How Do Grant Writers Help Sport Clubs?

If you’re part of a local or community sporting organisation, you’ll be more than aware of how difficult it can be to raise funding. You’re constantly chasing sponsorship, collecting registration fees, running events and hoping to scrape enough money together to stay afloat. This doesn’t leave much money for important things like equipment and facilities upgrades. Fortunately, grant writers can help you apply for and win sporting grants to keep your sporting club in a position of growth.

Here’s everything you need to know.

What do grant writers do?

When you enlist the help of professional grant writers such as Grant Professionals, you give yourself the best chance of obtaining funding for your sporting club or organisation. There are all types of grants available to assist with purchasing equipment, upgrading facilities and a range of other activities to help grow your club.

Essentially, grant writers have the skills and experience to win government grants, so you’ll have a much greater chance of success. Our experts learn a little about your club, your goals, and specifically, what you need funding for. You may already have identified a particular grant to apply for, but we can also help to identify funding opportunities. Basically, we cover the whole grant writing process.

From there, we prepare a professional grant application on your behalf. While the decision ultimately lies with the grant provider, we give you a much better chance of successfully acquiring the funding you need.

How much does a grant writing service cost?

Every grant writer is likely to have a different fee structure, so this is something that you need to investigate thoroughly before hiring anybody. We do things a little differently than other services because we don’t believe you should pay if you don’t win a grant.

If the grant application we submit on your behalf is not successful, you’ll have absolutely nothing to pay. This is because we only charge a fee when successful. Our fee for successful applications is $75 plus 15% of the grant amount. We do usually cap this fee at the $20,000 grant level, so if we won a $50,000 grant for you, you would still only pay $75 plus 15% of 20,000. The fee is always agreed upon before commencing.

It’s important to note that most grant providers don’t allow our fee to be taken directly from the grant itself, as these funds are usually dedicated to a specific purchase or activity. However, since you’ve just won a grant, you’ll be more than capable of paying our fee.

What can grants be used for?

It’s important to note right off the bat that most funding grants are not intended to simply be a cash injection for your club. Grant applications require that you have specific needs or projects you’d like to undertake, and that’s what the money should be used for. Many grants programs will require evidence of your completed projects too, whether it be buying new uniforms or training coaches.

However, there are many legitimate things that grant writers can help you secure funding for:

• Equipment for training and games
• Uniforms
• Coach education
• Child safety measures
• Several types of training
• Strategic and business planning
• Scoreboards
• Facility upgrades
• Sustainability measures
• Promotional/marketing
• Plus, many more

So, as you can see, the list above is quite extensive without being exhaustive. From buying new first aid equipment to setting up better payment facilities at your canteen, there are so many different things you can use sporting grants for.

Funding for facility upgrades

In most circumstances, local and community groups and sports clubs don’t own their own facilities. Rather, they are leased from the local council for specific periods of the year. Many sports clubs even share facilities, particularly across different sporting seasons. As a result, it’s not the sporting club’s responsibility to upgrade major infrastructure at their home ground.

However, you may have some ideas for how your venue can be improved. It might be an electronic scoreboard, more shaded areas or an upgraded bar/canteen. In consultation with the local council, you may be able to agree on a way that sporting grants can help upgrade your facilities.

Generally, larger grants for infrastructure are usually applied for by the council, since they own the land. With that being said, there are often smaller improvements that can be made to a venue, and sports clubs can apply directly for grants. This should always be done with council permission, of course, in line with your lease agreement.

If you can identify any opportunities for improvement at your venue, speak to the local council, and of course, our grant writers are happy to assist you where required.

Encourage participation and club growth

One of the biggest issues facing grassroots sporting clubs is participation rates. With so many other activities fighting it out for people’s time, local sporting clubs often fall to the back of the line. This is a problem across all sports, and all over Australia. The simple solution would be for clubs to merge, creating smaller but stronger competitions. The reality, though, is far different, with most sports clubs having a long, rich history that they want to maintain.

One of the best ways to encourage more participation is to set yourself up as a more professional club. This means having a good venue with facilities such as a bar and canteen. Quality changeroom facilities are important, as are shaded areas around the ground for spectators. Being able to give new players a uniform without charging them is another win, as is being able to reduce your registration fees.

Grant writers can help you improve your facilities, equipment, and even the skills and capability of your leaders. It’s a constant struggle to provide the best environment that attracts players, members and sponsors, but utilising sports grants is a terrific place to start.

Need experienced grant writers?

If you’re a local sporting club or organisation that could do with some improvements for the coming season, we’d love to hear from you. Grant Professionals can help you find the perfect grants and funding bodies to suit your needs, and we’ll take care of the application process. Give your committee and volunteers a break and let us do the work for you. Contact us today to find out how we can help.