Sport England: Active Together has provided £10,000 of match funding
BEDFORD TIGERS 2024 MULTI-SPORT FUNDRAISER!
Bedford, United Kingdom
Aim
Bedford Tigers is a fully inclusive, multisport club & charity providing rugby league & netball for Men, Women, Children & Wheelchair users.
Who are we?
Bedford Tigers celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2024 and from our modest beginnings we now proudly sit as one of Bedford's most diverse sports clubs!
The Club has a Men's & Women's section which each have two senior teams and juniors underneath. We have a Netball & Wheelchair section (through our Charity) which is looking to expand this year. The Charity is looking to deliver additional projects in the local area too!
Why are we crowdfunding?
Running such a diverse organisation comes with its financial challenges. Our travel alone this year will exceed £5000, playing venues have raised their prices to cope with their increasing energy bills and playing equipment, insurances, match officials, medical equipment, all take their toll.
The increased awareness of head injuries and competition requirements for medical cover have also had a direct affect on our purse too.
Then there is the ongoing costs for qualifying staff, with many of our volunteers paying for things out of their own pockets in order to fulfil ever increasing requirements.
Both mens and women teams face long away trips including journeys to Wales and the West Country to play Cardiff and Bristol respectively.
The wheelchairs we use are also a multi-thousand pound investment that we can't avoid, with each chair costing upward of £2,000!
How we’ll spend the money raised
The money raised will all go towards the club and charity's delivery in 2024 and beyond.
It will enable us to invest in more Wheelchairs for our Wheelchair section allowing us to expand the offer during sessions which are currently limited by the number of chairs we have. We will be able to hire appropriate facilities more frequently and deliver on all the avenues at the club without restriction!
The logistics of travelling to away games also requires the hire of a transit van every time in order to transport the chairs!
The above is in addition to various and increasing amount of qualifications which are required. From safeguarding and welfare officers through to coaches and medical, everything comes at a cost which we need to fund properly in order to run the club.
COST BREAKDOWN:
Wheelchair Section £12,120
This will allow the Charity to buy four new chairs at £1800 each. Our hall hire comes in around £2500 for the year and will absorb the rest of the allocation to help subsidise the costs to the players who already pay membership fees.
4x Wheelchairs = £7200
Hall hire for the year = £2880
Van hire and fuel for away games - £340 (6 away games per year = £2040)
Men and Women's & Juniors Section - £4500
These sections will both receive £2000 each which will go toward coach trips to Cardiff and Bristol (circa £1000 each) as well as new medical equipment including spine board, pitch side trauma bag and O2 therapy, all requirements for higher level match day operations.
Coach hire - £1050 x2 = £2100
Trauma equipment including Spine Board, O2 therapy, trauma kit - £1500
Coaching qualifications (requirement by RFL) - £900
Pitch hire/Ground rent - £1400 per annum
Netball - £2000
The final £2000 will go towards to set up of our Netball Pathway. This will help the Charity to buy playing kits and cover court hire fees. It will also allow us to pay for coaching courses, scorers and umpires which are a requirement for every game!
Community impact
Sport and physical activity makes people happier and healthier, and movement is the lens through which we can make that happen. It does the same thing for our communities, with life-changing, sustainable benefits that have huge economic and social value.
At both the Tigers and the Charity we aim to engage with the widest spectrum of people in our community. From performance level players in our Men's, Women's and Wheelchair first teams, through our social level sides to our junior pathways.
And through our Foundation, we aim to break down more disability barriers by creating a safe and enjoyable platform for people who's physical and learning impairments exclude them from other sporting activities!
How you can play your part
There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.
1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!
2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.
3. Offer rewards. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!
4. Fundraise for us. If you want to run your own fundraiser – maybe a sponsored activity or similar – use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!
This project successfully funded on 30th August 2024