New Movement Fund set to revolutionise funding applications
Our £160 million fund offers crowdfunding pledges, grants and resources, and is launched alongside the Movement Hub pilot.
We’ve transformed our funding application process to make it easier for sports clubs and other organisations who help people to take part in physical activity apply for money.
Our new Movement Fund, which has launched today, simplifies funding applications and will help those with the greatest need secure investment to support people to live active, healthy, lives.
The fund, which is worth £160 million over the next four years, replaces our existing Small Grants Programme and Active Together fund, and will offer crowdfunding pledges, grants and resources to provide physical activity opportunities that can help us tackle long-lasting inequalities.
As our latest Active Lives figures show, there's still a significant activity gap between people based on where they live, how affluent they are, their sex, ethnic background or whether they have a disability or long-term health condition. The Movement Fund aims to help close these gaps and will especially welcome applications that focus on doing so.
The launch coincides with the introduction of our new Movement Hub pilot – which will make it far easier to find our existing tools and resources.
“Today marks a significant milestone in the delivery of our strategy,” said Tim Hollingsworth, our chief executive.
“In our implementation plan we committed to simplifying access to our open funding, with a single point of entry for anyone wanting to be a part of the movement – today we make good on that commitment.
“We know that choosing the best fund to apply for can be confusing, which is why we’ve worked hard to create a single application form that allows us to do the hard work and best assess your suitability.
“But while the method of application may have changed, our intention to unashamedly prioritise funding for people and communities who need it most, has not.
“Whether it’s a crowdfunding pledge or a grant, the Movement Fund is here to help our mission to tackle deep-rooted inequalities and unlock the advantages of sport and physical activity for everyone, to become a reality.”
Our Movement Fund is aimed at community groups, local clubs and grassroots organisations that are at the heart of delivering physical activity opportunities that boost people’s health and wellbeing.
And with investments of between £300 and £15,000 on offer if your project aligns with our priorities, we can fund a broad range of costs and items.
“Whether it’s a crowdfunding pledge or a grant, the Movement Fund is here to help our mission to tackle deep-rooted inequalities and unlock the advantages of sport and physical activity for everyone, to become a reality.”
Tim Hollingsworth
Chief executive, Sport England
The fund comes on the back of the commitments we made in the 2022-25 implementation plan of our Uniting the Movement strategy.
General eligibility criteria for the Movement Fund include:
- An organisation working with people living in England
- An organisation being not-for-profit
- An organisation not being based on investment in equipment or facilities for football-only projects (these organisations should instead apply to the Football Foundation)
Further criteria apply to the fund and we’ve developed a brand new set of guidance to help people in the application process.
To give an idea of what we'd like to see, alongside the fund’s objectives and priorities, we’ve developed four ambitions of what we’re looking for in an application.
They are:
- encouraging positive experiences of sport and physical activity
- involving the community in planning and delivery
- prioritising environmental sustainability
- a good use of public money.
The Movement Fund comes after we revolutionised our investment model for long-term partners, with organisations now receiving funding for up to five years – providing financial security and allowing them to recover and reinvent from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Both of these changes to our funding structure were outlined in the ‘Investment approach’ section of the 22-25 Implementation Plan, and tie into the ‘Being the change’ commitment from the plan, which detailed how our own actions can help drive the change that’s needed in the sport and physical activity sector for our vision to become a reality.
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