Sporting Grants in QLD (Queensland)
If you are a part of a sporting club or not for profit community group in Queensland and are interested in learning more about finding, applying and winning grants funding for your club, we can help.
In this page we will outline a few of the commonly asked questions about getting sporting grants. If you need help with grant writing this is a service we offer, to help clubs all over the state, gain valuable funding from QLD government, Australian government and local councils in your area. We can also point you in the right direction when applying for private grants offered by corporate companies in Australia.
Table Of Contents
What are sporting grants?
Sports grants and community grants are funding that is gifted by one organisation to another.
The grant provider or issuer, awards the gift to the group, often based on a selection criteria, where the issuer may stipulate how the funds are to be used.
There will often be a list of acceptable uses for the funding, and they may require some level of compliance and reporting.
Grants are not loans, sponsorships or commercial exchanges. Find out what the difference between a sporting grant and a sports club sponsorship here.
Who provides sporting club grants?
Grants and funding for sports and community groups are on offer, nearly all year round by different government bodies, local councils and private companies.
Some of the largest grants, that your sports club could take advantage of are provided by the 3 different levels Australian government:
Other government organisations, and government sponsored organisations also offer grants, for sport clubs in Queensland.
- Government Agencies
- Government Supported Associations
Then there are private companies, trusts and foundations that offer sport clubs and individual sport funding.
Why Private Companies Issue Sporting Clubs with Grants?
Many big brands, like fast food companies, supermarkets, banks and insurance companies, love to align themselves with the healthy and community friendly image sports promotes.
Whilst we specialise in grant application and grant writing geared towards securing federal, state and council community grants for our members, we always have our ear to the ground, and are quick to notify all our subscribers about private and corporate opportunities.
So if your not already subscribed, get on board and get all the funding opportunities in your inbox.
What sorts of things can the grant funding be used for?
Most times the grant provider will stipulate how the funds may be used. Some are more open, and can be used however the club sees fit. Some of the more common uses for the funding are for things like:
- Sports Equipment
- Infrastructure upgrades
- Club Development & Strategic Planing
- Uniforms + supplies
- Increasing participation
- Training and development
- Funding for operational costs + staffing
For a real life example of infrastructure upgrades, see how we secured over $30 000 for a North QLD football club to get lighting, which allows them to play and train at night. And check out how a Gold Coast football club used their $29 000 grant funding.
How can you check if your sports club is eligible for funding?
Unfortunately every grant will have it’s own set of criteria. So to determine your clubs eligibility to apply for the specific grant funding, you must carefully review the requirements, before spending time on writing a grant proposal.
We have had a few clubs over the years, who have shared their stories of spending hours gathering and submitting information for review, only to be handed a rejection letter, stating they were not eligible in the first place.
How are sport grants awarded? Who decides the winners?
Your grant application will go through a hoops and swings and a few hands on it’s way to being approved. Administration staff at the department will ensure all the criteria has been successfully addressed, and then this is usually passed onto a board or committee for final approval.
If there are more applicants than funds available, the final decision may be based on a judgement of merit. In this case, it is imperative that your grant application stands out.
Being clear on how your club will the using the funding, who it will benefit how it relates to the community at large, may be the difference between and acceptance or rejection letter. If the deciding body is having a hard time choosing between the Grantee’s, more information may be requested so you must be ready to respond in a timely manner.
How long does a sporting grant take to be approved?
It really does depend on the specific grant. Generally the smaller the grant the quicker the process. Grants under $1000 may only take a week, a $5000 grant only a few weeks. The larger grants between $20 000 – $50 000, which are the ones we frequently focus on with our members, may take a few months.
When you use our grant writing service, we will set some clear expectations for you on the outset, and keep you informed and updated through the entire process.
Where to find available sporting grants?
Finding the grants that may be available to your sporting club takes much work. If your looking for where to apply for sports grants, you really need to be consistently on the ball.
The typical places to check are the government agencies or specific departments that may have grants on offer. Some may even have an alert you can sign up for.
The truth is, you have to be diligent and constantly on the look out for new funding opportunities to help your club.
The sporting grants that are easy to find, usually mean there is heaps of competition. However, did you know there are organisations, local councils and other funding partners that have funding on offer, but do have a hard time in connecting with potential recipients? This usually means, they go into a second round as the allocated funds have not been awarded.
If you are a part of a sporting club in Queensland you can simply sign up to our sport funding alerts for free. We will inform you of every potential opportunity and you can opt out at any time.
If you are in another state in Australia, we don’t currently offer alerts. Believe it or not, keeping track of all the grants out there is a big task, and as we want to be comprehensive and focused in our approach, only offer support for QLD sporting clubs.
The best advice would be to crack open a spreadsheet, list out all the places you become aware of that may offer grants, and then set regular reminders, perhaps monthly, to check for changes.
Where to get help writing a grant application?
We write grant applications for all our members. Again to be eligible for our services you must be a sports club or community group located in Queensland Australia.
While we would love to work with clubs all over Australia, we focus on Queensland sporting clubs to best serve our members.
In the coming months we will continue to offer tips and insights into writing an award winning grant, as well as other fundraising tips, that will be more generic.
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