There are a number of funding opportunities available for riding centres and clubs. Before you consider applying for any funding, though, we recommend you use one or more resources to support you. Buddle from Sport England, Club Support from Sport Wales and Clubs from Sport Scotland are great resources that will help you to run your organisation, including applying for funding.
Please note that most of these funding opportunities are open to certain types of organisations such as charities, community interest companies (CIC), community interest organisations (CIO) or community amateur sports clubs (CASC). Funding from the Sports Councils (Sport England, Sport Wales and Sport Scotland) may also fund companies limited by guarantee with a not-for-profit statement, but you would need to check with any potential funders before applying.
We're not currently aware of any grant funding being available for limited liability partnerships or sole traders.
We recommend you take independent business advice in relation to company structure if you're considering making any changes as there are likely to be other impacts to your business.
Get Grants provide practical support, advice, and information to grant fundraisers and grant makers. Providing, free resources, networking events, funding finder and online training courses. The Funding Finder is a free resource for grant fundraisers with information on hundreds of grant funders, including what they fund, how much they give, and how to apply.
Become a member of Sported and receive free finance and fundraising support through monthly funding e-bulletins, bespoke funding reports or funding application feedback
In England, the local Active Partnership in your county will be able to signpost you to other opportunities in your area.
For more assistance regarding funding, email participation@bef.co.uk.
Support for environmental sustainability projects- Sport England are looking to support sports and communities to protect and adapt the environments in which sport and physical activity takes place and work together towards our collective net zero ambitions.
The three key environmental areas projects should focus on include: reducing energy usage, encouraging responsible travel and reducing waste.
The BIFFA Award offers a range of different funding opportunities, aimed primarily at not-for-profit organisations that are based within a 5-15 radius to one of their BIFFA sites, depending on the grant. The most accessible grants are:
Veolia offers a Community Grant Scheme aimed at not-for-profit organisation of between £10,000 - £75,000 to create or improve buildings or outside spaces for the benefit of the community. Organisations would need to check to see if their project site is located in an area that Veolia fund.
Below we have outlined some of the other funding opportunities that are available for sporting projects. This may include facilities/equipment (capital), but also include other costs (revenue). This is by no means exhaustive and appropriate funding often depends on the nature of the project you'd like funded.
Sport England fund projects and organisations, small and large, that help people get more people active. Every penny they spend ties into their vision that everyone in England should feel able to take part in sport and physical activity.
Sport England's Movement Fund offers crowdfunding pledges, grants and resources to improve physical activity opportunities for the people and communities who need it the most.
They offer investments up to £15,000. If your project aligns with their priorities, they are able to fund a broad range of costs and items. Please read their funding guidance before submitting a bid.
The fund, which is worth £160 million over the next four years, replaces their existing Small Grants Programme and Active Together fund, and will offer crowdfunding pledges, grants and resources to provide physical activity opportunities that can help tackle long-lasting inequalities.
For funding opportunities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, click on the links below:
This fund offers a range of different opportunities, aimed primarily at not-for-profit organisations. The most accessible grants are...
For more information, click here.
Through Sport Relief, Comic Relief offers a range of different funding opportunities aimed primarily at not-for-profit organisations.
Children in Need offers a range of different funding opportunities aimed primarily at not-for-profit organisations.
UK Coaching provides advice and information about funding for coaches, as well as a comprehensive list of funding opportunities.
The British Horse Society aims to increase the number of qualified BHS Coaches across the UK, from those individuals currently working at BHS Approved Centres. The BHS Career Transition Fund is designed to support individuals who have obtained BHS Stage 1 (or Equivalent), to train for BHS qualifications at Stage 2 and Stage 3.
The Association of British Riding Schools Jeffress Scholarship Trust considers awarding scholarships to dedicated coaches, able-bodied or disabled, who are working in the equine industry, either full or part time/self-employed. The bursary is for training to improve existing coaching ability. The Trust runs two training cycles per year (normally March to September and September to March).
It's possible to galvanise the support of your local community and supporters to raise funds for specific projects through crowdfunding such as Crowdfunder. The idea is to use the internet and social media to collect relatively small amounts of money from a large number of people, usually in return for incentives and rewards.
There are a number of organisations who offer this service. You'll need to select an organisation that meets your needs, so carefully read about what they offer in relation to the percentage of the money raised that they take.
As part of the delivery of the Together Fund project funded by Sport England to help centres with their recovery, growth and development post-Covid, BEF has collated a number of useful resources.
See below for Get Grants recent presentations on fundraising, aimed at charities and community groups:
One of the key ways of providing evidence of need for projects within a funding application is to include externally verifiable quote or statistics. View Get Grants Evidence of Need document here: Evidence of Need Handout
View a list of current funders here: Funding Pots
As a BHS Approved Centre employers benefit from:
ABRS+ holds a consolidated list of funding opportunities across the UK that organisations can bid for; in most cases, you will need to be a not-for-Profit or Charity.
They also offer a number of webinars and workshops around funding and fundraising.