Herts Sports Partnership's guide to funding opportunities

HSP's latest e-newsletter is a very useful guide to all of the funding opportunities available to clubs and individuals, both local and national.

Click here for details.

Hertfordshire Locality Budget Scheme

Is your club looking for a small funding boost to help support - perhaps - coach training, new equipment, or a community project? If so, a new (and little publicised) scheme launched by Hertfordshire County Council could be useful.

Each elected member of the council has £10,000 to spend on "worthwhile community projects" in their area through "locality budgets" and applicants are encouraged to discuss their proposal with their local member before completing your application.

If they are in agreement, you then complete a simple online application and - once submitted- this is reviewed by your local member who then recommends whether the grant should be awarded. A formal decision will then be made by the council’s chief legal officer, but assuming everything is okay you should receive the agreed funding within 2-3 months.

For more information see these documents on the HCC website.

Grants from district councils for county and regional players

North Herts District Council have announced that the next round of grants for elite sports people om the district is now open - but applications need to be in by 19th June. Nearly £8000 is available for distribution to any regional players aged 19-23, and also to any coaches working with regional athletes.

The North Herts scheme is only open to people living in the district - but it is just one example of the grants available available to "elite athletes" from most district councils in Hertfordshire.

The terms and size of awards will vary, as will the application process. Some - like the North Herts scheme - will be limited to regional players, but some will be available to county representatives. Some will be based on an annual bidding competition, some every six months, some will be available throughout the year.

But the main thing is that these awards are there - and it is well worth your while applying for them. Remember that the awards will be almost certainly based on where you live - not where your club or school is - so if (for example) you played for Welwyn but lived in Sawbridgeworth you would need to apply to East Hertfordshire District Council for grants, not Welwyn and Hatfield.

Free funding advice for all clubs

Calling all sports clubs, coaches, teachers, volunteers and those working in the Community Sports sector. The Herts Sports Partnership are delighted to invite you to the:

2009 Herts Community Sports Summit

at 

The Fielder Centre, Hatfield Business Park,Hatfield,Herts

 on

Monday 20th April 2009 - starting at 6.30pm

This year's Community Sports Summit is FREE to all those involved in delivering sport and physical activity in schools and the community. The summit provides an opportunity for delegates to be brought up to speed on a number of topical issues and the changing landscape for the delivery of sport in England.

The programme includes workshops that will cover areas as diverse as safeguarding and child protection; sports volunteering; the government's Physical Education and Sports Strategy for Young People (PESSYP); Sport England's new grant scheme; Community Sports Networks (CSNs); and a session by one of the country's leading funding advisers, Svend Elkjaer of Sports Marketing Network, intriguingly entitled ‘From Doggy Walks to Direct Debits - 42 ways your club can grow its income'.

To find out more information and to book your place go to:

http://www.sportinherts.org.uk/deliveringsport/summit2009/default.asp

RFUW Club Devlopment Toolkit Funding Award

Welwyn Warriors received the excellent news today that their application for £500 from the RFUW Club Development Toolkit Fund has been successful.

This money will be used on projects to promote Girls Rugby in the local area e.g. Open Afternoons, Coaching in Schools, Publicity etc. The money will be used between June 1 2008 and May 31 2009, and will effectively be an investment in the long term future of Welwyn Warriors.

Welwyn Warriors set the example in Welwyn Hatfield

Welwyn Warriors Girls Team is to be used as a case study to help struggling Sports Clubs across its local Borough.
In conjunction with the Local Council and the Hertfordshire Sports Partnership, Welwyn Warriors will provide a 'blueprint' for the success that they have achieved in gaining funding in just one season. Team Manager Dave Marques is delighted the club are being used as an example for others to follow.
He said: “Welwyn-Hatfield Borough Council and the Sports Partnership have been very supportive of Girls Rugby so we are only too pleased to be able to try and help other Sports. At the start of last season, we didn't have anywhere near enough equipment or playing kit for the fast growing number of players. Now we have home and away kits (to avoid colour clashes); good training equipment; finance for continued work on our School Links programme for the next 12 months; money for transporting the teams to away games; and subsidies to run coaching camps. We certainly hope the approach we have taken can show other Sports what can be achieved. We hope we can also demonstrate that help is out there if you know where to look.”
Welwyn RFC is now seeking planning permission for new showers and changing facilities for their existing Girls and and newly created Womens teams as well as applying for £10,000 to install extra floodlights so that the Girls and Women can have their own training area in the Winter.

