will be able to benefit through organisations looking after the interests of small businesses. A few of these are mentioned here.
Business Link is the government organisation established to support, provide advice, and guide both start-up and established businesses. This support includes finance and grants, employment, health and safety, marketing, regulation, IT and e-commerce.
The Federation of Small Businesses is the UK's leading lobbying and benefits group for small and medium sized businesses. Over 200,000 members (including more than 200 equestrian businesses) receive a range of benefits including free business banking, access to preferential arrangements telecommunications, financial, insurance and private medical services, legal helplines and templates for contracts and other legal documentation.
Funding
Although there are many funding opportunities in general, many are only accessible to not for profit organisations, clubs, charities and community related projects. Traditional commercial and private equestrian enterprises may therefore find it difficult to identify funds that they are able to apply to. However there are plenty of examples where equestrian facilities have received funding so below are a number of links that we hope you will find useful.
The BEF Facilities Strategy (from page 28) contains a section on funding that provides comprehensive information on the main sports and rural based funding organisations, including funding parameters, contact details and guidance on how to apply.
Relevant links:
General Funding Information
Awards for All
Community Investment Fund
Sportsmatch
Although not direct funding, the Government's Community Amateur Sports Club scheme provides sports clubs with an opportunity to save money on its costs, thereby freeing up funding for development. The key benefits include:
This scheme will not suit all facility owners as to achieve the full benefits the facility would need to be under the ownership of a 'club'. However a number of facilities have successfully achieved CASC status and we will soon publish case studies enabling others to see how this can be done. More information can be found at www.cascinfo.co.uk.