Summary of financial assistance for clubs during Coronavirus outbreak
November 10, 2020 | by Matt Halfpenny
England Boxing has pulled together the financial assistance available for clubs during the Coronavirus outbreak into one document.
If you have any questions or need support regarding this, then please contact the Club Support Officer for your region.
Allianz Sports Fund
Allianz has launched a £100,000 Sports Fund that provides grants to grassroots sports clubs across the country – with all England Boxing clubs are eligible to apply.
It enables club to receive a grant of between £500 and £3,000 to support their day to day costs and could help, for instance, to play for a defibrillator, which must be available to all member clubs by the end of the current 2021-22 season.
The deadline for applications is Friday 8th October 2021.
Full details of the fund can be found by clicking here.
The Together Fund
Virgin Media O2 has launched a £500,000 fund to supercharge hundreds of local charities across the UK as the nation emerges from the pandemic.
The Together Fund is a nationwide initiative designed to specifically support local charities that champion and celebrate community spirit, belonging and togetherness across the UK.
Grants of £1,000 are available for environmental and community belonging projects, inspiring people across the UK to get together and create positive change for the causes they care most on the day.
Find out more by clicking here.
Clubs In Crisis Fund
Boxing clubs can apply for grants available to grassroots sport in the UK through the Clubs In Crisis Fund administered by Made By Sport.
Unrestricted grants of £2,021 will be awarded to thousands of clubs and community clubs playing an essential role in helping young people to recover from the effects of Covid-19.
Clubs who support young people to develop life skills, such as teamwork and communication, employability skills, physical and mental wellbeing as well as building stronger communities, are able to apply for the funding by clicking here.
The fund, supported by Flutter Entertainment’s Cash4Clubs scheme, forms the latest phase of the ‘Clubs in Crisis’ campaign run by Made By Sport, which has highlighted the challenges community clubs and organisations have faced to stay afloat during the Coronavirus pandemic, and their role in developing positive futures for young people.
‘Restart Grants’
The UK government has now publish details of ‘Restart Grants’ to help businesses in the retail, leisure and hospitality sectors with reopening following the national lockdown.
Sports, leisure clubs and organisations who own property will be eligible for grants of up to £18,000 based on their rateable value.
Those with a rateable value of £15,000 or less will receive £8,000, those with a rateable value of between £15,000 and £51,000 will receive £12,000 and those with a rateable value of £51,000 or over will receive £18,000.
Payments will be administered by local authorities who were due to receive the funding for distribution at the start of April.
Clubs and organisations should check their relevant local authority’s website for details, while the government’s guidance of the scheme can be viewed by clicking here.
Tackling Inequalities Fund
The Tackling Inequalities Fund aims to ease the financial burden on boxing clubs in the country’s most deprived communities.
Clubs looking to apply for this fund should first note the criteria and check they meet it before doing so.
They should apply if:
- They have NOT recently been in receipt of existing recent financial aid (i.e they have not received a grant since 1st November 2020, during the period of club closures e.g. Return To Play, local authority rates grant).
- They serve members from the most deprived communities falling into IMD bands 1-4, meaning clubs whose membership are drawn from the top 40% of the poorest communities in the country. This is determined by the “Indices of Multiple Deprivation”. Click here to check the IMD ranking for your club or members.
The reason England Boxing is seeking out these particular clubs is that Sport England research suggests that people from deprived communities are less likely to keep active during the Coronavirus outbreak.
A small grant will therefore help clubs:
- keep in touch with their membership by improving communication
- help to devise some safe distance activities for members
- help to prepare for club’s re-opening
- or simply to keep paying the bills so that the club is ready for the return
England Boxing will support applications for funding from £500 up to a maximum of £2,500 for the Tackling Inequalities Fund.
If you need support to apply, or think you sit just outside the criteria but still believe you have a compelling case for receiving funding, please contact your regional Club Support Officer (details below).
Click here to download an application form and click here for further guidance.
Applications should then be sent via email to your Club Support Officer to be assessed by a panel. Click here for a list of Club Support Officers.
Anthony Joshua Fund
The Anthony Joshua Fund has been set up to help England Boxing member clubs thanks to a generous donation from the WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO world champion.
The 2012 Olympic gold medal winner has a strong amateur background and was twice an England Boxing national title winner at super-heavyweight in 2010 and 2011, boxing for Finchley ABC.
