Sport England
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More than £4m invested in ideas to tackle inequalities
Our Pilot Fund awarded an average of £233,000 to 18 projects around the country.
We've awarded more than £4 million from to support ideas aimed at reducing inequalities in access to sport and physical activity.
Our one-off Pilot Fund was open for six weeks in December 2023 and January 2024, by invitation only, and focused on ways to increase activity and decrease inactivity in disadvantaged groups.
The fund also allowed us to test new approaches and ideas for funding and working ahead of the launch of our Movement Fund in April.
It was open to more than 60 organisations whose funding requirements sat between the large-scale, long-term approach of our system partners and the small-scale, one-off purpose of our former Small Grants programme.
We asked that ideas came from the lived experience of people facing inequalities and favoured proposals benefitting those at the intersection of two or more disadvantaged groups.
After assessing the applications we made 18 awards, totalling £4,200,164 of National Lottery funding, to a variety of regional and national charities, community interest companies and national governing bodies.
Our executive director of partnerships, Phil Smith, said:
"Tackling the inequalities that make it harder for some communities to enjoy the benefits of an active life is an ongoing priority for us.
"So we were delighted to invest in these fantastic programmes around the country, all of which strongly align with our mission.
"The fund helped us to develop a new investment approach with these kinds of organisations, whose work will be vital in helping us achieve our aim of making sport and physical activity accessible to all."
The Pilot Fund made awards of between £174,669 and £250,000 to various projects:
- 10 focused on helping people getting active (indoors and outdoors), walking and yoga.
- seven were based on more traditional sports, including programmes for mixed sport, rugby, football, swimming, running, cycling and ice skating.
- one provided both routes.
Click here for the full press release
Original article link: https://www.sportengland.org/news-and-inspiration/more-than-4m-invested-ideas-tackle-inequalities
