RYA Together Fund 2022
What is it?
The Together Fund is a partnership between the RYA and Sport England to reduce inequalities in sport and physical activity, particularly following the pandemic, and the RYA has been awarded a further £195,000 of National Lottery funding to help clubs and centres work with:
- Lower sociology-economic groups
- Culturally diverse communities
- Disabled people
- People with long term health conditions
Can I apply?
You can apply if you are a not-for-profit organisation in England, and either:
- a club or centre that is part of the OnBoard or Sailability programmes;
- not for profit training centres and affiliated organisations that are already working directly with one of the priority audiences;
- a trusted community organisation working directly with a priority audience, intending to use boating as part of supporting people to be active.
How much can I apply for?
A maximum of £10,000 applies to any single award, but the average award is £3500. No single organisation will be awarded a cumulative total of more than £30,000 (from May 2020-September 2023 – note that the fund was previously known as the Tackling Inequalities Fund).
When’s the deadline?
Applications need to be submitted by 12pm 07 March 2023 and the funded activity needs to take place by 30 September 2023.
What type of projects might be successful?
Projects need to address 5 core questions, these are:
- Will this investment impact upon at least one of the four priority audiences?
- Has the requirement arisen as a direct result of your community group or audience being adversely affected as a result of COVID-19 and/or the cost of living crisis?
- What issues does the funding help to resolve in improving access to take part in sport and physical activity for the target audience?
- Will this investment help your organisation or community group to recover and grow or continue to survive as a result of hardship?
- Is this project directly funding the provision of physical activity or if not, how will it support the delivery of physical activity in the immediate future?
In terms of what activity can be funded – funds can be used to provide lower or no cost activities (preferably supporting the actual costs to which membership relates e.g. coaching/session costs). Eligible costs include:
- Staff costs, volunteer, instructor or coach costs
- Training costs
- Rent / facility hire
- Utility costs
- IT costs
- Insurance
Ineligible costs, that will not be funded include:
- Activities or costs which are already covered by other government funding including rates
- Capital works
- Activities promoting religious or political beliefs
- Where there is personal benefit to an individual
- Any private business or profit-making organisations unless they are a Social Enterprise or Community Interest Company
- Partnerships and freelancers
- Loss of sponsorship, or loan repayments.
- Replacement of general equipment for reasons unrelated to the Together Fund (e.g. if it’s broken, tired, torn etc).
- Contingency costs and VAT that organisations are seeking to recover.
Relevant equipment can be purchased through the Together Fund if they would support communities to be more active. However, the Together Fund is not able to fund longer-term equipment replacement.
You can find out more about eligibility in the Fund FAQs
You can see an example of a successful application in the Region with the Norfolk Schools Sailing Association’s project to provide sailing lessons to a group of Sudanese refugees, along with providing bursaries for other individuals.
Where can I find out more?
For the full criteria, please see here. You can also find the RYA’s step-by-step guide here. Organisations are invited to submit an expression of interest, which will be used to identify a local RYA staff member to offer further support prior to a full application. Apply here.
