A new £160 million fund offers crowdfunding pledges, grands and resources has been launched by Sport England along side a new Movement Hub pilot.
Sport England has 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.
The new Movement Fund, which launched on Monday 29 April 2024, 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 the 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 the 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, Sport England’s 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.”
The 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.
The fund comes on the back of the commitments Sport England made in the 2022-25 implementation plan of their 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 they’ve developed a brand new set of guidance to help people in the application process. To give an idea of what Sport England would like to see, alongside the fund’s objectives and priorities, they’ve developed four ambitions of what makes a good 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 Hub
The Movement Hub launches today and aims to help people and organisations solve challenges and access support.
What launches today is the best and most useful of what we as Sport England have to offer. These resources already exist, but we’re trying to make them easier to find and access.
This current hub is a pilot that offers different user groups the resources that will be of most use to them.
In time, and with the help of further user research, the Movement Hub will be developed and evolve into a full resource hub, with new offerings that will help with future challenges.
The Movement Fund comes after Sport England revolutionised their 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 the 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 actions can help drive the change that’s needed in the sport and physical activity sector for Sport England’s vision to become a reality.
For more information please contact British Wrestling via clubdevelopment@britishwrestling.org
