Small Grant Report 2023-24
Overview
The Active Kent & Medway Small Grant provides funding of up to £500 for organisations who are looking to encourage their local community to start to or continue to be active.
Through generous funding from the Active Partnership Board and the Kent Trust for Youth Sport, Active Kent & Medway has been able to provide funding to support clubs and organisations provide new opportunities and develop their existing offer.
The following report highlights the impact and learnings from local projects who received small grant funding in 2023-24. We’d like to thank all the organisations and participants who contributed to this report.
£37,362
Awarded
86
Projects
5,831
Participants engaged
Gender
47%Female
Ethnicity
50%Culturally diverse
Disability
25%All disabilities
All figures correct as of 25 June 2024.
Audience: 0 - 11 Years
The latest Sport England Active Lives Children and Young People survey for the academic year 2022-23 shows that an average of 47% of primary aged children in Kent are meeting the Chief Medical Officers guidelines of being active for 60 minutes a day. Whilst we’re now back to pre-pandemic levels, there’s still 53% of children who aren’t active enough. Working alongside primary schools, clubs and community organisations to provide positive experiences at an early age can help build the foundations for an active life.
£7,812
Awarded
17
Projects
738
Participants engaged
Activities:
Organisational Impact:
Said the grant offered more opportunities to be active.
Said the grant attracted new participants.
Said the grant increased confidence to deliver.
Community Impact:
Said the grant helped the local community manage their physical health.
Said the grant helped different backgrounds mix and get on well together.
Said the grant helped the community have more opportunities to be active.
Wider Impact:
Partnerships with new organisations
Raised facility profile
Increased local school support
Social and community cohesion
Emotion regulation
Reduced anxiety and increased confidence
“One parent being able to drink a full cup of coffee for the first time through to a 14-year-old boy being able to be physically active whilst wearing ear defenders, knowing that no one was judging him”.
Includes Us 2
Key Learnings:
Listen to your local community. Get to know your participants, listen to their needs and address them. This builds up trust, gives them a voice and allows you to shape your activities around them.
Make it fun and enjoyable. Enjoyment is key to creating positive experiences for young people. Make sure your sessions are fun and engaging. Ask participants what they enjoy and build on it.
Give parents an opportunity to socialise. Create opportunities for parents to catch up during sessions. This allows them to develop new friendships and can create a support network of like-minded people.
“Through participation in an organised sport, young people have learnt important life skills such as teamwork, leadership, discipline, and resilience, which will contribute to their personal growth and success both on and off the court”.
Guru Nanak Basketball Club
Case Studies: 0 – 11 Years
Audience: 12 - 20 Years
Sport England’s Active Lives Children and Young People survey from the 22-23 Academic Year shows that 45% of secondary aged young people in Kent are active, achieving 60 minutes of physical activity a day. Active Kent & Medway is working with local organisations to co-create activities, giving young people a voice and ensuring a safe friendly environment for them to be active.
£10,794
Awarded
25
Projects
2,386
Participants engaged
Activities:
Organisational Impact:
Said the grant offered more opportunities to be active.
Said the grant attracted new participants.
Said the grant increased confidence to deliver.
Community Impact:
Said the grant helped different backgrounds mix and get on well together.
Said the grant helped individuals reconnect with their local community.
Said the grant helped the community have more opportunities to be active.
Wider Impact:
Increased community engagement
Increased clubs offer
Mixing of generations
Development of transferable skill
Increased respect for others
Supported future funding bids
“Your support came at a crucial time and helped us to make memories.”
Pegasus Playscheme
Key Learnings:
Embrace partnership working. Working with other local organisations can bring together knowledge, skills and resources, and enhance opportunities. Tapping into different experiences and opinions can create joined up solutions and new ideas.
Co-creation of activities is key. Work with your local community and participants to ensure that goals, challenges and needs are reflected in your project. Co-creation elevates participants experiences, makes them feel valued and gives them the ability to shape their own experiences and experiences of others.
