Opportunities through sport and physical activity
- Enabling life-enhancing opportunities for individuals living in the most disadvantaged areas in the UK who encounter physical, mental, social, or economic barriers.
- Using participation in grassroots sport/physical activity as a catalyst to develop personal and life skills, assisting individuals in discovering and fulfilling their potential.
Through Active Lives we make grants totalling about £700,000 per year. Due to a high volume of applications we were only able to provide a contribution towards 12% of the applications received in the last funding round. Therefore, the Trustees have decided to focus our limited resources. To avoid wasting your time, please ensure you meet our eligibility and funding criteria before starting an application.
We fund applications for physical activity initiatives that:
- Offer high-impact, life-enhancing opportunities for those who live in the top 10% of areas of deprivation
- Remove barriers to participation for disabled or disadvantaged people
- Focus on grassroots involvement rather than elite participation in physical activity
- Focus on skills development and confidence building for individuals
- Incorporate effective strategies for wider impact, perhaps through training, partnerships and/or dissemination activities
- Demonstrate a high degree of involvement across the organisation from beneficiaries and those with lived experience
- Have a well-developed plan for sustainability and seek to deliver a legacy
- Reflect our values: Excellence, Entrepreneurship, Integrity, Sustainability
Type of funding: We will consider applications for capital, project or core funding.
Location of project: Anywhere in the United Kingdom.
- SMALL GRANTS – In your last set of accounts, your organisation’s annual income was under £500,000
- MAJOR GRANTS – In your last set of accounts, your organisation’s annual income was under £5,000,000
Focus on deprivation
- Provide high-impact, life-enhancing opportunities for those who live in the top 10% of areas of deprivation
Your organisation must:
- be either a registered charity or a registered CASC (Community Amateur Sports Club)
- have been registered with the charity regulator for two years or more (charity applicants)
- have been registered as a CASC for two years or more (CASC applicants)
- have produced independently examined or audited accounts for at least one full year of operation
More guidance is available online and you can check if you’re eligible to apply
