INTRODUCTION

General guide to grant aid

We acknowledge the efforts of local clubs and individuals in their contribution towards the development of sustainable sport within the Borough. We recognise the need to support and will help in whatever way possible to “reach the top of their sport!” by working in partnership with them to achieve success.

 

We have long supported the work of clubs and individuals by giving them financial assistance. Grant schemes are available for individuals and groups. We have approved these schemes and we will regularly review them to allow the maximum benefit to the rate payers of Newtownabbey.

 

SPORTS & RECREATION MISSION STATEMENT

 

To initiate and develop a broad programme of activities which will promote a healthy lifestyle and encourage participation, provide opportunities and improve performance in sport within Newtownabbey.

 

WHO CAN APPLY

As an applicant, you must live in the Newtownabbey Borough Council area.

As a group 75% of your group must reside in the Newtownabbey Borough Council area.

 

CATEGORIES

The sports grants are in specific categories:

 

Individual	Group
Coaching or other qualification	New club
Sports event	Club equipment
Travel	Coaching courses
Excellence	Sporting event
	Travel
	Excellence

 

 

CATEGORIES

The sports grants are in specific categories:

 

Individual	Group
Coaching or other qualification	New club
Sports event	Club equipment
Travel	Coaching courses
Excellence	Sporting event
	Travel
	Excellence

 

Individual Category Ceilings

Newtownabbey Borough Council will fund to a maximum of the ceiling stated below or to a maximum of 75% of the application.

 

Individual Categories

Grant	Maximum
Sporting Event 1. Participation in events outside Northern Ireland approved by the relevant recognised national Governing Body and where the applicant has achieved the appropriate qualifying standard.	£500
2. Participation in events inside Northern Ireland approved by the Governing Body and where the applicant has achieved the appropriate qualifying standard.	£150
Coaching And Qualification 3. Course fees for coaches, officials and club personnel. (Travel may be considered for high-level course outside Northern Ireland).   Proviso: - Applicants will be asked to contribute a certain amount of expertise to sports education courses in the Newtownabbey Borough area.	£200
Travel 4. Travel if individual are representing their province or Country in competition.	£500
Excellence 5. Excellence. Expenditure incurred by representing or training at national or international level.	£1000

 

 

Club Category Ceiling

Club Categories:

 

Coaching Course/Event 1. Special events/projects hosted by an affiliated club that has a club or community impact.	£500
Travel 2. Travel if team are representing their province or Country in competition (Outside NI) (Within NI)	£800 £250
Equipment 3. equipment for club	£500
Excellence 4. Excellence. Expenditure incurred by representing or training at national or international level	£1500
New Club 5. Development grant for a new club or new section of an existing club.	£200

 

A club with proven financial difficulties, which could lead to the Club disbanding, may make a special one-off application to the Committee for consideration.

 

 

 

Volunteer Bursary Programme

Newtownabbey Borough Council has registered with Volunteer Now as a sponsoring organisation with the Department of Culture Arts and Leisure bursary scheme to support volunteers for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

 

A budget of £3000 is to be allocated to allow two volunteers to avail of maximum match funding.

 

Volunteers who have applied for, and have been accepted for the programme through volunteer Now will be eligible. Approval will be on completion and approval of assistant sports grant funding through the application process.

 

We will not allocate grant aid to recognised charities or commercial ventures.

 

Training Bursary

There is a demand for training provision for elite athletes in the Borough. To address this demand, we are introducing a training bursary scheme which would offer five elite athletes from the Borough the opportunity to avail of Zestfitness facilities free of charge for a twelve month period. The athletes would be required to adhere to the standard terms and conditions for Zestfitness usage.

 

Applicants are required to complete an application form similar to that for a sports development grant application. Only five bursaries would be awarded during the financial year and success or failure in this process would not affect application for further funding through the sports grant programme. The first five applications received which were assessed as having met the criteria for the scheme would be successful.

 

Terms and conditions and the appropriate application form would be available on the Council website.

 

Applicant must

(a) be a resident in the Borough

(b) be able to demonstrate excellence in sport at International level

(c) be affiliated to a governing body recognised by Sport NI

(d) Agree to publicity opportunities for the Council.

 

 

1. All requests must be submitted on official application forms endorsed by the club and the relevant recognised national Governing Body associated to Sport NI.

2. The Assistance Sports Grant scheme will acknowledge receipt of all requests.

3. The Assistance Sports Grant scheme will not grant in retrospect.

4. Application forms for financial assistance should be received by the Council at least two months before the event.

5. The Assistance Sports Grant scheme requires the applying club to submit a current constitution and most recent audited accounts as part of the registration process for the association.

6. An individual may only apply for funding once per financial year.

7. An affiliated club to the Zest accreditation scheme may normally only apply to the Assistance Sports Grant:

 

(a) Once in the "club categories" section in any financial year, (April - March).