Develop your workforce. Invest in staff and participant training to ensure the long-term sustainability of your project. Work with local partners to develop mentoring programmes to give participants additional skills.
Case Studies: 12 – 20 Years
Audience: 21+ Years
63% of adults in Kent and Medway are achieving the recommended 150 minutes of physical activity a week. Activity levels vary, men are more likely to be active than women, the older you become the less active you are, and the less affluent are least likely to be active. However, we know that engaging in sport and physical activity improves our mental health and physical health so it’s important to stay active to live longer better.
£18,756
Awarded
44
Projects
2,707
Participants engaged
Activities:
Organisational Impact:
Said the grant offered more opportunities to be active.
Said the grant attracted new participants.
Said the grant increased confidence to deliver.
Community Impact:
Said the grant helped the local community manage their physical health.
Said the grant helped individuals reconnect with their local community.
Said the grant helped the community have more opportunities to be active.
Wider Impact:
Expanded activity offer
Linked up with national and local organisations
Become a permanent service
New communities created
Connected to local green space
New friendships formed
“Sessions are not only making me fitter but making my mental health better. I don’t feel judged and meeting new people has improved my confidence and self-esteem.”
High TOC Broom
Key Learnings:
Go to where your participants are. Use existing networks, groups and partners to reach your participants. Find places and locations that are visible, accessible and familiar. Specialist sport facilities are not always necessary. The right place can be a park, community hall, car park or green space.
Be Patient. Patience and persistence are needed to support a change in behaviour and engage new communities. Recruit and deploy staff who can identify and empathise with your audience.
Have a visible presence in your local community. Get involved and show up in your local community to help build valuable and meaningful relationships. Communities remember how you made them feel. By seeing the positive difference you’re making to the community it will make it easier for people to trust you.
“A large population around the area are older adults who are socially isolated. Providing a warm safe place where they can move more and meet new friends who are also local has facilitated lifelong friendships in the group.”
Medway Public Health
Case Studies: 21+ Years
Sustainability
Sustainability is an important element of all projects and needs to be thought of from the very beginning. It’s more than finding funding to continue the project, it’s a combination of several factors to ensure the organisation can continue to provide benefits to its community in the future.
Ways to make your project more sustainable:
Consider participant contributions. To cover project costs, charge a small fee for sessions. This can cover coaching costs, facility hire or equipment. Charging participants will cover some of these costs, support the continuation of the project and will likely mean participants are invested.- Link in with local partners. Reach out to local organisations, they can offer expertise, advice, facilities, equipment and access to new audiences. Partnerships can bring on board different strengths, skills and experiences to better serve communities and sustain projects.
- Think about your sinking funds. Part of running a project involves looking after its assets, ensure your organisation has an appropriate level of finance allocated to maintain and replace facilities and equipment. This helps retain members and attract new ones.
- Develop your workforce. Invest in staff, volunteer and participant training to ensure the long-term sustainability of your project. Rather than bring coaches in, up-skill your current workforce to reduce costs, support their development and increase your offering.
- Promote other local opportunities. Everyday Active provides details on a wide range of low cost, accessible activities across the county, as well as hints and tips and personal stories from local people. Active Kent & Medway’s Activity Finder is another useful resource to explore what’s on offer locally.
Contact Us
If there’s anything in this report that you’d like to discuss or find out more, please email activekent@kent.gov.uk and one of the team will be in touch.
If you’re a formally constituted, not-for-profit or statutory organisation looking to provide sport or physical activity opportunities for your local community, we welcome applications of up to £500 through our Small Grant Fund.
Follow this link to apply for the Active Kent & Medway Small Grant
Be inspired and read how other clubs and organisations across Kent and Medway have benefitted from the Small Grant.
Follow this link to view all our Grant Case Studies
Follow this link for a full list of Grant Recipients in 2023-24
