Have you seen our new and improved Funding Finder?

The new and improved Active Together Funding Finder is now live on our website! We have made a number of changes to make it more user friendly and easier to search for relevant funding. You can now work through a few short questions to narrow down your search and find the most suitable funding depending on your needs.

You can filter results by 'who' you are seeking funding for - whether that is funding for a club or group, funding for a specific sport, support for talented athletes, individual coaching qualifications/training and funds focusing on disability. You can also filter results by the 'type of funding' you are seeking (i.e. facility development or revenue), by 'local or national' funds and by 'funding amount'.

SHIRE Community Grants

Round 1 of Leicestershire County Council's SHIRE Community Grants programme for 2023-24 is now open for applications. Funding is available for projects and activities which improve the health, wellbeing, and quality of lives of vulnerable and disadvantaged individuals and communities in Leicestershire.

For the first round of funding (April-June 2023), SHIRE Grant funding will be prioritised for projects related to the following themes:

- Supporting vulnerable people and communities to manage the impacts of the cost of living crisis
- Support for community-based projects and activities which improve mental health and wellbeing, including projects which reduce loneliness and social isolation
- Projects for vulnerable and disadvantaged children and young people (and their families)
- Projects supporting people with disabilities and/or long-term health conditions.

The deadline for applications is Wednesday 7th June.

Blaby District Council Community Grants Scheme

The Blaby District Council Community Grants scheme is open for 2023-24. The scheme supports the local voluntary and community sector to develop and strengthen community facilities and activities for the benefit of Blaby district residents. The following grants are available to suit different project types:

- Capital Green Grants - up to £4,000 (20% match funding required)
- Large Capital Grants - up to £4,000 (50% match funding required)
- Small Capital Grants - up to £500
- Revenue Grants - up to £500
- Everyone Active Grants - up to £500

The deadline for Round 1 applications is Wednesday 31st May at 5pm.

North West Leicestershire District Council UKSPF Community Grant

The grant scheme is part of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) and can support a range of community activities and initiatives. These include:

- Create or improve an area of public space, leading to increased visits
- Support a local event or initiative (e.g. arts, heritage, cultural, creative)
- Support an existing group to obtain, retain or develop skills, knowledge and tools
- Provide support to reduce the Cost of Living

The fund is open to North West Leicestershire parish and town councils, parish meetings, constituted voluntary and community groups, uniformed groups, PTAs and not-for-profit organisations. Each parish or area has been allocated an amount of between £3000 and £10,000 based on population size.

The deadline for applications is Friday 30th June.

Help us find new Let's Get Moving Champions!

We are looking for local Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland residents to become Let's Get Moving Champions, to help inspire their neighbours and communities to move more each day and incorporate physical activity into their daily lifestyle.

We are seeking all types and levels of activity including litter picking, gardening, environmental volunteering etc. through both an open and targeted recruitment process. This isn't just for individuals but can be done as a group or club.

If your group/club, or you know someone that has an interesting story to share, become a Let's Get Moving Champion and inspire local residents to be active!

Youth Endowment Fund

The Youth Endowment Fund exists to prevent children and young people becoming involved in violence. Through the current grant round, they are testing the impact of sports, arts and adventure and wilderness activities on preventing violence.

They are looking to fund and evaluate projects that target, support and work with children and young people who are aged 10 to 18 years old who are already involved in the youth justice system, either in custodial or community-based settings or considered at risk of involvement in youth offending. They aim to identify 5 or 6 projects to fund and evaluate, and spend between £9 million and £10 million.

The deadline for applications is Friday 26th May.

Parkinson's UK reopens Physical Activity Grants

The Parkinson's UK Physical Activity Grants Programme supports activity providers, communities, networks, organisations and others to develop opportunities for people with Parkinson's to become and stay active.

Funding is available from £500 up to a maximum of £3000 and projects must demonstrate impact i.e. people are becoming and staying active, or they have increased their levels of activity. Parkinson's UK are looking for new opportunities for people affected by Parkinson's to participate in physical activity and sport or increased participation in these areas.

The application window for 2023 is now open and will remain open until Thursday 30th November.

Veolia Environmental Trust: Community Grants

Grants of between £10,000 and £75,000 are available for projects that improve an outside space or community building available for everyone and anyone to use on a daily basis. This can include structural improvement works to a single building or outdoor space which has public access e.g. community centre, public park, play area, skate park, MUGA, sports ground.

