ACVO Opportunities
Funding
Active Lives
About this fund
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.
Our funding priorities
Applications which evidence that they meet the funding priorities below will have the best chance of being successful.
Meet income level priorities
- 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
Are experienced
- Have significant experience using physical activity to engage disabled individuals and/or those who face severe and multiple disadvantage
Provide high impact opportunities
- Focus on using physical activity to provide opportunities for individuals to build their personal skills and self confidence
- Committed to removing barriers to participation in these life enhancing opportunities for disabled or disadvantaged people
Prioritise grassroots and community engagement
- Prioritise grassroots involvement rather than elite participation in physical activity
- Have Trustees, staff and beneficiaries who include people with personal and lived experience of the challenges your community faces
- Understand your community’s needs
Demand excellence
- Support, implement and disseminate best practice
- Seek to have a wider impact, perhaps through training, partnerships and/or dissemination activities [major grants only]
- Have a strong leadership and can show us the difference your charity has made in your community
- Have good governance in place including signed Safeguarding and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Policies, and efficient financial processes.
- Are best placed to deliver the solution
Have an entrepreneurial mind set
- Operate with ambition, inspiration and determination
- Have a vision for your charity’s future
- Seek to find ways to maximise the impact of your work, including the sharing of information with others
Work with integrity
- Act responsibly, respectfully, reflectively and transparently
- Know your strengths and challenges
Strive for sustainability
- Seek to deliver significant outcomes that leave a legacy
- Have plans for financial and environmental sustainability for the initiative and organisation
Eligibility criteria
Your project / activity must:
- take place in the UK
- provide opportunities for personal or skills development through participation in physical activity
- meet the needs of people who face physical, mental, economic or social disadvantage
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
Previous grants and applications:
- If you have received a grant from PHF before, it must be at least two years since you submitted your final grant report.
- If you have applied to PHF before, it must be at least 1 year since you were notified your last application was unsuccessful.
We do not fund
- Organisations who already have an active grant with PHF
- Individuals
- Community Interest Companies (CICs)
- Exempt charities
- Requests for retrospective funding
- Activities that are primarily the responsibility of central or local government
- Overseas projects
- Adventure challenges or expeditions in the UK or abroad
- Projects that are solely for the promotion of religion
- Capital works solely to fulfil building regulations regarding accessibility, without strong evidence of existing engagement with target audiences
Looking for support with funding?
Identifying funding opportunities and writing grant applications can seem overwhelming, especially when the future sustainability of your group is dependent on gaining funding support.
Our supportive Funding Officer, Claire Shaw, can help your organisation with every step of the funding application process, from carrying out funding searches to proofreading your application.
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Active Lives
