Sport NI: Project Creating Opportunities

Overview

Project Creating Opportunities is the next phase of funding to connect communities, enabling more people to take part in sport and physical activity throughout Northern Ireland.

In particular, a focus of the project is to ‘level the playing field’, so that accessibility and inclusion is felt and experienced by those who have been traditionally excluded from not only participating in sport, but playing an active role within the club (e.g. coaching, officiating and leading as part of a board).

Programme Objectives

• Support new and additional initiatives to connect communities, enabling more people to take part in sport and physical activity throughout Northern Ireland.
• Enable people to work together to provide new and additional solutions to get people active and returning to activity through sport or engaged in its delivery.
• Engage people known to be most under-represented (Sport NI target groups).
• Support the sporting sector to build resilience and plan for the future by embracing new ways of working or engaging new audiences.
• Assist the sporting sector to grow club membership and demonstrate an ability to manage projects.

Crowdfunding Requirement

You will need a crowdfunding project to apply for funding. Start creating your campaign project at Start crowdfunding | Crowdfunder UK and, if eligible, you’ll be prompted to apply for their funding. You can view videos on the website which will explain the process in more detail. This investment aims to support projects and initiatives that are creative and innovative and will engage or re-engage people back into sport.

Who is Creating Opportunities for?

Applications should focus particularly on people from at least one of the following priority groups:

• Women & girls;
• People with disabilities;
• Children & young people – especially those aged between 11-18 years;
• Older people aged over 50;
• Ethnically diverse communities;
• LGBTQ+ community;
• People living in areas of greatest need (based on NISRA postcode, quartile1);
• People living in rural areas (based on NISRA postcode)

Their match funding, of up to £5,000, aims to help the sports sector ‘level the playing field’.

Eligibility

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.

o Recognised Sport NI Governing Bodies

o Recognised Sport Ireland Governing Bodies

• A community/voluntary sector organisation that delivers or enables sport and/or physical activity as your primary activity. Sports and activities must be recognised by Sport NI.
• A charitable trust that delivers or enables sport and/or physical activity as your primary activity. Sports and activities must be recognised by Sport NI.
• A constituted Parent Teacher Association (PTA) that delivers or enables new/additional extracurricular sport and/or physical activity including outdoor activity residentials. Sports and activities must be recognised by Sport NI

Pledge Criteria

If your application is approved you will get match funding of 50%, up to a maximum of £5,000

This offer will be valid for 2 weeks after the date of notification, if you do not launch your crowdfunding campaign within 2 weeks of notification the offer will be rescinded.

Following approval for funding, you MUST NOT make any amendments to your campaign page (otherwise any offer of funding will be rescinded).

Tips for 2025/26

• Applicants are required to demonstrate how the participation project they wish to deliver will contribute towards ’Levelling The Playing Field’. How does the project address those who have been traditionally excluded from, not only participating in sport, but playing an active role within the club.
• Proposed projects must be new or additional to what your club or organisation/association normally delivers on a day-to-day basis.
• Projects targeting specific groups mentioned above, can receive 50% match funding from Sport NI (up to a maximum of £5,000)
• Projects requesting from £4,000 to the maximum £5,000 match-funding, must include a project video within their campaign providing information on their specific project.
• Clubs and organisations can only have one application to the programme within a 12 month period (April – March)

To receive a pledge, you will need to do two things (the ‘fund conditions’):

1) Raise at least 25% of your initial target,

2) Raise this from a minimum number of supporters. 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.

The minimum number of unique supporters required is 25: Following receipt of a pledge you will also need to reach 100% of your initial funding target to receive the funds from Sport NI. If the project fails to reach 100% of the target the Sport NI pledge will be rescinded.

Note – Sport NI reserve the right to vary these pledge criteria; projects will be notified if their pledge criteria will vary from the stated terms above. Before completing your application, you will need to read the full Eligibility and Pledge Criteria as detailed in the programme guidance document on our website. Funded projects will be required to agree to the terms and conditions of award.

Applicants will be offered support during the application process. Sport NI staff will be on hand to answer any questions or queries that you may have. Crowdfunder will deliver a suite of online training tutorials and videos which will guide applicants from developing your initial project idea, right through to delivery.