Sport NI: Sports System Investment – Governing Bodies

Overview

Sport NI is the distributing body for Northern Ireland’s share of the allocation to sport. Sport Northern Ireland receives 2.6% of the total good cause funding for sport across the UK, which equates to approximately £9m per annum. Lottery funding distributed through Sport NI has had a significant impact on sport within Northern Ireland and those in receipt of Sport NI lottery funding are explicit in their view that the developments that have happened would not have taken place without the financial support they have received.

In recognition of the strategic role sport governing bodies play, the Sports Systems Investment – Governing Bodies programme is the first strand of the sports systems investment to implement ‘The Power of Sport’.

This investment is to enable the delivery of:

Outcome 1: People adopting and sustaining participation in sport and physical activity.

By (Sport NI Cornerstones):

• Building a positive and inclusive sports culture, recognising the rights of everyone to access and participate in sport.

• Retaining a duty of care to all those engaged in the Sporting System.

• Promoting wellness and well-being.

• Targeting sport in rural communities, in disadvantaged areas and with under-represented groups.

They want to support Recognised governing bodies, not currently funded in the sector, to have stronger systems in place.

Eligibility

Governing Bodies currently in receipt of Sport NI Funding.

The applicant must be named on the UK Recognition list

The maximum amount that can be applied for is £25,000.

This must all be fully spent by 31 March 2024.

The following eligibility criteria also apply:

• The project, in the main, will benefit the inhabitants of Northern Ireland.
• The project and the related expenditure has not taken place yet.
• The applicant organisation* has not applied previously this year (2023/24) for SSIGB funding.

* This includes branches where a parent governing body has applied previously, and vice versa).

The total funding period is 2023-2028 broken down into the following investment periods, 2023-24; 2024-25; 2025-26; 2026-27; 2027-28. The current investment period is 2024-25, all sports were issued their Indicative Planning Figure in December 2023.

Priority Investment Areas

• Retention and Growth; to create opportunities and environments that attract and retain participants in sport, members, spectators, etc. In particular those from underrepresented groups.
  • Your ambition with regards to participation in your sport (not just members).
  • Your understanding of the nature and needs of inequalities faced by those people and communities relevant to you and how that shapes and informs action to grow their participation in your sport.
  • How you will increase opportunities through sport, targeting underrepresented groups or communities, including women and girls, people with a disability and those in later life.
  • How you will increase opportunities with a geographical spread, including rural communities.
• Workforce Planning; to develop an active, skilled and supported workforce, which is representative of the population, and has the capacity and capability to meet the demands of the sporting system.
  • How you build a detailed understanding of your sport’s workforce, and its impact to support decision making and evaluation.
  • How you will identify the workforce needs of your sport, recruiting and developing your workforce to meet these needs and supporting clubs or other organisations to recruit and develop the workforce they require, in order to build capacity and tackle inequalities in and through sport.
  • How you will take proactive steps to address under-representation in order to achieve a more diverse and inclusive workforce within your sport.
  • How you will provide a range of learning, development and qualification opportunities and resources that support the needs, curiosities, and circumstances of your workforce.
  • Embracing digital technology to enable and enhance the learning and connectivity of people within sport.
  • How you are recognising the contribution that members of your governing body, club and other organisations’ workforce make to your sport, engaging with your sport’s workforce, and promoting workforce wellbeing within your sport.
• Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion; to work in ways that support trust, enable collaboration, and foster shared commitment to tackling inequality.
  • How you increase communication of equality, diversity, and inclusion within your sport and beyond.
  • Your understanding of the needs and nature of inequalities for those people and communities relevant to you.
  • The demographics that you are working to address.
  • How you build relationships with other organisations to tackle inequalities in a way that meets the needs of the people and the communities relevant to you.
  • How you use other resources e.g. technology, funding, opportunities to tackle inequality.
  • How well you understand the lived experiences of those in your sport and ensure their voices are heard.
  • How you can increase the diversity of your sport’s leadership, including a more representative board.
• Good Governance; to embed good governance practices within sporting culture.
  • How you comply with adopted governance codes.
  • How you will have intentionally inclusive policies, procedures, and practices.