The Olympic Legacy Fund (2026/27) is a £2million investment programme, delivered by Sport NI in partnership with Crowdfunder UK. The fund aims to improve the quality of community sports facilities and equipment, encouraging people to engage in sport and physical activity. In 2026/27, funding will be made available in two tranches – £1m in September, and a further £1million in November. Subsequently there will be at least two opportunities to apply for funding.
To be eligible to apply you must be one of the following organisations:
To ensure a prioritised distribution of funding, Sport Northern Ireland will apply a ‘Place Based’ and ‘Active Membership’ assessment methodology. An applicant’s geographical location will be assessed relative to five demographic groups which are under-represented in sports participation. This ‘place based’ and ‘active membership’ method use publicly available population data and will provide a ranking to determine which applications are considered for funding first.
Sports clubs and community groups can propose a crowdfunding campaign between £5,000 (minimum) and £50,000 (maximum) in value. Sport NI will make a 65% contribution to your crowdfunding campaign, while the remaining 35% must be raised by your “crowd.” Sport NI will also consider projects over £50,000 in value,projects greater than £50,000 in value must evidence additional partnership funding at time of application. All projects are required to be completed by 31 June 2027.
You can apply for the Olympic Legacy Funding HERE
The application window for the initial allocation of £1m will open on 23rd September and close on 14th October.
To find out more, join our Crowdfunder webinar on Tuesday 29 September at 12pm where you will be taken through all the steps required to make your application. Sign up HERE.
The linked documents will provide support for creating your campaign page
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Olympic Legacy fund team, at infrastructure@sportni.net and for any specific crowdfunding inquiries, feel free to reach out to our crowdfunding team, at support@crowdfunder.co.uk.
Note – Sport NI reserve the right to vary the pledge criteria; projects will be notified if their pledge criteria will vary from the stated terms above. Before completing your application, you will need to read the full Eligibility and Pledge Criteria as detailed in the programme guidance document on our website. Funded projects will be required to agree to the terms and conditions of award.
