Just check our dedicated section which details the ways that the Football Foundation and several other organisations can help your group. For a bit of inspiration, we have also thrown in a page of success stories. If you’re pushing your club forward, then essexfa.com wants to hear from you!
All of the funding pots in our Opportunities page have a link for further information. However, if you require any assistance, please contact the ECFA County Development Manager, Brendan Walshe, on (01245) 393075 or E-Mail brendan.walshe@essexfa.com.
Opportunities
The Football Foundation
The Football Foundation is one of sport’s biggest charities, offering a variety of funding schemes to suit every type of project. The Football Foundation requires projects to have been discussed with the local County FA before being submitted. This is to ensure that projects fit into the County Football Strategy and offer value for money.
N.B. Due to an overwhelming and increasing demand for grants from the Football Foundation's Facilities schemes, the value of the grant applications already in the system now far exceeds the available budget. To best manage this situation, any applications already received but not yet approved, including those that are being supported by The FA in the pre-application stage, will be subject to rigorous scrutiny to see if further cost savings can be made by rescoping the project or, indeed, if revisiting the proposed time scales for its delivery is a viable option.
Specifically, close attention will be paid to the potential partnership funding each project has attracted. Applications requiring a very high percentage level of support will only be supported in truly exceptional circumstances. To make the best possible use of available funds, a new scheme - called Build the Game - will be launched shortly. This will enable applicants to apply for more modest grant support of under £20,000 to upgrade facilities that will deliver genuine football development outcomes via a simpler and much quicker application process.
The Football Foundation will continue to accept new Expressions of Interest (EOI) and these will be managed under the current process in partnership with The FA and County Football Associations taking into consideration their individual merits, when compared to the existing applications in the system. However applicants should take into account the advice offered before commissioning any monies towards developing a project.
The Football Foundation is currently running the following schemes:
Capital Projects Scheme: This scheme is divided into two - projects under £20,000 and projects over £20,000. The Football Foundation aim to fund 50% of the cost of projects, however, they will fund up to 90% of the total costs on a case by case basis. The maximum grant awarded is £1 million. If you are looking to develop a facility you are strongly advised to read through the Essex Facility Strategy which highlights the strategic priorities of the Local Football Partnership. The Local Football Partnership provide comments on applications to the Football Foundation, and support is more likely if the project fits the strategy. For further information on this scheme and an application form visit www.footballfoundation.org.uk/apply/football-stadia-improvement-fund-grant
Community and Education Scheme (Currently Suspended): This scheme is aimed at organisations who require funding to run a project that increases educational attainment, promotes social inclusion or challenges anti-social behaviour. Funding is available for projects costing between £10,000 and £250,000 with up to 90% of the project cost being funded. This scheme is open to any not for profit organisation, Football in the Community and local Authorities.
What can be funded? Development posts, education/training opportunities, facility hire, equipment, coaching costs, promotion costs, learning centres, social inclusion projects.
What will not be funded? Projects delivered during curriculum time, education resources (i.e. videos/workshops/exhibitions), one-off tournaments/festivals, individuals competing in such tournaments, IT equipment, purchase of transport For further information on this scheme and an application form visit www.footballfoundation.org.uk/seeking-funding/community-and-education
Community and Education Small Grants Scheme: This scheme aims to increase participation and provide training for volunteers. Organisations can apply for up to 90% of the cost of projects of £10,000 or less. This scheme is aimed at community groups, youth clubs, football clubs and educational establishments.
What can be funded? Training courses, facility hire, hire of FA qualified coaches, hire of qualified/affiliated referees, affiliation fees, travel expenses, recruitment events (such as taster days), first aid kits.
What will not be funded? Groups which have previously received Foundation funding in the last three years (with the exception of the Junior Kit Scheme, Goalpost Safety Scheme and capital projects under £10,000), projects with a total cost exceeding £10,000 retrospective or existing work, on going costs, curriculum time activity (with the exception of special needs school), education resources (i.e. videos/workshops/exhibitions), permanent employment of Officers/posts purchase of/contribution to mini buses, capital improvements (including goal posts), IT equipment, applications which have the sole aim of achieving FA Charter Standard, travel expenses to watch matches, projects based on performance and excellence, insurance, consultant fees or administration costs, mixed football aged 11+, strip and equipment including goal posts/nets, end of season presentations, trophies etc, annual or one-off events that do not lead to regular activity, overseas travel and expenses.
Please note that the Foundation has announced that the Goalpost Safety Scheme is now closed to new applications, though applications already submitted will still be processed. If you have received an offer of a Goalpost Safety Grant and are seeking to purchase the goals, please consult the suppliers' flyers for up-to-date prices and contact details. Please refer to the Foundation’s web-site for more information at www.footballfoundation.org.uk/apply/goalpost-safety-grant.
