This funding enables The Football Foundation to fund £30 million in grassroots projects every year. The Foundation’s mission is to, “…improve facilities, create opportunities and build communities throughout England”.
One of the funding initiatives of the The Football Foundation is the Premier League & The FA Facilities Fund. (This fund replaces the Facilities Scheme, Build the Game and the Premier League Community Facility Fund). It provides grants for building new or refurbishing older grassroots football facilities and is available to football clubs, schools, councils and local sports associations.
Examples of facilities that are eligible for funding include:
- Grass pitches drainage/improvements
- Pavilions, clubhouses and changing rooms
- 3G Football Turf Pitches (FTPs) and multi-use games areas
- Fixed floodlights for artificial pitches
Details – The Foundation can award up to a maximum of £500,000 and minimum of £10,000 for each facilities project. (For grants under £10,000, apply for the Premier League & The FA Facilities Fund Small Grants Scheme)
Applicants must demonstrate a financial need for a grant and contribute all of their available money to the project. The Foundation also expects financial contributions from other funding organisations toward the project. Thus, applicants must demonstrate that all available options for match funding have been exhausted by providing supporting evidence. As a guide, projects would normally be expected to secure 50% match funding although each project will be assessed based on individual circumstances.
Who can apply – Applications are welcomed from football clubs, professional clubs’ community trusts, multi-sport clubs, local authorities, all educational establishments, registered charitable organisations, not for profit companies limited by guarantee, industrial and provident societies and unincorporated not for profit organisations.
However, priority for applications involving professional club community programmes will be given to projects that are located within areas of high deprivation (as defined by the Governments Indices of Deprivation). For projects outside of these areas, priority will be given to those that can demonstrate that it draws a significant proportion of its participants from neighbouring deprived areas. In addition, schemes that are a joint application between professional club community schemes and grassroots football will be prioritised, as will those supporting 3G FTPs (the 3G Football Turf Pitches (FTP) standards). Applications for support are likely to exceed the capital grants available and therefore applications will be assessed and weighted towards priority projects.
Applying for a Grant – The Football Foundation uses Grantshot, an online platform used to manage applications. Applicants must therefore register for a Grantshot account prior to initiating the application process. The application process is a 3-stage process: (1) The Pre-Application Advice, (2) Project Idea and (3) Application.
Examples of Projects Funded:
Broadgreen International School, Liverpool
3G artificial grass pitch opened by Kolo Toure, Alex Greenwood and Graeme Sharp
PLFAFF grant £269,093
Westfield Academy, Watford
3G artificial grass pitch opened by former Watford player Gifton Noel-Williams
PLFAFF grant £223,088
Holt Playing Field Association, Norfolk
Changing room pavilion opened by former Norwich City manager Nigel Worthington
PLFAFF grant £99,983
Chinnor Playing Fields, South Oxfordshire
Sports pavilion opened by Spandau Ballet’s Tony Hadley
PLFAFF grant £290,761
Northolt High School, Ealing, London
3G artificial grass pitch opened by Chris Powell
PLFAFF grant £288,034
Open Academy, Norwich
Football development centre works visited by Norwich City defender Russell Martin
PLFAFF grant £498,789
St John’s Park, Bolton
Floodlights and maintenance equipment opened by former Bolton Wanderers player John McGinley
PLFAFF grant £56,276
Contact Details:
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 0345 345 4555
Website: https://footballfoundation.org.uk/looking-for-funding
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