Coronavirus: Clubs supported by Sport England's Community Emergency Fund

Basketball clubs across the country are receiving financial support from Sport England’s Community Emergency Fund to help with the current coronavirus outbreak, with nearly £83,000 currently distributed across 23 clubs.

There have been 40 assessed basketball related submissions for the award so far, with an average of £3,600 given to 23 successful organisations.

Sport England’s £20 million fund of National Lottery money has been put in place to deliver immediate funding to those most in need.

It's specifically targeted at grassroots sport and physical activity providers who are experiencing short term financial hardship or the ceasing of operations due to the ongoing crisis and can complement other sources of funding from the government.

Any organisation delivering community sport and physical activity can apply to the fund, with basketball one of the sports to benefit.

The organisations that can apply include:

• Local sports clubs
• Voluntary and community sector organisations that deliver or enable sport and/or physical activity, including organisations that are not solely or primarily sports organisations and have an important role to play in keeping people active, that may need support for other parts of their organisation to remain open
• Small charitable trusts that do not qualify for financial help elsewhere
• Regional or county level organisations or leagues that have already paid out funds for activities that are now cancelled and are not able to claim funds from elsewhere.

Awards will be between £300 and £10,000, with more potentially considered in exceptional circumstances.

The financial aid can cover a range of expenditures, including:

• Rent 
• Utility costs 
• Insurances 
• Facility or equipment hire 
• Core staffing costs (including casual workers) that cannot be met elsewhere by other government funds
• Retrospective losses dating from 1 March, 2020.

Funding cannot be used for:

• Activities or costs which are already covered by other government funding, including rates
• New activities or events
• Capital works
• Costs beyond the end of July 2020.

Sport England state that applications should only be submitted as a last resort, with all other potential sources of government funding investigated first.

If your club is experiencing any financial difficulty or needs support in any way, you can contact our team using the following details:

• Club enquiries: Laura Doherty (Relationship & Co-Ordination Manager) Yorkshire, East, East Midlands, South East & London [email protected] or Sam Lewis (Relationship & Co-Ordination Manager) West Midlands, South & South West, North West, North East [email protected] 
• General information: [email protected] 
• Membership: [email protected] 
• Media: [email protected] 
• Courses: [email protected] 
• National League: [email protected] 
• Officiating: [email protected]
• Safeguarding: [email protected] 
• Talent: [email protected] 
• All Girls: [email protected] 

You can find more information about the award, funding criteria and applications on the Sport England website. Basketball England can provide support with your application, to find out how use the button below.

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