London Sport conducts funding workshops for Barking Sport 4 Change coalition

London Sport has completed a series of workshops supporting the Barking Sport 4 Change coalition to be more confident and competent when applying for funding.

The interactive sessions will also enable the individuals that attended to share the information and knowledge gained with their own organisations and amongst partners.

Barking is one of three pilot projects for Model City London, a partnership between Laureus Sport for Good, Nike and the Mayor of London which uses sport to drive social change.

The project, which also runs in Haringey and Hounslow, aims to improve social integration and empower local people to drive the change they want to see in their communities.

London Sport’s Specialist Advisor for Funding Mel Antao led the four weekly sessions which heard from organisations who had previously succeeded and failed with funding bids.

The series also covered how to find funding, collate local evidence and data to support a funding bid, how to present project ideas and compiling funding applications.

Sessions also gave participants the opportunity to also learn from each others experiences with one saying: “useful and insightful advice from people experienced in this field who also understand the hurdles and challenges the voluntary sector faces regarding financial support.”

Each organisation within the Sports 4 Change coalition of organisations is also able to book a further one-to-one session with London Sport for specific advice on their individual projects.

Mel Antao, Specialist Advisor for Funding, said:

“It was a real privilege to run these workshops for Laureus to support the community organisations in Barking doing such incredible work as part of Model City London.”

“Model City London is a bottom-up approach, and aims to support long term change with local communities making key decisions via the power of sport and physical activity. 

"I look forward to seeing them go from strength-to-strength in the coming months.

“After 12 months of the covid-19 pandemic every single penny is important for grassroots sport and physical activity organisations and we must do everything we can to support them.”

Samir Sawhney, Community Co-ordinator for Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, said:

“Barking Sports 4 Change were excited to work alongside London Sport to support the capacity needs of Barking-based organisations and individuals who wished to develop sustainability goals and find innovative ways to develop their fundraising activity skill sets and network with others.”

“We are very much looking forward to seeing the impact of the workshops to ensure more ideas are developed and funded to keep London moving during and after the pandemic.”

“From feedback we’ve had since the workshop series, we’ve noted that future programmes could also have a deeper local focus that helps understand how to develop solutions to local community funding challenges.”

London Sport’s Consultancy services continue to help organisations identify funding opportunities to allow them to grow and offers support in writing effective applications and evidencing need. Click here for more information.