Junior Kit Scheme (CURRENTLY SUSPENDED): The Junior Kit Scheme provides teams under the age of 18 with free kit and equipment up to the value of £400 in the form of a voucher that can be exchanged with Nike. Schools may apply for one voucher every three years, whilst clubs may apply for two vouchers with one voucher to be spent on male kit and one on female. Who can apply? clubs, schools and other organisations (such as disabled groups) that play up to and including District Level and have teams that fit the following criteria: be aged under 7 to under 18 (except for disabled groups who may apply for any age group), not received a kit grant within the last three years from the Football Foundation or Barclaycard Free Kicks Scheme, either have Charter Standard or be willing to work to gain the award within 12 months, have a child protection policy in place, have a minimum of ten registered members, teams over 11 must not be mixed gender. For further information on this scheme and an application form visit www.footballfoundation.org.uk/apply/junior-kit-grant
Football Stadia Improvement Fund: This has funding criteria for stadia improvement projects. With an annual budget of £5m, provided by the Premier League, their latest deal ensures that the FSIF can continue to offer grants to professional and amateur football clubs in the Football League and National League System (NLS) towards stadia improvement, such as building new stands, floodlights, pitches and CCTV.
All applications will be judged on financial need and available budget. Grants will be limited to 50% of eligible costs and the following upper limits will be applied: Football League Clubs: £750,000, NLS Step 1: £400,000, NLS Step 2 to 4: £150,000, NLS Step 5 and 6: £100,000, NLS Step 7 and below: £20,000, but up to £50,000 for applications including changing rooms.
In addition, a total of £200,000 of the FSIF annual budget will be ring-fenced each year to support the two clubs promoted from the Football Conference to the Football League to cover the costs of required safety installations, such as computerised turnstiles, CCTV, stadium control rooms, etc.
Women’s pyramid clubs are eligible for funding. The default level will be set at NLS Step 4 for clubs in the Women’s Super league, but as with all applications to the FSIF, applications will be judged on value for money and available budget. Demand for these funds is expected to be high, and the FSIF will suspend the fund each year, once the annual budget has been exhausted.
Full eligibility criteria for all the above grant schemes can be found on the Football Foundation’s website www.footballfoundation.org.uk. Expressions of interest in applying for funding should also be made via the Foundation’s website.
Barclays Spaces for Sport Scheme
This scheme is aiming to create and improve facilities across the Country. This is a closed scheme, which means that it is not open to applications. Instead the projects are identified by existing sources such as the Football Foundation and Groundwork. If you would like further information on this scheme contact the Football Foundation on (020) 7534 4284 or visit www.barclays.co.uk/spacesforsports.
In addition to the facilities projects, Barclays are also offering 1,200 coaching equipment packs to groups throughout the Country. For further information on this scheme please click below. Visit www.footballfoundation.org.uk/our-schemes/corporate-partner-programmes/barclays. Community Development Foundation One of the key aims of this scheme is to bring together communities from different races and faiths, and promote a shared sense of belonging (community cohesion). Grants are available up to £12,000. Applications for this scheme are done on a round by round basis. To view the dates of each round and for further information visit www.communityfoundations.org.uk.
Jack Petchey Foundation
Grants are available for projects based in Essex that benefit people aged 11-25. Organisations may apply for between £500 and £50,000. To be eligible organisations must be charities or have charitable purposes. This scheme is likely to support projects such as: clubs and youth groups that demonstrate that they are enabling individuals to achieve their potential, take control of their lives and contribute to society as a whole the training of youth leaders, projects that help develop self-esteem through involving young people in sport and other worthwhile activities, schools and other training establishments so that they can provide a better service to young people (care is taken not to give grants where statutory funding is available), volunteer projects, schemes that tackle the problems faced by young people from ethnic minority groups, projects where there is "match funding" or demonstrable support from those involved with the organisation. For further information and an application form visit www.jackpetcheyfoundation.org.uk.
Sports Match
Designed to encourage new or additional sponsorship investment from businesses, trusts and private individuals, Sportsmatch, funded by Sport England, will continue to offer pound-for-pound matched funding to sporting stakeholders for projects that encourage sports participation at grass roots level.
The fund has the following priority groups: women and girls sports, ethnic minorities, disability groups, schools, activities taking place in areas of urban or rural deprivation. For more information visit www.sportsmatch.co.uk/index.html.
Big Lottery Fund
The Lottery fund is separated into a number of different programmes. Below are the programmes that may offer opportunities for sport.
