Community Investment
Helping the Rugby League Communities to Grow
The Rugby Football League is committed to helping clubs with funding needs.....the team is here to support you.
Community clubs need funding to develop and grow.
Every aspect of running a club, from improving facilities to providing new kit; paying insurance to hiring training facilities - is dependent on clubs having sufficient money to remain sustainable.
Top tips for successfully securing funding
- Read the pre-application guidance: Make sure you have checked that your application meets the criteria of the grant, and ensure that you align your submission as closely as possible to the investors’ criteria.
- Tell a story: Make you application stand out from the others and show how it will really make a difference to people in your community. Detail how the funding will lead to sustainable delivery and the long-term impacts it could have.
- Contact the investor to check over the application or to ask any questions: This shows that you are keen and good at using your initiative. It also offers the opportunity for valuable feedback and most importantly starts to build a relationship between you and the investing body, which in turn gives you credibility.
- Leave plenty of time between submission and project start time: This allows you to troubleshoot if funding isn’t received and gives you time to make sure all key partnerships are in place and debriefed.
- Show that the project won’t waste money: Most community projects aren’t designed to make money, but at the same time, it’s important to show the investor that yours won’t be needlessly wasting it. If it was your money, would you invest on a wasteful project?
- Build relationships: It is extremely important that you show that any potential funding will not only impact on your organisation, but also the wider community and any partner programme, if applicable.
- Do your research: Do you know about other funding and similar organisations or clubs in your area that have applied for funding. Speak to these clubs to find out what they did to secure the funding.
- How will you promote what you are doing? Consider including a brief statement in the bid about how you will promote the funding received and what the communication plan is and how you will promote the new scheme.
- Ensure your submission is error-free: Make sure your spelling, grammar and match are consistent throughout the document. Do not leave your application until the closing date and make sure to keep copies of the submission, in case you need to use them for further reference.
Below is a list of funding organisations that clubs can apply to.
*Please note that The RFL doesn’t take responsibility an external sources of funding listed and acknowledges this is not an exhaustive list.
Fundraising and generating sustainable income for your Rugby League club is essential to its success and continued future development.
There are funding schemes in place through the Grass Pitch Maintenance Fund and Small Grants Programme but clubs must also find additional ways of fundraising and generating income. Discover fundraising ideas to help your club to be more financially secure, including sustainable income generation, tools and resources.
Downloads
Source: some of the ideas in this document have been obtained from Sport England’s Club Matters A-Z Fundraising Ideas at: www.sportenglandclubmatters.com.
DISCLAIMER: This is not an exhaustive list and The RFL take no responsibility of the accuracy of its content. This has been put together simply as a guide for not-for-profit organisations who are looking at ways to fundraise for their clubs.
Introduction
Community Clubs and Foundations can now to take advantage of the revolutionary Grass Pitch Maintenance Fund which is being delivered in partnership with the Premier League, The FA and Government’s Football Foundation.
Over the next three years, £5 million of Sport England National Lottery funding will be made available via the Foundation to support the improvement of grass pitches in Rugby League’s Community Clubs.
Upon submitting a Pitch Power assessment, clubs will receive a bespoke maintenance plan from the Grounds Management Association (leading not-for-profit membership organisation that supports ground staff) enabling them to access a six-year tapered grant, providing up to £3,600 for every ‘match equivalent’ pitch in the first two years and tapered down over the remaining period.
This funding can be used to employ contractors and purchase materials to improve pitches over a 10-year period.
Contacts
What is it?
Launched in April 2024, the Movement Fund offers crowdfunding pledges, grants, and resources to improve physical activity opportunities for the people and communities who need it the most.
If your project aligns with Sport England’s priorities, Sport England can fund a wide range of costs and items up to £15,000.
Our focus is to support projects that match Sport England’s goal of getting more people active, reducing the number of inactive people, and tackling inequalities.
This means the investments support the objectives of the Sport England strategy, Uniting the Movement.
At the core of the Movement Fund is its dedication to constant improvement, informed by everything Sport England have learnt from the projects they fund.
What kind of help does it offer?
If your organisation and project are eligible for funding, and your project aligns with the project goals you could receive up to £15,000.
Sport England provide this funding as either a contribution to a crowdfunding campaign or as a grant.
You can use these to cover a wide range of costs and items that'll help deliver positive change in your community.
Crowdfunding enables organisations to raise funds by setting goals and promoting them to attract supporters who can contribute financially - often using discounts and experiences as rewards for donations.
Sport England will let you know how they can support you and your project, along with any tools and resources to help you reach your goals.
This fund can be spent on the examples below:
- Coaching support.
- Volunteer training – develop your organisation’s volunteer base by offering training to both new and existing volunteers.
- Additional equipment – to enable expansion of activity or safer delivery of activity, for example, a defibrillator and associated costs (such as training for its use) as part of a wider project to deliver sport and physical activity.
- Minor facility alterations – examples include adapting a community space to make it more accessible for those with mobility impairments, refurbishing a space to enable sport and physical activity to be offered or improving a space to make it more energy efficient.
- Service alterations – providing new ways of delivering your existing activity to attract new participants/members or targeting new audiences through connecting with other providers in your locality.
However, there are certain things Sport England aren’t able to fund:
- People living outside of England: Sport England focus on activities within England, so costs for activities involving participants living outside England aren't eligible for funding.
- Activities linked to statutory duties: Sport England aren't able to cover costs for activities that are statutory responsibilities, such as funding activities that schools are already required to deliver, like PE classes.
- General running or existing staff costs: Sport England unable to cover costs for general running of your organisation or existing staff.
- Recoverable VAT: Sport England are unable to provide funding for VAT costs you can recover.
- Projects with distant start dates: Sport England won't fund projects which aren't able to start within six months of the funding award confirmation, or projects which won’t be completed within 12 months of starting.
- Movement Fund awards over £15,000 in a 12-month period: you can make multiple applications to the Movement Fund but we won’t fund a project that would result in an organisation receiving more than £15,000 from the Movement Fund and Small Grants Programme in a 12-month period.