Notes from Women & Girls' Development meeting

The latest Women and Girls's development forum meeting took place yesterday at Radlett. The meeting was chaired by the Women's Regional Development Manager (WRDM) Amanda Bate who commented that she "was very disappointed at the poor turnout for the meeting" which had been arranged to take place at Tabard, but no-one from Tabard arrived so the meeting had to move to a nearby pub!

Amanda continued that "The meeting is usually held at Welwyn, but we moved it to Tabard to try and make it easier for some clubs to attend. This did not happen, so in future the meetings will once again be held at Welwyn RFC."

Present were Amanda Bate (WRDM), John Birch (Letchworth), Heather Alcock (Letchworth), Gareth Lewis (YDO Stevenage), Luke Williams (Welwyn), Dave Marques (Welwyn), Simon Shutler (Saracens), and there were apologies from Vicky Lowe (Hertford), Jess Lane (Welwyn), Chris Fishlock (Hertford)

"If any club needs help/support in developing girls rugby then they should attend these meetings.

"As usual there was no representation at all from senior women’s teams, and so I take this as a sign that the women’s game in Herts does not need any support at all, which is very encouraging!"


The main points discussed were:

Club reports:

Welwyn

• Expected players for next season, u15 15-20, U18’s 18-23,
• Four coaches, Luke Williams (Head coach), Chris Gallagher (Forwards coach), Pete Mccullough and Jess Lane (U15s)
• Targeting years 5-8, boys and girls, through school coaching; Luke Williams to coach in the four primary schools, contact with the schools being made via SSCO. Both boys and girls will have festival at the club, which may begin with tag ("see how it goes").

Letchworth

• Expected players for next season, u15 8, u18’s 18-20
• Coach -Woman returning to Letchworth from University may be able to help. John Birch and Andrew Glenister, and club will provide further support. Usually parents become the coaches, but the girls parents do not have rugby playing background. Amanda will ask Kat Emerson if she can coach as Kat is a senior player in Essex, due to start at Herts University in September.

Saracens

• Expected players for next season, u15 12-14, u18 8-10
• Coaches: Simon Shutler, Alan Watson to coach, both at level 2.
• All fixtures sorted! Will join with Middlesex to create Middx U18, and also matches against Letchworth, Welwyn and Basford

Stevenage

• Players - don’t know yet! Plenty of coaches, no girls yet! Thinking of clusters like before (Herts Swifts). Meeting suggested clustering with Letchworth and Gareth Lewis seemed interested, though suspected possible club objections at Stevenage. Amanda suggested Stevenage lends a coach…looks at the "bigger picture".
• Why is Stevenage trying again to build girls rugby? Girls coming through from minis, and also grants the club has received in the past dependant on providing womens and girls rugby. A summer camp will try and recruit both sexes, and they are also looking at Emerging Schools teams, with Paul Freestone’s help.

County teams-appointments

U18’s Vicky Lowe and Luke Williams will again coach the county girls, Simon Sutler will lead coach the county U15’s with Jess Lane in support. Dave Marques will be team manager for u18’s and Pete McCullough will be team manager for u15’s. It is hoped that Catherine Lowe will be kit manager again. Main points:

U18s

• Two squads, 20 in each, Clive Cramphorn will run the Second quad (called "Baa Baas"). Trials virtually same as last year - gather all girls, put into teams (but probably not club teams this time), general training, game situations, etc. Then choose 40 girls
• Next training session, all 40 together again and then select again, and maybe at the next session too. After that selected for First and Second team squads.
• Mid week training sessions to be arranged - but no may be problem swith both day and venue. County Manager (Dave Marques) and coaches will decide. The aim will be to arrange as many matches as possible - includng possibly a mid-week fixture, and with games spread around the county.
• All girls will be told that they are expected at trials if they want to be in county squad (unless genuinly unavoidable - ie. injury) as the county is not a RFUW programme, so TDGs do not automatically get a bye!

