Sport NI’s popular Creating Opportunities crowdfunding programme has reopened for applications.
Sports clubs, charities, voluntary organisations and PTAs can receive up to £5,000 match-funding from Sport NI by setting up their own crowdfunding campaigns to run new programmes to encourage more people to participate in sport and physical activity.
Sports Minister Gordon Lyons welcomed the initiative, saying: “Sport NI’s Creating Opportunities Crowdfunding Programme provides welcome support to our communities by empowering them to create more opportunities for people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds to get active and get engaged in sport.
The initiative reflects the core aim of ‘Active Living’, the Sport and Physical Activity Strategy for Northern Ireland to get more people, more active, more often. By supporting local projects, it ensures that everyone has the chance to experience the transformative power of physical activity, helping to foster a lifelong involvement in sport and delivering a healthier, more resilient and inclusive society.”
Accessibility and inclusion are at the heart of Creating Opportunities, all programmes must focus on removing the barriers preventing people from participating in sport and playing an active role in their club.
The match-funding can be used to invest in new equipment essential for project delivery, coaching costs, venue hire, coach education or facility upgrades to increase levels of participation, particularly from those traditionally excluded from sport and physical activity.
Creating Opportunities, made possible thanks to National Lottery players, invested £278,702 across 61 projects in its first year with over £300,000 donated by supporters.
Richard Archibald, Sport NI Interim CEO said: “Our Creating Opportunities programme is focused on levelling the playing field and providing opportunities for more people, of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds to participate in sport.
“Sport is at the heart of our local communities and has the power to bring people together. Creating Opportunities is a chance for communities to support their local clubs and other organisations, and thanks to The National Lottery, we can offer match-funding of up to £5,000 depending on how much a local community gets behind their project.
“During the first phase of this programme we saw projects which welcomed women and girls, young people, older people, people with disabilities, those from ethnically diverse communities and the LGBTQ+ community into sport. We can’t wait to see more innovative projects coming to fruition this year which will help to increase participation and break down the barriers to sport.”
One of the projects to benefit from phase one of Creating Opportunities was NeurodiversityUK in Comber.
The charity raised over £10,000, with £5,000 match funding from Sport NI, to run a ten-week programme to help those with neurodiverse conditions engage with sport at their own pace.
Participants took part in movement therapy as an introduction to physical activity before trying out various sports including table tennis, swimming, badminton and boxing. The investment also funded three volunteers to become the only facilitators of Autism Movement Therapy in Northern Ireland.
Lesley Neill, Chair of NeurodiversityUK said: “We ran the programme for the young people as sport helps regulate their brain and controls their emotions such as anger. It helps their mental health and impacts their daily lives.
“A few of the participants in P7 were about to do exams and it helped them get through it. Their concentration, their temper, their self-worth has all improved and it’s thanks to Sport NI and Creating Opportunities that we could carry out this programme.”
This project has been made possible thanks to the support from The National Lottery and the National Lottery players who raise more than £30 million every week for good causes.
Find out more: https://www.sportni.net/funding/creating-opportunities/