(b) A maximum of five times on behalf of individuals from the club in the "individuals categories" section in any financial year, (April - March).

Exceptional circumstances may be taken into consideration.

 

8.Grants must be used for the purpose for which the application was initially made, and in the circumstances where this stipulation is not adhered to satisfactorily, Newtownabbey Borough Council will insist on repayment.

 

The sports grant will use a pre determined criteria and matrix to judge your application. This will include the following criteria upon which your application will be judged:

1. QUALITY OF APPLICATION FORM

2. DEMONSTRATION OF NEED

3. BENEFIT

4. FINANCES

5. SIGNIFICANCE OF PROJECT

 

THESE AREAS WILL BE SCORED AND YOUR APPLICATION FORM JUDGED ACCORINGLY. FOR FURTHER EXPLANATION OF THIS PLEASE SEE SECTION TITLED ’SCORING MATRIX’ OR CONTACT THE SPORT AND PLAY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT

 

The decision of the Assistance Sports Grant scheme is final. All grants will be subject to the audit of Newtownabbey Borough Council.

 

 

			Max
1.	Quality Of Application
	(i)Quality of information provided and relevance.
	Is the form completed fully, neatly and with all sections completed		5
	Yes - 5 No - 0
	(i)Supporting information enclosed None - 0 Paper cuttings - 2 Certificates- 2 Letter of support from governing body - 2 Other - 2 All 5 - 5		5
	(iii) CV of applicant
	Does the application give a list of achievement, qualifications and aspirations. No - 0 Partial - 5 Complete - 10		10
2.	Demonstration Of Need
	(i) Additionally Is the applicant club associated to the recognised governing body Yes - 4 No - 0 Does the individual participate in their sport on Council facilities Yes - 4 No - 3 Has the individual been funded before Yes - 2 No - 1		10
	(ii) Other funding sources No - 0 Yes: Level Governing body - 2 Sponsorship - 3 All - 5		5
	(iii) Demands For Activity
	Sport and level of participation: Mainstream sport senior - 5 Mainstream sport junior - 4 Minority sport senior - 4 Mainstream sport veteran - 4 Minorirty sport junior - 3 Minority sport veteran - 3		5
3.	Benefits
	(i) To Council's corporate objective Can the application be seen to meet any of the following objectives: Civic leadership Our environment Our community our economy Accountability People development The future of local government Yes - 6 No - 0		6
	(ii)To leisure and culture objectives Can the application be seen to meet any of the following leisure and culture objectives: Civic leadership Our environment Our community Our economy Accountability People development The future of local government Yes - 6 No - 0		6
	(iii) To applicant Is there a benefit to the applicant Yes - 4 No - 0		4
	(iv) PR potential Is there scope for positive publicity for NBC to come from funding this individual Yes - 4 No - 0		4
4.	Finances
	(i) Financial plan/value for money Is there a financial breakdown - 2 Is the financial plan feasible - 2 Is the financial plan viewed as value for money - 2 All - 5		5
	(ii) Fundraising attempts Has the individal given examples of other sources of funding None - 1 One - 2 More than one example given - 5		5
	(iii) Accountability Can receipts, evaluation report and positive publicity towards Newtownabbey Borough Council be received from this project? Yes - 5 No - 0		5
	(iv) Sustainability Is the activity sustainable or a one off venture into the sport Sustainable - 5 Not - 2		5
5.	Significance of Project
	(i) Local - 4 (ii) Regional - 4 (iii) National - 6 (iv) International - 6		20

 

 

Grant Aid Application Flowchart

The flowchart below shows the various stages an application has to go through before a decision is made. Applicants should note that if their application form is NOT accompanied by the required documents, lengthy delays may result.

 

APPLICATION RECEIVED

LETTER OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT

ASSISTANT SPORT AND PLAY DEVELOPMENT OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS COMPILED

CHECKED AND REPORT FROM SPORT AND PLAY DEVELOPMENT OFFICER COMPILED

CHECKED AND AGREED BY HEAD OF SECTION

OVERSEEN BY DIRECTOR

APPLICATION CONSIDERED BY LEISURE COMMITTEE

APPLICATION CONSIDERED BY FULL COUNCIL

APPLICANT INFORMED OF COUNCIL DECISION WITHIN 10 WORKING DAYS

RECEIPTS, EVALUATION REPORT AND POSITIVE PUBLICITY ARE RECEIVED NOTIFICATION SENT TO ACCOUNTS TO ISSUE PAYMENT

 

 

 

Sports & Recreation Grants To individuals

We will consider applications for grant aid from individuals to help with their personal development, as long as they meet the stated criteria and objectives of our Sport and Recreation Policy.

