GBA Together Fund - CLOSED TO APPLICATIONS − Get Berkshire Active

Together Fund: CURRENTLY CLOSED to applications

Due to high demand for the current phase of Together Fund, we have temporarily closed the portal for applications.

Sport England will be providing Get Berkshire Active (GBA) with extra funding to support and distribute to community organisations who support the following vulnerable groups to be active:

Lower socio-economic groups
People with long term conditions
People with disabilities
Ethnically diverse communities

This round will particularly focus on ORGANISATIONAL RESILIENCE. We want to provide support to those organisations that have been disproportionately affected by the cost of living crisis. Whilst we will still consider applications for project based work, our priority will be to fund work that helps organisations themselves who deliver physical activity to the above audiences, to survive and build their ability to come back stronger from the cost of living situation.

For information on how to apply, please scroll to the section at the bottom of the page.

e-mail together.fund@getberkshireactive.org to speak to a member of the team.

Organisational Resilience

Click Here To complete the Resilience Survey, we will ask all organisations to complete this survey before being invited to progress.

What is Organisational Resilience?

Sport England and Get Berkshire Active recognise that the current economic climate and its associated challenges are making it harder for organisations to function and deliver their essential services. Enhancing resilience ensures that organisations are better placed to meet these challenges. Where this support could help your organisation include:

Governance
Business costs / financial planning
Funding Advice / training
Recruitment of Staff or Volunteers
Marketing
Customer Service

Resilience Support will be provided directly by GBA and our partners. This offer is still in development, so we are keen to hear from, and be guided by partners in the sector, as to how this offer can best be shaped and utilized!

Counter Fraud & Data Protection Statement for applying organisations

Focus & Objectives

The Together Fund will focus on;

Supporting community organisations to reach and engage their audience in movement/physical activity - creating a line of sight to movement/physical activity/sport

Supporting organisations to recover and grow in this period whilst acknowledging in some instances there will still need to be some support for immediate hardship

Objectives:

To identify those organisations who work with, or could work with, the above demographic groups, encouraging them to be more active
To support these organisations to survive the immediate weeks/months financially and/or to provide physical activity interventions and programmes
To drive innovation in terms of physical activity interventions suitable for the recovery from the pandemic that are specific to the needs, aspirations and capabilities of the above demographic groups
To build/develop long-term sustainable outcomes for these groups

Update - Cost of Living Crisis

Our work together on the Together Fund is highlighting the current cost of living crisis and the huge challenges faced by individuals and organisations providing sport and physical activity. Therefore we are able to be flexible in our approach to funding and would welcome applications from organisations which require funding to support their activities and organisational survival through the coming months.

For example: we may be able to fund an organisation which is facing a significant increase in its energy bills which may not be able to continue delivering physical activity without financial support.

Please note that in addition to the criteria described below, to receive funding it will be necessary for us to undertake the relevant checks on the organisations financial position.

Use of this funding

The types of activity that might be funded could include:

Organisation survival
Direct project delivery
Increasing resilience, capacity and capability of delivery bodies.

There are certain items that are not eligible for lottery funding as follows:

Activities or costs which are already covered by other government funding including rates
Capital works
Activities promoting religious or political beliefs
Where there is personal benefit to an individual
Any private business or profit making organisations unless they are a Social Enterprise or Community Interest Company
Loss of Sponsorship or loan repayments.
Replacement of equipment (its broken, tired, torn etc).
Contingency costs and VAT organisations are seeking to recover.

Criteria

Community organisation applications will need to respond to the 6 key Together Fund questions

Will this investment impact upon at least one of the four priority audiences?
Has the requirement arisen as a direct result of this community group or audience being adversely affected as a result of COVID-19?
What issues does the funding help to resolve in improving access to take part in sport and physical activity for the target audience?
Will this investment help a community group to recover and grow or continue to survive as a result of hardship? If hardship, please set out in the application how this investment will enable the community organisation to continue beyond the immediacy of this short-term investment.
Is this project directly funding the provision of physical activity or if not, how will it support the delivery of physical activity in the immediate future?
Will the funding go directly to a trusted community organisation rather than be directly delivered by the National Partner or Active Partnership?

Eligibility

Eligible

Projects must be aimed at the key target audience
Organisations must have a constitution in place*
Charities, Social enterprises or similar are eligible to apply

* Organisations without a constitution may explore if/how another organisation could receive any funding on their behalf or GBA (or partners) can support them to write a constitution.

Please note: Organisations will be expected to provide a series of documents and information as part of our due diligence checks before an application for funding can be made. Documents and information requested will include;

Charity number/Companies House number
Copy of constitution/governing documents
Copy of 3 recent bank statements
Copy of audited annual account
Safeguarding policies

Ineligible

Projects promoting Religion or Politics
Private Business/ Sole Traders
Public Bodies
Football*

* Football is on the ineligible list due to the work going on at a national level to understand the needs of this sport in this period. If you think Football is likely to feature as part of your project idea please get in touch with us at the earliest opportunity.

Not just funding

We recognise that not all community groups and clubs who do or could support or work in this area need funding (or are eligible to receive it).