U15s

• Simon Shutler to be head coach, will put the girls into a game situation at the trials and "go from there"! Development day will be a trials also, the two county dates after that will be training sessions and then (hopefully) fixtures will be festivals. If possible and with good numbers we will run two squads. Pete McCullough is team and fixture manager for U15s.

Other county matters

• Amanda will talk to Catherine Lowe about U15s kit and John Drew about the Baa Baas kit.
• Amanda will advertise dates of first development/trials dates in schools via PDMs.
• Coaches at the trials who are not busy will be roped in to coach any brand new girls who turn up!
• We will try to arrange county fixtures at Letchworth, Stevenage and Welwyn. Luke says we need a meal afterwards and the captains say a few words etc etc… Girls to be dressed so as to try to develop more county rugby ethos. Host club to arrange referees and press, and organise food.
• Team Managers to write to schools on county headed paper to advise when they make the county team.

U12’s Letchworth project

Plan to get new blood. U12’s girls get lost in minis, and also at the step up to junior girls. "Scary" to approach a club as an individual and the result is that girls stop playing. Inter schools u12 festival/project planned for November, and - as some schools who did Emerging Schools wanted to carry it on somehow- will combine festival with an U14’s matches. Maybe get older girls to referee, coach etc. (seven Letchworth girls have done referee's course, one has level 1 coaching course and other have done Start Rugby). Trying to plan something for every six weeks to keep girls interested. Amanda to pass on contact details for Kent and Sussex, and invite a Referee Ambassador along. Amanda spoken to Ros Cramp and Paul Freestone, happy for Heather to approach schools direct.

Festival will also try to cover parts of Bedfordshire, and Letchworth have contacted Claire Sanderson (WRDM East Midlands). Letchworth is also sending a rep to east Midlands (county) forum.

Emerging Schools Competition

Amanda will talk to RDO about supporting those clubs represented at tonights meeting.

Developing girls teams/clusters for training and/or matches.

Not discussed as those teams present have sorted fixtures and are developing. The clubs which need help/support developing were not present at this meeting.

Planning for the season

Cluster coaching/matches on Regional days: Jess may provide coaching for the girls left behind! This is when we need the county 2nd XV/development squad to train and maybe play other county development squads. Amanda to get all county contact details from other WRDM’s and pass to team managers.

Go Play: All present know about this and how it can help female player recruitment.

Funding: Amanda to apply for funding for SAQ courses and equipment, first aid courses coach development and skills sessions, drill tops for Baa baas and u15s, and leaflets aimed at U12s (and even younger) - Saracens invite all girls to join in training, they tell all parents about it and it works!

Accounts

Up-date from treasurer-accounts /statements will be available to view. AB to speak to Catherine who was not present and ask for details.

RFUW up-date: Short of time and those present know about discussions at East forum recently…to be further discussed at next meeting.

Senior spot: No reps from senior teams attended.

Next meeting 24th Sept at Welwyn RFC 7.30pm

RFUW Annual Conference: not to be missed

While it is understood that the words like "Conference" can have a slightly soperific effect please read on... because this one will be very good.

At Twickenham on Saturday 16th June you can

• Take part in four workshop on such diverse subjects as club development planning, fund raising, using local sports networks, and inter-club partnerships - all from people with real experience in each area.
• OR you can take part in practical coaching workshops with Gary Street, the England Assistant coach
• OR Ed Turnhill will be on hand to offer practical advice and assistance to female referees in two equally practical wokshop.
• AND you get an introduction to the RFU's "Go Play" initiative
• AND you have the chance to address that burning question that you want answered DIRECTLY to the RFUW's Director of Rugby, Carol Isherwood
• AND you will get to meet people from clubs across East Region, London and the South East
• AND you get fed as well!

