Community emergency fund still awarding

Any club delivering community sport and physical activity can still apply to the Community Emergency Fund which has now awarded £8m worth of funding.

More than 2,000 grass roots sports clubs and community organisations have received a total of around £8m worth of funding from the Community Emergency Fund, set up to help with the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Any club delivering community sport and physical activity can apply to the fund if it’s experiencing short term financial hardship or the ceasing of operations due to the impact of coronavirus. Sport England is prioritising organisations that work with under-represented groups.

The fund could be especially useful for clubs who have recently closed their doors during the Coronavirus outbreak and who have on-going financial obligations which they are struggling to meet.

What they are funding?

The fund has been developed to help community sport and physical activity organisations meet their obligations, in particular fixed costs, which are no longer supported with revenue as a result of coronavirus. This might cover expenditure on:

• Rent
• Utility costs 
• Insurances 
• Facility or equipment hire 
• Core staffing costs (including casual workers) that cannot be met elsewhere by other government funds
• Retrospective losses dating from 1 March, 2020.
  
  

Priority is being given to clubs and organisations that:

• Deliver activity for the disadvantaged
• Are maintaining an element of self-employed workforce not covered by other funding
• Work with one of the following groups:

- Women and girls
- Older people
- Disabled people
- Lower socio-economic groups
- BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) people
- LGBTQIAP+
- Those with long-term health conditions

More information on the Sport England Community Emergency Fund