 

Types of Grants and the Criteria:

 

1. As an applicant, you must live in the Newtownabbey Borough Council area.

 

2. Your application must fall into one of the following categories and you may only apply for funding in ONE category.

 

a. Coaching or other qualifications: individuals who wish to improve their coaching or other qualifications, such as sports officials. We will also consider course fees, travel and accommodation expenses.

b. Sports events: we will consider sports events organized by clubs or individuals which are open to the general public, or are of provincial, national or international importance.

c. Travel: Travel grants are available to assist individuals or teams who are representing their province or country in competition.

d. Excellence: We will consider teams and individuals who incur considerable expenditure while training and competing at national or international level.

 

3. We will not allocate grant aid to recognised charities or commercial ventures.

 

Volunteer Bursary Programme

 

Newtownabbey Borough Council has registered with Volunteer Now as a sponsoring organisation with the Department of Culture Arts and Leisure bursary scheme to support volunteers for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

 

A budget of £3000 is to be allocated to allow two volunteers to avail of maximum match funding.

 

Volunteers who have applied for, and have been accepted for the programme through volunteer Now will be eligible. Approval will be on completion and approval of assistant sports grant funding through the application process.

 

Conditions

1. Where appropriate, we need to see evidence that you have sought funding from other sources.

2. We will only award one grant to an individual in each financial year (1 April to 31 March).

3. We will only accept applications made on our official application forms, which you can get from the Sports Development Officer at the address below or Tel: (028) 90340065/37 or via the website.

 

Our support should be acknowledged in all publicity material relating to the event or activity.

4. We will consider incomplete or illegible forms to be ineligible and return them to you.

5. Your application must be for a nonprofitmaking purpose. You must use all funding from us for the purpose stated on your application. Otherwise, we will request full repayment.

 

Conflict of Interest Declaration

We pride ourselves in operating an open and unbiased assistant sports grant programme where everyone in Newtownabbey is treated with the same level of help and support. In order to facilitate this level of openness, we require that you declare any relationship to any member of staff or Council member of Newtownabbey Borough Council. This disclosure will not effect in any way, positively or negatively, the recommendation or outcome of your application

 

Other information

-We will acknowledge all applications for grant aid, in writing, within 10 days of receipt.

-We may defer applications if we need further information.

-We will not consider a claim that your application was lost or delayed in the post, unless you have proof of posting.

 

lf your application is unsuccessful, you may contact the Sports Development Officer to find out why, Tel: Sport and Play Development Officer (028) 9034 0065, Email:dholmes@newtownabbey.gov.uk

 

Unsuccessful applications

lf your application was unsuccessful and you want to have it reviewed, you should write to the Leisure and Culture Development Manager at the address below, A panel, made up of representatives from the Sport and Play Development Department and nominated Councillors, will reassess your application. The review panel's decision will then be referred back to the full Council for final approval.

 

Newtownabbey Borough Council

Mossley Mill

Newtownabbey

BT36 5QA

 

General Conditions For Grant Aid

Projects eligible for grant aid under any of our schemes must reflect the aims of that particular scheme and must be related to a function for which we have a statutory responsibility. Group applications should be from properly constituted organizations with an elected committee. We ask for evidence of a constitution for all group applications. For applications from individuals, we will need a letter of support from an associated governing body or equivalent. Group applicants should give us evidence of the group's financial position with their application.

 

We will not consider retrospective funding. Retrospective projects are those that have taken place before we have considered the application, or those on which money has already been spent before the full council meeting. Where possible we should receive your application two months before the event, to allow us enough time to consider it.

 

If more than one source of financial assistance exists, or is applied for, you (the applicant) must first have approached the other relevant sources. You must tell us the result of such an approach.

 

We will only give grant assistance for a specified activity, event, function or for developmental purposes. We will not provide funding for routine or recurrent expenditure such as general overheads, salaries, rents and rates, except for a Community Services Premises Grant. Any assistance we offer you must only be used for the purpose stated on the application. lf not, we have the right to ask you to repay the grant.

 

We can choose to interview a representative of the group, organisation or individual making the funding application, and we can deal directly with the applicant's parent organisation or governing body.

 

Except where a recognised provincial or wider role exists, we will limit grant assistance to groups based in the Newtownabbey Council area, or those that provide a service for our area by promoting play and sports.

 

We will only pay allocated grants if you can produce the following:

a. Original receipts (not applicable to seeding grants). Individuals are expected to provide 100% of receipts for total project costs.

b. A certified Treasurer’s statement of expenditure and income, as referred to in the application form

c. A written evaluation of the event or project, with participants and audience figures, and evidence of advertising on which our support has been acknowledged (leaflets, press releases, etc).

 

Note: lf you provide evidence that initial outlay costs need to be met, we may award up to 50% of the grant in advance in exceptional circumstances.

 

Projects will only be assessed if there is evidence that they fulfil a clearly defined need, and they show a degree of community support or clear benefit.

 

We will award grants on the basis of equal opportunities to all the community, regardless of religious belief political opinion, race, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender, able-bodied or disabled status, or presence or absence of dependants.

 

Previous funding does not guarantee further funding.