All for a mere £5!!

Up to FOUR places are available for each club - but you only have until 25th May to apply. So fill in the form below and send it off asap!!

London and South East Clubs Conference
Booking Form
Saturday 16th June 2007
The North Tryline, Twickenham Stadium, Rugby Road,
Twickenham, TW1 1DS

Club:

Admin 1
Name & Position:
Email & Mobile No:

Admin 2
Name & Position:
Email & Mobile No:

Coach Name:
Qualification:
Email & Mobile No:

Referee Name:
Qualification:
Email & Mobile No:

Main Contact:
Correspondence Postal Address:

Do you require a session with RFUW Director of Rugby?(Please Circle)
Yes / No
Question:

Details of people requesting additional places
Name
Position
E-mail
Phone Number

Please return your completed form and £5 payment per person by the Friday 25th May to:
L&SE Conference, RFUW, Rugby House, Rugby Rd, Twickenham, TW1 1DS OR e-mail your form to sammarshall@rfu.com or amandabate@rfu.com and post your payment to the above address.

More grant tips

Some recent advice from Herts Sport Partnership on sources of funding:

Sportsmatch- sponsorship of a minimum of a £1000 in cash or kind, can be matched £ for £. So for example, if you persuaded a garage to give you a car, you could get the cars worth in cash! You will need a clear plan of how the money (and car if you got one) would increase participation. This funding stream cannot be used for replacement kit, general existing running expenses. More usually a company will agree to sponsor you so many £1000’s, and so you will have double that for your project. For a project Sportsmatch do prefer one sponsor but in some cases will match the sum of up to three sponsors providing each gives at least £1000.

Possibilities: development of a new team, or a new second team, both of which would then need new kit, coaches courses, first aid courses, first aid kit including strapping, new equipment, advertising, admin cots, maybe coach hire (wheeled variety), venue hire, maybe new trophies for end of season awards; perhaps the hire of specialist coaches for development.

Development of a developing coach and other volunteer infrastructure within the club, coaches courses, refs courses, volunteer courses, volunteer co-ordinator development etc. Some clubs have used the funding to pay for a dedicated CRC or YDO, if you wish to do this, speak to your RDO.

• Can not be used for tours abroad, and also not usually for physio therapy costs.
• The main thing here is to remember that the new sponsor must not give you the money or sponsorship in kind before you have got the o.k. from Sportsmatch.
• Records of publicity, attendance numbers etc will need to be kept as will clear accounts.
• A club can have more than one Sportsmatch application going on at ny one time.
• For sponsorship over £5000 the NGB will be involved, helping ensure all goes to plan.

Ideally get the business sponsor to commit for 3 years, they do have the option of pulling out, but if they only commit to one year, they cannot then decide to do another year without putting in even more money. So in the first year, if a business sponsors you £3000 you will end up with £6000, in the second year the business again gives you £3000 and Sportsmatch will give you up to £1500 and in the 3rd year, once again, £3000 from the sponsor and £750 to £1000 from Sportsmatch.

Applications are considered at set dates throughout the year. It may take a few months from when the sponsor first says they will sponsor you. Forward planning is essential.


Awards for All- only 1 application per club per year, so ensure the club exec know whts planned. Grants given from £300 to £10,000. To increase access and participation. W&G are a target they wish to meet. Each region may have slightly different targets, look on the website to check. About 8-12 weeks for an answer.


Small Grants Fund-google “small grants fund” because each local authority has slightly different criteria. Grants up to £500 for running costs that volunteers usually cover themselves e.g. ink cartridges, paper etc. Grants up to £2000 for things such as, refurbishing the clubs kitchen, a new store for equipment, security equipment for the club, new kit for a new team, projects which will improve participation, enjoyment and health. Decisions made as the applications come in.