The next funding round opens on Thursday 25th May and will close on Thursday 22nd June.

Football Foundation Funding opened up to Town / Parish Councils and Schools

The Football Foundation is on a mission to transform the quality of grass pitches across the country. The Grass Pitch Maintenance Fund is a key part of this ambition and provides eligible organisations with a tapered six-year grant to help them sustain pitches already at a 'good' level and enhance pitches that are either considered 'poor' or 'basic'. The Football Foundation has widened the scope of their Grass Pitch Maintenance Fund to include Town Councils, Parish Councils and education establishments.

Howdens Game Changer Programme

Howdens have partnered with the FA to invest £3M into improving grassroots football club's kitchens so that they can serve their communities with food and refreshments. Applications are open to England Football Accredited 2* and 3* clubs who:

- Own their own facilities freehold; or
- Have an uninterruptable lease of 5 years or longer and have your landlord's consent to undertake the proposed work; or
- Have a license in place for the next 5 years with landlord consent to carry out the works.

If successful, Howdens will be responsible for the supply of the kitchen to be fitted by a local tradesperson in coordination with the club. The kitchen includes the cabinets, drawers, hinges, handles, frontals, cabinet trims, worktops, sinks, taps and approved appliances.

The application window closes on Friday 26th May.

The Premier League Primary Stars Kit Scheme is back!

The Premier League, in collaboration with Nike, is providing 4,000 sets of football kit to schools with a girls' team. Delivered via the Premier League Primary Stars programme, the Scheme looks to encourage more young girls across England and Wales to participate in football.

Premier League Primary Stars supports pupils to be active and learn essential life skills, while also providing opportunities for girls to take part in football and sport. Applications can be made by teachers registered for Premier League Primary Stars, who teach 5-11 year olds at a school in England, Wales or the Channel Islands, and who have or will make a commitment to get more girls playing football.

You can apply to get a set of kit until Friday 9th June.

Business of Sport Network Session: Help to start, develop and sustain your organisation

Tuesday 13^th June, 9.30-12 at Aylestone Leisure Centre, Leicester

Having the right structure for your organisation and spending time working on your organisation can make huge differences to how you operate, apply for funding, and how you plan to achieve your organisational objectives.

Active Together are pleased to introduce CASE who can provide advice and support to clubs, organisations, sole traders, social enterprises and others. The team can guide you on a range of key areas for establishing and running your organisation, such as, suitable structures for CASC registered and other unincorporated organisations, including the process to become incorporated and the protection it will give. It will also cover practical steps for developing and sustaining, governance considerations and business models.

Join this session to begin to explore the most appropriate legal structure to achieve your aims.

Active Together ‘Health Hub’ Launches

The Active Together Health Hub has been developed to support sport and physical activity clubs and organisations to share wider health messaging to their communities.

The Health Campaigns section on the Hub will provide information on current campaigns running, alongside pre-written social media for you to share with members. The Hub shares resources and links that will enable you to support members with their mental and physical health, and access local services.

We will be developing workshops for clubs. If there is anything your group would like support with around members health, you can contact us via [email protected]

Club Matters: Identify ways to access funding and raise money

The Club Matters webinar 'Raising money to sustain your Organisation' identifies different ways to raise money, works through the 'dos and dont's' of grant funding and identifies where to look for grant funding. The webinars will take place on:

Friday 2nd June | 12:00 - 13:00

Wednesday 28th June | 19:00 - 20:00

Club Matters - Tackling climate change – sustainable facilities

Club Matters has also recently released their latest video on environmental sustainability, focussing on low and no cost ways to act against the climate change emergency we're in. Small actions add up and we have a collective responsibility to make a difference.

Let's Get Moving - Join us as a Supporter

Let's Get Moving aims to motivate you, me and every resident across Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland to move more.

Through the collective use of the Let's Get Moving strapline, we want to bring about a movement of positive physical activity change. Bringing together those partners who are supporting local residents to be physically active.

We hope that this approach allows our partner organisations more flexibility to use the Let's Get

Moving strapline alongside your existing brands, products and programmes.

Within the Let's Get Moving Supporter's Hub you will be able to access the strapline identifiers and additional content, all of which is free for partners and supporters to use:

- Themed/Seasonal Social Media Content
- Let's Get Moving Champion Assets
- Let's Get Moving for Less Content
- Health Campaigns Calendar
- Making the Case (supporting consistent physical activity messaging)