Sport England have launched a £195 million package to help sport and physical activity through the coronavirus outbreak. The money aims to help partners, clubs and community organisations cope with the short and long-term impact of the pandemic.

£20 million of this package has been allocated towards the Community Emergency Fund, which is now open for clubs and community organisations to bid into. Grants between £300 and £10,000 are available.

Who they will fund?

Any organisation delivering community sport and physical activity can apply if it’s experiencing short term financial hardship or the ceasing of operations due to the impact of coronavirus.

These organisations include:

• Local sports clubs
• Voluntary and community sector organisations that deliver or enable sport and/or physical activity, including organisations that are not solely or primarily sports organisations and have an important role to play in keeping people active, that may need support for other parts of their organisation to remain open
• Small charitable trusts that do not qualify for financial help elsewhere
• Regional or county level organisations or leagues that have already paid out funds for activities that are now cancelled and are not able to claim funds from elsewhere.

What they will fund?

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.

You can find out more information on the criteria and applying by clicking the Community Emergency Fund above.

Charity Bank have produced a list of emergency funders, including a summary of each local Community Foundation. Click here

The London Community Response Fund, coordinated by London Funders, is open for applications for the first wave of funding. This first wave will cover urgent needs – focusing on food and essentials and organisations can apply for up to £5,000. More funding will be available in due course for larger grants, service transformation costs, and ongoing work to support communities. Applying for the first wave doesn’t mean you can’t apply for further waves of money.

The London Community Response Fund – supported by a variety of funders – gives one easy access point for organisations seeking urgent funds during this time. All emergency funds coming to or managed by LCF – including the National Emergencies Trust  and the London Communities Coronavirus Appeal – are being allocated through this portal. By working with other funders on this portal, we want to support the sector by reducing time spent applying for funds. We will continue to update you on emergency funds here but to apply directly for funding, please use the following link which will take you to the London Funders: London Community Response Fund: Apply for Emergency Funding to help London’s most vulnerable (londoncommunityresponsefund.org.uk).

To stay up to date with the latest, please check out this blog