Youth Opportunity and Capital Fund-goggle this title, as each local authority has some funding which they control. The unusual thing about this funding possibility is that the young people themselves complete the application form and run the project!!!!!

The Youth Opportunity Fund, could for example be for increasing participation and recruitment of girls, so maybe use the funding to put young adults on coaching courses and get them coaching in schools, it may possibly be used to pay an adult coach to coach in schools, but the main thing is its for kids, by kids.

The Capital Fund has no upper limit and is for capital projects e.g. facilities.

The panel has young people on it as well as adults, and grants are considered on 1st Friday of each month

Local Network Fund-again google this title. This fund will come to an end at the end of this year I believe so get your application in quickly. Funding is for increased access and participation and again girls are a target, but boys could apply too. Simple application form and the record keeping is not difficult. About 8 weeks for a decision.

Commander Collins Bursary-google title. Matched funding up to £500 for development of volunteers, so coaches and refs courses, maybe LTAD seminars, Running Sport workshops etc etc

B&Q you can do it, community fund.-Each branch of B&Q has about £2000 a yar to give away. They tend to give it in £500 lots. Apply in writing to the store mnager. Money to be used in the store for paint, coat hooks, signs etec…to smarten up your club house.

Post Office- If you have a club member who works for the P.O. get them to contact their regional office. The post office gives grants to its employees sports clubs. £5000 I do believe. The employee must hold a position at the club, e.g. coach, team manager etc.

Foundation for Sport and the Arts (http://www.thefsa.net/). This is a funding body that fund new and refurbishment of facilities, and will also provide revenue grants.

Community Foundations. E.g Herts Community Foundations-these bodies hold charitable funds and act as distributors. Ask your Local Authority for contct details and then phone and ask if they have any grant bodies which support sport.

Who else will know where to look for money?: Your County Sports Partnership may well have a list of funding bodies both National ones and local ones. The CSN or Community Sports Network will also be helpful to you in finding funds or applying for funds. They can help if you have a big project, £10,000 plus, by helping you look at the possibility of CIF, Community Investment Funding. CSN’s vary from district to district. Contact either your CSP or your local authority to ask where and who makes up, your nearest CSN.

Completing Application Forms:This is easier, much easier if you have a development plan. Your Local Authority may, in the volunteers department have someone who will sit and help you complete the application form.

Regional 7s: venues required

May 20th has been set aside by RFUW for regional sevens tournaments at all age groups - U14, U17 and senior. However, unlike regional 10s, RFUW are not organising these events centrally - clubs will not be invited by HQ to bid to host an official regional sevens competition.

So the East Region is taking the initiative and calling for clubs to step forward to host competitions. This initiative is aimed at ensuring that at least one event happens for each age group, as well as co-ordinating bids to avoid several clubs competing with each other!

Last season there were four "regional" junior sevens tournaments in England (but no senior events) prior to National Sevens. The junior events - at Worcester, Darlington, Dorking, and Letchworth - excited (in the latter two cases at least) massive interest with clubs undertaking round trips of up to 200 miles to take part. As a result the Dorking and Letchworth events were possibly the largest and second-largest one-day girls rugby events ever. There is clearly massive interest at junior level at least, and probably senior level as well - especially from clubs who see the National Sevens as really a step too far for inexperienced sides.

So the RPM (John Birch) for East Region wants to know whether any clubs be even faintly interested in hosting (or are you already planning to host) a Sevens competition on 20th May. At least one club - Tabard RFC - have already expressed interest in hosting but may be restricted to hosting an event for just one age group.

There is a small extra incentive of a £500 grant for clubs in Hertfordshire willing to run a junior sevens, but the fact of the matter is that demand is such that - so long as there are not too many competing events - you cannot fail to make a reasonable surplus.

A quick Q&A...