Community Buildings The programme will fund projects in buildings that benefit communities and house a range of activities and services open to a broad range of local people. Grants are available of between £50,000 and £500,000. The programme could support a variety of projects of different sizes and types including refurbishing existing facilities, redevelopment and extension of community buildings, new buildings (where no other options exist), purchase of buildings (where no other options exist).
These projects will typically take place in buildings such as village halls, community centres and other buildings that are accessible to the wider community. The programme is open to voluntary and community organisations and parish councils in England. Voluntary and community organisations include charities, not for profit companies, credit unions, social and community enterprises, and community based co-operatives.
Awards for All
This funding scheme awards £300 to £10,000 for people to take part in sport. The scheme is open to not-for-profit organisations, parish and town councils, schools and health bodies.
These are examples of what Awards for All could fund: publicity materials, venue hire, computers, research costs, transport costs, volunteers’ expenses, updating equipment for health and safety reasons, refurbishment, training, sessional staff, fees to hire equipment. For more information and an application form visit www.awardsforall.org.uk/england/index.html.
Help Yourselves
This scheme aims to fund projects that allow young people the chance to improve their communities.
Children and young people linked to an adult led group or organisation, or any organisation that works with young people, or one that wants to involve them in their work can apply.
Success Stories
Former West Ham United and England striker Tony Cottee cut the ribbon to open one of “the biggest and most modern school pitches in England” at Plume School in Maldon, joining a posse of local dignitaries who witnessed the first tournament taking place on the brand new artificial grass surface.
The Fambridge Road school marked a glorious conclusion to Maldon Community Leisure’s project with an opening ceremony for councillors and officials, who also enjoyed an Under 16s competition on the innovative pitch which will be available for use by the local neighbourhood as well as students thanks to a joint venture between the school and Maldon District Council worth over £500,000 in total.
Cottee declared the pitch open in the presence of MP John Whittingdale, town and district councillors and representatives from Plume, Maldon District Council, the Essex County Football Association and the Football Foundation. Guests met students of Plume Football College, saw Year Ten and Eleven pupils using the school’s recently-installed climbing wall, and saw student Callum McFedries-Pitt presented with his certificate for winning a competition to design a logo for Maldon Community Leisure.
Speaking of his delight at the success of the project, ECFA County Development Manager Brendan Walshe said: “We’d like to congratulate all concerned for their hard work and dedication in developing this new 3G artificial grass pitch. The new provision represents another investment to improve football facilities across Essex and it will have a long lasting legacy as well as an impact for both the school and the local football community, who were also key partners in the development of this facility.”
The pitch will be used by students during school hours but will also be available for use by community groups at other times. It is already proving popular, with some weekday evenings already fully-booked. The project is being funded by Plume, who provided £100,000, and Maldon District Council, who contributed £175,000. A further £289,565 was supplied by a grant from the Football Foundation and the remaining £100,000 came from Essex County Council’s 2012 Olympic Legacy Fund.
Matthew Lock recently became the Football Development Officer who will oversee the everyday operations of the pitch and he additionally expressed his pride at the construction of such an impressive venue. He added: “This is going to create numerous opportunities for not just the staff and pupils of Plume, but the whole community to play, teach and coach on a fantastic surface. I plan for this to be the epicentre for football in the area and believe this facility enables improvement in all areas from grassroots up.”
The ceremony also marked the latest triumph of the Football Foundation, the UK’s largest sports’ charity funded by the Premier League, The FA and the Government which directs £40m every year into grassroots sport. Chief Executive Paul Thorogood commented: “We commend the club and the Essex County FA for their hard work in making this happen. Sport is playing a central role in helping people to stay fit, strengthen communities and promote responsibility amongst young people.”
Coaching
Active Essex works with Sport England and ScUK be to ensure that locally the coaching support is accessible and available to our delivery partners. We have 8 main coaching objectives: Support an increase in the number of qualified coaches within Essex, based on the workforce development needs of NGBs Develop a local solution by which coaching data can be managed and coaches can be tracked to provide local intelligence reports back into NGBs/Sport England. Increase the number of NGB active coaches accessing needs led continuous professional’. Development opportunities. To facilitate the establishment of a Support Network for coaches within Essex, to provide a community of learning. Identify and promote funding schemes/grants that will aid local coaches in obtaining CPD opportunities at a reduced cost. Create a pathway from the Leaders programme into entry level coaching opportunities. Support coaches seeking to increase their coaching by promoting the availability of local coaching opportunities within your CSP area. Provide employment and deployment guidance to coaching providers operating within Essex. We have a dedicated Coach Development Manager who can help individuals, clubs and NGB's get started or progress along the coach development pathway. www.activeessex.org/Coaching