They may however need or welcome non financial support such as:

Guidance and advice (legal, technical, HR etc)
Safeguarding
Training

Roles and responsibilities

Funded organisations have the following roles and responsibilities (all of these are outlined in the Service Level Agreement that funded organisations are required to sign before commencing delivery);

General

To ensure that the funding offered is only spent on the TF project.
To report any issues regarding TF project as promptly as possible back to GBA.
It's strongly recommended that all Delivery Partners undertake a comprehensive Risk Assessment for each of the delivery sites involved in a TF project.
To ensure that the TF project is structured to suit the needs of the audience identified in the delivery partners EOI.

Safeguarding

The Delivery Partner should demonstrate safeguarding in accordance with GBA's minimum operating standards (shared via Service Level Agreement) - please get in touch if you would like to see details of these.

Equity

The Delivery Partner is committed to Equality and tackling discrimination in all forms and this commitment is demonstrated by an Equity/Equal Opportunities Policy.

Monitoring and Evaluation

The Delivery Partner agrees that:

Progress and Participant information is collected throughout the project in line with details shared via the Service Level Agreement;

Demographic data about participants is collected; gender, age, ethnicity, disability, postcode - GBA can provide a template form to support the collection of these details.
Registers and participation numbers are collected
An outcome measure is implemented - determined by the nature of the project.
Progress reports are submitted on a regular basis - this can simply be a paragraph summarising how the project has gone so far.

And upon completion of the project;

A series of questions to be completed by the participants at the end of the project to help understand their experience - a form will be supplied by GBA.
A series of questions to be completed by the project co-ordinator which will provide a case study to be used for promotional purposes of the GBA Together Fund programme - an online case study form will be supplied by GBA.
A survey to be completed by the appropriate individual, within the Delivery Partner organisation, to help gain further insight on the diversity of the organisations being funded via the GBA Together Fund programme.

Insurance

The Delivery Partner must have valid Public Liability Insurance and shall be liable for, and indemnify GBA against, any expense liability loss claim or proceedings whatsoever arising under statute or common law in respect of personal injury or damage whatsoever to any property real or personal insofar as such injury or damage arises out of or in the course of or by the carrying out of this agreement.

Data Protection

You must comply with all UK data protection regulations and take all reasonable steps to protect client data and personal information.

GBA will share information about your organisation and your project with Sport England and other partner organisations involved in the delivery of the national TF programme. To read more about GBA's data protection policies and data use in relation to this programme click here.

How can you get involved?

To express an interest at getting involved please complete the following form. Please note - completing this form does not guarantee funding or inclusion in this area of work.

GBA Together Fund: Expression of Interest Form

Nick West-Oram

Director of Operations and Development

Nick leads on areas of strategic development for GBA, developing new areas of work, through partnerships to address issues in the physical activity system. This remit looks across the broader definition of the county system but also considers specific parts of the system where changes could be made in order to benefit local people. Nick has over 20 years' experience in the Sport, Physical Activity and Economic Development worlds, bringing together expertise in tackling socio-economic issues with the power of physical activity as a solution. His passion for being active stems from always being active himself and experiencing the benefits of an active lifestyle, alongside seeing the impact when his activity levels have been limited. He is inspired by watching his children grow and develop the skills for life through their active lifestyles. Nick is an avid rugby coach and regularly draws on this experience within his work. When he is not on a rugby pitch, he can be found cycling, swimming, dog walking and generally mucking about outdoors! He holds a BA Honours Degree in Tourism with Recreation and Business Management.

Telephone: 07912 178650
Email: nick.west-oram@getberkshireactive.org

Cathy Carr

Strategic Lead for Living Life Well

Cathy is the Strategic Lead for Living Well at Get Berkshire Active. She takes a strategic lead on our work supporting adults to lead independent and fulfilled lives, develops new and existing partnerships with a wide range of stakeholders, as well as leading on various projects, including Mums' Zone and Active Medicine in Practice and more. Having undertaken a Degree in Business and Sport at University, she was keen to work in sports development and has taken om many roles across a wide variety of organisations, including Reading University, Tottenham Hotspur Foundation and London Sport. She also joined the National Body of Swimming for 2 years and spent time in Singapore teaching. Having seen the huge benefits being active has brought to her family's life, especially mental wellbeing, she is passionate about helping others to reap the benefits. In her spare time she enjoys yoga, walking and running, as well as spending time outdoors with her children.

Telephone: 07912 178652
Email: Cathy.carr@getberkshireactive.org

Kirsty Heath

Strategic Lead for Ageing Well

Kirsty is the Strategic Lead for Ageing Well at Get Berkshire Active. She leads on the development of GBA's Ageing Well theme, aiming to create the conditions for a healthy and independent later life. She is also lead liaison for Berkshire West Local Authorities. With over 15 years' experience within the sports sector, she holds a BA (Hons) in Sport, Health and Exercise, as well as an MSc in Sports Injury. Her previous roles were in local authority and the NHS, before joining GBA at its inception is 2011. Her sense of purpose has come from personally discovering the benefits of physical activity and she enjoys helping others to access them. In her spare time, she takes part in netball, fitness classes and loves being outdoors.