Why are you doing this? What gives you/Herts/East the right to decide anything?
Because no-one else is doing anything, and time is running out. If everyone is assuming that someone else will be running a Sevens in east of England (ie. East, East Midlands or Thames Valley - the area that Letchworth's event drew on last year) then there will be no Sevens at all, anywhere.

Is Letchworth planning to run any event?
No. Last year's Herts 7s was a massive success and great fun to run but a key part of that success was - I feel - that the event moves every year and does not belong to one club. Last year was in effect the third year of the competition and each year it has been bigger and better and that is mainly because each succesive host has seen it as a "special" event and been determined to "do it better than it has ever been done before". If it stayed at one club it not be special, would not evolve and grow, and might almost become a chore. If there was absolutely no interest at all from anyone - if there might otherwise be no junior sevens in East Anglia, East Midlands or Thames Valley - then we MIGHT think about doing it again but I really, really would rather not.

Why is there a grant for holding an event in Hertfordshire but no-where else?
There is a £500 grant available from Herts Sports Partnerships (which Letchworth are holding on to) as an extra incentive for a Herts club to run a junior event. Clearly - and by definition! - this money could not go to a club outside the county, and if no-one steps forward that money just goes back to HSP.

What criteria will be used to decide between bids?
No idea - up to East Forum. My main concern at this stage is to try to ensure that there is at least one viable event - if several clubs step forward it would actually be a nice problem to have and if sufficiently geographically separated there is no reason why there need be only one event - in fact demand was such that you could have easily split last year's event at Letchworth in two and had two perfectly viable and enjoyable competitions.

What would be the minimum requirements to host?
Clearly it depends on the number of entries, but I think for the a senior sevens at least two pitches, for juniors (assuming you run U14s and U17s concurrently) at least three.

What help would a host get?
Nothing can be promised (and outside Herts there's no money!), but I think if a club took on the responsibility for running what was recognised as the region's (or wider area's) event they might reasonably expected to receive as much support from other clubs as possible. Certainly I'd be more than happy to give any help I could including passing on any lessons learnt from last year's event.

Is there any closing date?
Not really - but ideally John would like any (even vague) expressions of interest by 15th January so that the idea can be discussed at the next East forum.

Guide to grants

A new and unique online "Funding Guide" for all grant aid relating to Hertfordshire was has been launched on 18 October 2006.

The site available at http://www.funding4herts.org.uk/. It takes would-be grant seekers through sources of local advice, and the chance to narrow down a search for local charities, to make the findings more relevant to what the searcher is looking for. It is a simple interface and, because it is online, it can be kept up to date.

There's a heck of a lot of money out there to be had for the price of a postage stamp, a little imagination, and some ink! Take a look at one recent example - West Herts Hockey Club, have just picked up a Sportsmatch award of £5,000 for "a development programs for girls. Funding provides for additional training sessions for younger girl players at the club and facilitates trials and taster sessions aimed at girls new to the sport. The training and recruitment programme forms parts of an ambitious overall club development plan."

So, which club out there reading this does not do something like that?

Grants for county girls: don't forget to apply!

Many district councils give financial support to local people selected for county or regional teams. The form of this support, and its size, varies hugely from nil in some districts to quite significant ammounts in others, but in almost all cases there will be something you can apply for. The process varies a lot as well, some grants being competitive, some annual, some ad hoc.

But the key thing to do is ask you local council. Remember - its the district council area you live in that you should apply to, not the one where your club is based or you go to school.

Last year several girls received funding to cover travel and equipment costs of £100 or more, so don't miss out. And if you revceived money last year remember that it is probably an annual grant, so if you have been selected again apply again.

After all the worst thing that can happen is that the council will say is "no"!

New title - wider coveage

At last nights ever so slightly sparsely attended county meeting (thank you Tabard, Welwyn, Saracens, OAs and Letchworth for turning up, and for Hitchin for at least sending apologies - but where were the rest of you?) it was requested that this blog broaden its scope a bit and so (da-da-da-dah!!!) a slight change of title.

