Themed Rounds

Themed rounds will be the primary means of distributing National Lottery funding to community sport and will be designed to be flexible, clear and responsive to future needs.

Funding summary

Sport England propose a series of themed rounds of Lottery funding for projects which deliver positive outcomes for community sport. The themes would be chosen so as to ensure maximum benefits to sport and the communities participating in that sport. It would ensure that in making decisions on Lottery funding Sport England would be comparing ‘like with like’, focusing on the best applications within particular themes. Sport England envisage the funding would be used for a wide range of projects such as: supporting voluntary organisations to run sports programmes, coaching, significant investment in equipment or new facilities or extending existing facilities to community groups.

Funding available

Up to £30 million per year, revenue and capital funding, from 2009/10. The fund would be designed to support a large number of awards of all sizes over £10,000.

Timing

The first themed round will be announced in February 2009 in anticipation of applications in April 2009. The round will be open for 2-3 months. Sport England anticipate 2-3 rounds per year and will look to give at least 3 months notice of forthcoming rounds.

Eligibility criteria

The funds will be open to bona fide organisations, including applicants from sports clubs, voluntary or community organisations, local authorities, education establishments (such as schools, colleges and universities) which grow and sustain participation in community sport.

Sport England will aim to apply criteria which target funds at certain types of projects designed to maximise the benefits for community sport in line with the objectives of the fund.

Application process

There will be a two-stage process: an initial short application to assess alignment with the fund's objectives, then a longer process designed to understand the project and decide on the appropriate funding.

Monitoring and evaluation requirements

All Sport England funded programmes will be subject to an appropriate level and type of monitoring and evaluation. This will be geared to ensure that the organisation both meets its statutory duties and manages risk regarding delivery of programme outcomes. The requirements will also be proportionate to past performance - good delivery will mean a lighter monitoring requirement, with poor performance calling for greater attention. Further details of monitoring and evaluation requirements and procedures will be available to potential applicants and recipients as new funds are formally launched.

Partner contribution required

Sport England would encourage a partner contribution and this will be one of the criteria on which the application will be judged. However, there will be no single set contribution required.

Relationship to other funding streams

This funding stream will use funds which previously would have been part of the Community Investment Fund.