Funding for local community groups and organisations in England (outside London) to create opportunities for people with long-term health conditions to stay active in their local communities.
The Together Fund is provided with funding from Sport England through National Lottery funding and is administered by Versus Arthritis.
This £325,000 fund has been set up to help organisations recover from the long-term impact of COVID-19. It is designed to support specific activities and increase the availability of exercise opportunities in local communities. It can also be used to support community groups with developing their business planning, helping them reach their target audience.
Grants of between £1,000 and £5,000 are available and need to be spent within six months of being awarded as the aim of the fund is to address the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic rather than fund longer-term projects.
There is particular interest in applications from organisations who support people with long-term health conditions, people from lower socio-economic groups, culturally diverse communities and disabled people.
Grants are intended for projects which will help the fund achieve the following outcomes:
- People living with long-term health conditions to maintain or increase levels of fitness.
- People living with long-term health conditions to keep physically well and therefore reduce the likelihood of other illnesses.
- Improvements in people's mental health and overall wellbeing.
- Reduction in social isolation, enabling connectivity with others through exercising together, eg online group class or a Personal Trainer/Personal Assistant supporting with 1:1 exercise.
- Opportunity to try new forms of exercise.
- Creating opportunities to exercise for people who have not participated before, eg found leisure centre inaccessible/too difficult to attend/expensive, or just "didn't know where to start".
- Some community groups and sports providers to be given a 'new lease of life' and potentially enable them to benefit from new ways of providing support or a service.
The funding can be used for a number of things, including, but not limited to:
- Equipment/activity packs.
- Live streaming platform licences.
- Instructor/coach/deliverer costs.
- Training/delivery costs.
- Transport costs.
- Volunteer costs or expenses.
- Venue hire.
Applications will be considered from a not-for-profit voluntary or community club or organisation, registered charity, a not-for-profit company, community interest company or other social enterprise, or a statutory body.
The fund is expected to be oversubscribed and will close once a sufficient number of high quality applications have been received or by the deadline, whichever comes sooner.
The deadline for applications is 31 July 2022.
How To Apply
Guidance notes and the online application portal can be found on the Versus Arthritis website.