Eligible organisations

To be eligible to apply you must be one of the following organisations:

- A constituted sports club which is affiliated to a governing body of sport which is recognised by Sport NI OR Sport Ireland. 

- Sport NI recognised NGBs
- Sport Ireland NGBs

- A community/voluntary sector organisation that delivers or enables sport and/or physical activity as your primary activity. 

- A charitable trust that delivers or enables sport and/or physical activity as your primary activity. 

- A constituted Parent Teacher Association (PTA) that delivers or enables new/additional extracurricular sport and/or physical activity including outdoor activity residentials.

Eligible projects

The fund supports capital projects. Example projects include those which:

- Enhance facilities, such as upgrading fencing, spectator accommodation, facility security or playing surfaces;
- Modernise facilities, such as renovating clubhouses, upgrading changing rooms, new storage spaces or energy saving installations;
- New equipment costing over £1,000, large items of sport equipment such as boats, trailers, gym equipment etc. or non-sporting equipment such as storage racks, scoreboards or video equipment.

Once the Fund has been allocated no further applications will be accepted. The Fund may be closed at any time.

What we can't support

This fund is designed to help grassroots sport and physical recreation providers which means we are not able to help the following organisations through this fund: 

- Local authorities.
- Schools (excluding PTA’s), colleges and universities.
- Commercial sport and physical recreation providers, e.g. private gyms.
- Leisure operators.
- Individuals who are either employed or self-employed within the sport and physical recreation sector.

We are also not able to support the following

- Projects raising funds for equipment under £1,000 in value,
- Equipment not related to the applicants' primary activities,
- Facility modernisation if the applicant does not own or lease their facility (minimum of 10 years remaining on lease required),
- Professional fees or salaries,
- Projects that require an unrealistic procurement method,
- Repairs or resurfacing carparks and driveways,
- Bar facilities (ie back of house, keg systems, refrigeration, drinks storage, sales sytems etc)
- Organisations seeking to distribute grants on our behalf,
- Applications for the benefit of one individual.

How to apply

Applicants should create a project on Crowdfunder and if the information matches with the fund the project will be invited to apply through the Crowdfunder platform.

Applications will be reviewed alongside project pages. Please consult our guide to learn how to create a strong project page.

How much can you apply for?

If your application is approved, you’ll be offered match funding of up to 65%* towards your initial crowdfunding target, up to a maximum of £32,500.

*If your club/community group is in an area of high social need, you may be eligible for an enhanced 75% contribution from Sport NI, up to a maximum of £37,500.

Selection process

All projects that meet the criteria set out above will be assessed to determine which projects will be selected for the Fund. Project owners will be notified whether their application has been successful or not. The offer of match funding will be valid for 2 weeks after the date of notification, if you do not launch your crowdfunding campaign within this period, the offer will be rescinded.

We will focus on ensuring funding is distributed equitably, particularly in terms of geographic location and types of beneficiaries. A range of projects will be selected to achieve this.

Match Funding Criteria

Following approval for funding, if you wish to make any changes to your campaign target, or any significant changes to your rewards or other page content you must notify us.

To receive a pledge, you will need to do two things (the ‘pledge conditions’):
1) raise at least 18% of your initial target,
2) receive donations/pledges from a minimum number of unique Supporters.

The minimum number of unique Supporters required is:
• 30 Supporters if your target is between £1,000 and £15,000
• 60 Supporters if your target is between £15,001 and £30,000
• 90 Supporters if your target is £30,001+

*To verify whether Supporters are unique we will take account of information including, but not limited to: name, address, email addresses and payment card used.

If these two conditions are met, Sport NI will add the Olympic Legacy Fund pledge, which means in most cases the campaign will then be at 83%. You must then raise the remaining 17% from your crowd, to achieve 100% of your funding target and receive the Sport Northern Ireland Funds.

If the project fails to reach 100% of the target the provisional pledge will be cancelled.

The Funding Partner reserves the right to vary these match funding criteria; projects will be notified if their match funding criteria will vary from the stated terms above.

Additional Requirements

Project Owners or the campaigning organisation pledging to their own campaign is allowed, however this should not be a significant amount unless discussed before the pledge is added. Small offline donations that have been collected may also be added, however you may be required to evidence the origin of these pledges (receipts, letters of support, copies of cheques or bank statements etc.)

Projects will be required to agree to the Terms and Conditions.