The criteria for applying for this fund is the same as that above for the Tackling Inequalities Fund, so clubs should first note the criteria and check they meet it before doing so.
They should apply if:
- They have NOT recently been in receipt of existing financial aid (i.e they have not received a grant since 1st November 2020, during the period of club closures e.g. Return To Play, local authority rates grant).
- They serve members from the most deprived communities falling into IMD bands 1-4, meaning clubs whose membership are drawn from the top 40% of the poorest communities in the country. This is determined by the “Indices of Multiple Deprivation”. Click here to check the IMD ranking for your club or members.
Each successful application to the Anthony Joshua Fund will also receive a supply of kit donated by sponsor Under Armour.
If you need support to apply, or think you sit just outside the criteria but still believe you have a compelling case for receiving funding, please contact your regional Club Support Officer (details below).
Click here to download an application form and click here for further guidance.
Applications should then be sent via email to your Club Support Officer to be assessed by a panel. Click here for a list of Club Support Officers.
Return to Play Fund
England Boxing Member Clubs are being invited to apply for grants from Sport England’s Return to Play Fund, which focuses on awards of up to £10,000 that support clubs and community groups respond to the challenges or returning during the Coronavirus Pandemic and getting people after for the first time after it.
- The Latest guidance from Sport England outlines that the Return to Play Fund will prioritise projects located in areas of high deprivation (decile 1-3 of the Indices of Deprivation, though decile 1-5 will be considered), as Sport England know that organisations in the most deprived areas have been particularly badly hit by the pandemic.
- Other applications are particularly encouraged from organisations working with communities who’ve suffered worse health outcomes and the most significantly reduced activity levels as a result of the pandemic, especially when projects involve girls and women and young people aged 16-24.
- Sport England will also now consider new or expanded projects that safely deliver activities allowing people to become active which address challenges their audiences faced during lockdown. An example of this could be increasing capacity to be able to deliver to more people at one time.
- The total budget for the Return To Play Fund has been increased by £15 million to support more organisations.
- The programme has now been extended to remain open until the end of 2021.
Further, more detailed information on the changes is available direct from the Sport England website – both for potential and existing awardees – by clicking here.
Clubs who have already received Community Emergency Fund and Tackling Inequalities Fund grants can also apply for Return to Play Fund support.
The three different types of Return to Play grants available are explained below.
Return to Play: Small Grants
This will provide grants of between £300 and £10,000 to help sport and activity groups, clubs and organisations respond to the immediate challenges of returning to run in a COVID-19-safe environment.
It intends to help with challenges such as having to deliver in smaller groups, having the correct hygiene and safety equipment and giving training to club volunteers.
It also covers making necessary changes to facilities, supplying additional sports equipment and new signage to meet current government and national governing body rules and guidance.
Return to Play: Community Asset Fund
This will provide grants ranging in value from £10,001 to £50,000 to help local sports clubs and organisations to adapt and open important places and spaces that can help them welcome back their local community safely.
This will include helping groups, clubs and organisations address the challenges they’re facing by:
- adapting how they use space and improving ventilation
- converting existing space to meet social distancing requirements, such as additional changing space
- making improvements to buildings or open spaces for temporary use to get more people active by using a vacant warehouse, shop or community centre.
Return to Play: Active Together
This crowdfunding initiative will help sports clubs and organisations set up their own campaigns to help sustain them through the crisis.
It is a great alternative if they don’t meet the priority groups of the other parts of the Return to Play package, and Sport England will match crowd funds of up to £10,000 to help cover the loss of income.
The partnership with Crowdfunder will also include advice, guidance and training to help create successful campaigns.
An extra £5m was allocated to the fund in September 2021 after an initial £2.5m of investment supported 488 campaigns.
Clubs and organisations across England have benefited – almost 50 sports in total, including boxing – with an ongoing focus on harder to reach audiences.
Key application criteria
The Return to Play Fund will especially seek to support those groups and organisations working with audiences Sport England has identified as finding it more difficult to be active at this time.
These include:
- Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities
- people on lower incomes
- those disproportionately affected financially as a result of the crisis
- disabled people and people with long-term health conditions
- those who are experiencing a greater burden of care responsibilities since the pandemic began.
For more information on how to apply, please click here.
If you are unsure about whether you should apply or the application process, please contact your regional Club Support Officer.
