We prioritised projects that supported our focus of investing most in those that need it most.
We did this by supporting more projects that demonstrated one of these things:
- The project supported people who live in areas of disadvantage as defined by the Indices of Multiple Deprivation areas 1-3.
- The project was focused on tackling inequalities.
Your project should involve your community
People know what's most needed for them to be able to be more physically active. With this fund, it was important you involved your community from the start, to understand what motivated them and what barriers they might have faced.
We wanted to support projects that showed they understood local people and the communities they formed.
Sport and physical activity
All of our funds can support projects delivering recognised sports and physical activity – a full list of which can be found here.
We can consider requests for activities outside of this list, where the following applies:
- The identified activity is specifically focused on the needs of the target audience
- The activities being delivered are part of the Broad Activity Categories identified through Active Lives:
- active travel
- walking/cycling activities
- dance activities
- fitness activities
- sporting activities.
It may be possible to include activities that aren't on the recognised list.
In these instances, we'd need to understand how an alternative activity would be part of a progressive route to a recognised sport or activity.
You might also tell us why this activity is most suitable for the people you'll be working with.
Project length
We expected your project to be able to start within six weeks and run for up to two years.
If you were a school, or an organisation working with a school
Your project should have involved and benefited the community outside of the school. The project must have been delivered outside of statutory curriculum hours.
If your project involved football
We supported football projects as the main activity, or part of a multi-activity offer, where it could demonstrate one, or more, of the following:
- The focus was on tackling inequalities and supporting those who are less likely to be physically active
- The focus was on a non-traditional format of football where the emphasis was on being more physically active and not competition
- The project utilised existing community spaces that may not traditionally be used for football activities
- The project connected football activity to existing community services or locations.
Flooding (only while applications were open)
We funded emergency costs to help restore sports facilities and activity venues. Examples included:
- skip hire to remove sediment and rubbish
- minor electrical works to restore power
- decontamination works or clearing of blocked drains
- cleaning work to get showers and changing rooms back up and running
- securing buildings.