So what difference will it make? Well basically material I receive connected with the adult game will now appear here as well. I won't be doing a retrospective search and adding "old" news - ie. anything from the adult game that happened or was announced before today - because that way a degree of madness lies, but any new stuff I get will appear here. So spread the word!

I'll grant you that my links with the adult game is not as good as with the junior, so I'll be relying on people telling me things a bit more!

Does your club need any money?

Funding is available now!

The Local Network Fund – a Department for Education and Skills fund administered by the Hertfordshire Community Foundation enables local voluntary groups (including sports clubs) to develop projects and activities for "young people who have limited opportunities or access to services" (a definition that particularly and unequivically includes girls' sports teams). The aim is to improve outcomes for children and young people enabling them to thrive and reach their full potential.

Grants can be made to locally managed voluntary and community groups working with young people aged under 19 years (up to 25 for those with learning disabilities).

Applications are invited under the following themes:

• Being healthy Activities that promote a healthy lifestyle so that children and young people are able to enjoy good health, including - Sports sessions - Healthy eating classes - Peer support programmes on drug misuse
• Staying safe Activities that contribute to children and young people being protected from harm and neglect and growing up able to look after themselves, for instance: - Anti bullying projects - Safe cycling groups - After-school clubs - Child Contact Centres
• Enjoying and achieving Activities that help children and young people maximise their potential and develop skills for adulthood, for example: - Theatre arts groups - Self advocacy skills programmes - Cultural dance and music projects
• Making a positive contribution Activities which enable children and young people use their skills and abilities in ways to enhance their own lives and the lives of their community, for example: - Conservation schemes - Recycling programmes - Mentoring projects
• Achieving economic well-being Activities which help children and young people overcome income barriers and achieve their full potential in life, such as: - Preparation for work and training - Financial literacy classes for young people

... and with a bit of thought most clubs could reasonably make a bid under several of these headings.

There are some limitations on who and what can’t be funded, but these shoudl not cause a problem in most cases:

• Individuals
• Statutory organisations (such as schools)
• Trips abroad
• Activities helping only one child or family
• Groups based outside Hertfordshire
• Groups with a turnover of more than £100,000
• Projects for personal profit
• Groups where the primary purpose is to promote political or religious beliefs.
• Organisations that already hold a Local Network Fund grant (for the current financial year)
• Grant making bodies.

Grants range from £250 to £7,000. They can be awarded for projects that last up to one year. The fund will close in March 2008 at which time all projects must be completed.

To ask for an Application pack call the LNF National call centre on 0845 1130 161.

These packs include further guidance for applicants and the contact number for your local Council for Voluntary Service (CVS) representative who can provide advice and help with completing your application form.

There is more information on the fund on the LNF website: www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/localnetworkfund.

For additional information please contact Helen Doubal, Local Network Fund Officer

Grab a grant!

If there is one area where women's and girls' sport scores over men's sport its in the area of grants. If a club has a female section it will invariably get a bigger grant than without - indeed any grants are now dependent on a sports club being open to everyone in the community, and not just men.

So get out there and grab a grant!

One of the best sources for funding is the Local Network Fund (details on how to apply here).

Both the county development group and several clubs have already benefited from grants from LNF, who particularly target "disadvantaged groups" - a definition that includes girls' team sport.

Did you know that boys are six times more likely to play a competitive team sport than girls (and that is even when you include "traditional" girls sports like netball and hockey)? And when it comes to games like rugby, well, more men play netball than women play rugby.

Yet - as we know - there is no reason for this beyond artificial barriers such as awareness and access. Which is why the LNF offers funds - to try to redress the balance, increase awareness and access, and raise participation.

The county recently received a grant of over £6,000 which will be used for next season's programme, and Letchworth also announced this week that they have been awarded £2,650 to be used to promote and develop the game in their area.

LNF are keen to have more clubs apply for grants, and will help you complete your application.
Awards for all are another body worth contacting, though they tend to look for bids at club level, and your local council may also offer grants for clubs or individuals.

However it can take some time to process bids, however, so the sooner you apply the better!