FAQs

All projects need to take place at spaces, places and facilities that will be open to all the community to use. 

The following groups and organisations can apply:

• Community and voluntary sector organisations 
• Community enterprises 
• Community Interest Companies without share capital (with three or more directors, or two directors and plan to work towards having three directors)
• Faith centres 
• Local authorities 
• Registered charities 
• Schools, statutory bodies and other educational establishments (please see additional information, below)
• Sports clubs 
• Unincorporated associations 

All projects need to take place at spaces that will be open to all the community to use. 

While schools can apply to the Active Spaces Fund, we won’t fund projects that are solely for the use of school pupils, their families and teachers. The application must demonstrate that the facilities will be accessible to the wider community outside of school hours on the same terms as the groups listed above. We’re looking for applications that demonstrate existing relationships with community groups (who may already be using the school facilities for sport and physical activity), and letters of support from these groups should be submitted as part of the application. We also want to see how the practical elements of opening facilities outside of school hours will be managed, and that the activity can be sustained beyond the funding period.

We’re unable to fund individuals, organisations or groups set up to make a profit for private distribution.

No – the Active Spaces Fund is only open to organisations supporting communities in the 32 London boroughs and City of London.

Your project must support children, young people and/or underserved groups and communities to lead active and healthy lives. Within these audiences, we want to support those who are currently inactive or have the least access to sport and physical activity. 

Equipment 

Yes, we’ll fund major equipment which is integral to a project, including fixed equipment (eg, playground and gym equipment) as well as non-fixed equipment (eg, rowing boats and adapted bikes). If applying for non-fixed equipment, you’ll need to demonstrate that the equipment will be well maintained and safely stored.

We won’t fund any personal equipment or clothing that will become the property of individuals (eg, team sports kits).

Vehicles

No, we won’t accept any applications for purchasing vehicles (including tractors, minibuses or ride-on lawnmowers).

Our funds are limited and we’re unlikely to be able to fund the entire costs of a capital project. If you’re submitting a request for a capital project, we advise you to consider how the entire project will be funded before applying.

For smaller capital projects requesting less than £80,000, we expect to see a contribution from other sources (eg, from other funders or your own organisation).

For larger capital projects requesting more than £80,000, we’ll need to see evidence that significant funding has either been secured or applied for (eg, from other funders or your own organisation).

We’re unlikely to support applications where our funding represents only a small portion of the entire capital project costs.

The local authority can apply for the project on your organisation’s behalf – the local authority will need to be the named organisation and main contact for the application.

No – we’re unable to provide continuous funding for projects that have already been funded through the Active Spaces Fund. This is because our funding is limited, and our aim is to support projects so they’re able to continue delivery beyond our funding period. If you require additional funding for an existing project, we recommend looking into other funding sources.

You’re welcome to submit an Expression of Interest for a new project.

All faith-based organisations with charitable or social aims are eligible to apply for funding and are subject to the same checks and due diligence as other applicants.

Instances where we typically can’t fund faith-based organisations include:

• where the proposed project includes activities that promote religion or seek to convert individuals to a specific belief system, since it may risk excluding communities with different beliefs and practices where the intended project does not benefit the wider community outside of the religious community.
• The only instance where we may fund a project that does not benefit the wider community is where in doing so is proportionate and intended to achieve a legitimate aim, ie - a women-only space for young Muslim girls to participate in sports.
• If your project predominantly serves the local community, but will also be used for faith practices, we’ll only fund the proportion of your project that benefits the wider community. For example, if your proposed capital refurbishment or build will be used for 30 hours a week (75%) by the local community and 10 hours (25%) for religious or faith-based activities, we’ll fund only 75% of the total project cost.

When applying for funding, please include details in your application about your connection to the wider community beneficiaries, residents, and groups that will benefit from your project.

Stage One: Expression of Interest (EOI)

If your EOI is successful, we’ll contact you to let you know and invite you to stage two, where you submit a full application.

If your EOI is unsuccessful, we’ll contact you and provide feedback to let you know why. The EOI is designed to help us identify projects that best fit our priorities. Therefore, we may advise you not to reapply if your project is not a strong enough fit with our priorities and is unlikely to be funded in the future.

You may be invited to submit an EOI again if you’re able to make changes to your project, but if your EOI is unsuccessful for a second time, you won’t be able to apply for the same project again.

Stage Two: full application

If your application is successful, we’ll contact you to let you know. You’ll then be emailed your official paperwork including a Letter of Offer, Grant Terms and Conditions and Project Delivery Plan. Our Funding Team will provide all the information you need to complete the paperwork and will be on hand to support you throughout the delivery of your project.

If your application was unsuccessful, we’ll contact you and provide feedback about why. We appreciate that applying for funding takes valuable time and resource, and we’ll either:

• Invite you to reapply, with guidance to help strengthen your application (please note, you’ll only be able to reapply for the same project once)
• Let you know you’re unable to reapply, and why your application is not right for the Active Spaces Fund.

Please email us first, outlining if there have been any changes to your project since submitting your EOI. 

We’ll then let you know if you can submit a full application, or if you need to start a new EOI.

If your full application (stage two) is successful, we can provide some flexibility with the payment of your funding, to support you with managing the cashflow of your project.

The funding can be split into two payments within the delivery of your project, including upfront (before the project starts, which is for revenue costs only), interim (during the project delivery) and/or on project completion.

Your Funding Manager will agree to the payment plan with you before your project starts.

We’ll accept multiple applications for different projects from the same organisation, but it’s unlikely they will all be funded. 

If you want to apply for more than one project, please email us first, so that we can discuss the priorities of these projects with you.

At the beginning of your funding period, your Funding Manager will work with you to agree to the outcomes you want to achieve through your project. This means from the start of your project you’ll know what outcomes you need to monitor and report on.

One year from when your project is complete and your grant fully paid, you’ll need to complete an Annual Project Impact Report to share how your project has worked towards the agreed outcomes - see our Impact Reporting Guide for more information.

You can get in touch with us at any time, but will need to complete a short Progress Report every six months during the delivery of your project, to let us know how things are going. This is done through our Funding Forms Portal and, when it’s due, you’ll receive an automatic email with a link to the form.