The Barclays Community Football Fund access grant programme aims to support grassroots, community groups, working within the most deprived areas of the UK. They want to make sure funding reaches organisations providing accessible football activities for the most underrepresented groups of young people.
Who is eligible to apply?
Applications are welcome from not-for-profit organisations including community groups, youth groups and traditional football clubs. Groups must meet the following criteria:
- You operate in an area of high deprivation and support the hardest to reach young people. We use the Government Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) to establish eligibility and only organisations located in or supporting young people from IMD areas 1-3 are eligible to apply.
- The fund recognises the disproportionate impact that the pandemic and cost of living crisis has had on young people with disabilities and will consider disability football applications from groups that sit outside of IMD areas 1-3.
- You are already delivering football activities to young people under the age of twenty five, or you are wanting to start with our support.
- You are delivering services directly to beneficiaries from one or more of our priority groups as follows: women and girls, racially diverse communities, young people with disabilities, from the LGBTQ+ community and from lower socio-economic areas.
How much can I apply for?
You can apply for an access grant of £1000 to support delivery of your football activities to engage with young people from underrepresented groups.
You can apply for one grant of £1000 per club/group. The fund cannot give out awards to different teams within a club so please consider where the funds are most needed.
What are the open and closing dates for the fund?
There will be two funding rounds this year.
Round 1 – from Monday 12th February until Friday 12th April 2024.
Round 2 – from Monday 15th July until Sunday 15th September 2024.
Please note the fund is expected to be extremely popular and may close earlier if they receive a high volume of eligible applications. Please read the criteria thoroughly and submit an application early for the best chance of success.
How to apply
The Barclays Community Football Fund has been set up in partnership with UK-wide charity Sported. To find out if you are eligible, and to apply for a £500 grant for a community sports group you work with – visit the Sported website – you will need to register an account to view the pages and make an application.
