Introduction

UK Deaf Sport’s vision is for every deaf person to be active and inspired by sport and physical activity. Sport England have extended the Together Fund (TF) into a final phase for 2023. UK Deaf Sport have been successful in securing funding from the final round which is designed to support the development of skills, appropriate resourcing, connectivity with local systems and the ability to respond to changing environments.

UK Deaf Sport is seeking applications for funding up to a maximum of £3,000 from clubs and organisations that support Deaf or Hard of Hearing people to optimise their opportunities to participate in sport. All funding must be spent on activities or resources that support the sustainability of your deaf sport and organisation and/or help you to improve the skills, knowledge, equipment, and other resources needed for your wider deaf sport organisation to continue to operate successfully in the long term.

All applications will need to show how any awarded funds will be spent on activities and capacity building work that ensures the sustainability for your deaf sport, club, or organisation in the long term. We will only support funding that directly goes to support deaf sport. We will not be funding deaf sport fun days in this final round but activities that have a lasting impact.

When applying for funding please consider these 5 keys questions: 

• Will this investment have a positive impact on engaging deaf people in sport? 
• Is there a real ‘here and now’ requirement to support your organisation? 
• Has the requirement arisen as a direct result of Covid-19 and/or the cost-of-living crisis? 
• Will this investment help your organisation to survive and/or connect to deaf people to keep them active? 
• Is there a direct link to physical activity taking place either now or in the immediate future? 

Types of activity that have received successful funding bids include: 

• Finding new ways to support deaf people to engage in sport and physical activity.
• Accessing advice and training support to help develop your organisation.
• Increasing resilience, capacity and capability of deaf sport delivery bodies.

We are here to help with your applications and work closely with you to give you the best opportunity of a successful outcome. Please reach out to Craig Meredith at craig.meredith@ukds.org.uk for any help you need to apply for this funding. 

Guidelines

The fund is open to clubs and community groups operating in England that are members of UK Deaf Sport, Registered Charities, Not for Profits, Social Enterprises or Community Interest Companies. 

What do you need before you apply?

• A recognised constitution in place. 
• An appropriate safeguarding policy. 

• Bank details showing the name of your deaf sport organisation as well as a bank statement dated within 3 months of application. If you bank with a Building Society – the account’s roll number. 

Deadlines

All applications need to be submitted to UK Deaf Sport by 25^th February 2023. We welcome applications to be submitted before this deadline. 

Fund Time Limits

The delivery of all activities including completion of organisation/participant surveys, provision of receipts etc must be completed by the 30^th of September 2023. UK Deaf Sport will confirm on award what evaluation/monitoring results will be required.

Awards

You can apply for funding of up to £3,000. This could be used for: 

• Funding for community groups to find new ways to keep deaf people engaged/active in sport and physical activity.
• Advise and training support. 
• Increasing resilience, capacity, and capability of deaf sport delivery bodies. 
• Equipment Purchase. 
• Coaches Fees/Expenses. 
• Hire of facilities. 
• Promotion/Publicity. 
• Staff Costs.

*UKDS uses the term ‘deaf’ to cover a range of potential definitions of deafness, including those who are profoundly deaf, have significant hearing loss or are hard of hearing.