We have been given details of a couple of funding opportunities that Clubs might not be aware of.

The first one is the Inspired Facilities Fund aims at touching local communities across the country with the magic of London 2012 in a tangible way, and this fund will bring National Lottery funding to local groups and facilities that haven’t previously benefited.

Sport England will invest £50 million of National Lottery funding in up to 1,000 local sports facilities.

Clubs, community and voluntary sector groups and councils will be able to apply for grants of between £25,000 and £150,000 where there is a proven local need for a facility to be modernised, extended or modified to open up new sporting opportunities.

Full details are here.

Secondly, £10 million of National Lottery funding will be available to protect and improve playing fields. Playing fields are vital to a vibrant grassroots sports environment, yet some are allowed to fall into a poor state and others are earmarked as future development opportunities.

This programme will secure the future of many sites for a minimum of 25 years. Sport England will invest in improving pitches and bringing disused playing fields back into use, creating a lasting Olympic and Paralympic legacy of high quality pitches where people can play sport right across the country. As part of this, Sport England will work in partnership with Fields in Trust to support their programme, Queen Elizabeth II Fields Challenge.

Applicants can be any sports club, voluntary or community organisations or local authorities.

Sport England will launch the first of five £2 million funding rounds in spring 2011, with the final round in 2014/15.

Full details and other links can be found here