Grant Aid/Funding for Shooting Clubs

[pennineway.fswo]

Last year I spoke to a gentleman who had applied for a number of grants to develope/improve shooting facilities for his club and county.
He told me that all his applications had been successful.

I was therefore encouraged to apply for a grant from the Awards for All Lottery funding body for almost £10000 (which is the maximum they give)

I have now been informed that the application was successful and our club has received the full amount into our bank account

The money will build us a new outdoor 50 metre range for 3P and prone rimfire shooting which will also free up our existing old 50 yard range for air rifle shooting.

The club is Leics. and District S.B.R.P. Club which includes the Dowry Hill Field Target Section of membership.

Most of this money will allow us to build 7 ft high concrete safety walls between the various ranges. This funding does not have to be matched by the club, although members will be involved in construction of the target frames/butts/access gates etc.

So the funding is there to improve facilities for your club members. If you have a new project in mind then see guidance notes on www.awardsforall.org.uk
John

[pollythedog]

WOW!!!
Thats great news, well done John, wonderful that the Lottery is giving money to support the sport.

Nice work.
see you later today.
cheers
graeme

[biggles]

Fantastic - What a brilliant result.

Well done for spotting the opportunity and - most important - following it through.

I shall have to keep a note of your success in case we (Swallows FTC down in sunny Sussex) 'have a go', and seek your advice on how you did it.

Well done again John

Biggles

[peter b]

Well done John,bril result in an age when shooting seems to be getting a bit of a kicking.
Best Regards & good luck with the project,Peter

[pennineway.fswo]

I recently made another application for funding that would pay for a local Scout group to use one of our shooting ranges one night a week for 10 weeks to learn about air rifle target shooting.
The funding is from a government initiative called Extending Activities and pays £38/youngster to the club for a 10-12 week session

We have been told the application has been successful and although the initial grant/sum is only £380, we have been asked by the funding management team to adopt a rolling programme of 3 x 12 week sessions/year to cover all scouts in the area, so the application is worth about £1200/year.

The spin-offs are that the initiative should help create interest in shooting and it is hoped that some of the scouts (and perhaps their parents) will continue to shoot, join the club and take up competitive target shooting (paper or FT)

I have also been informed that more lottery money will be available as from January in the form of grants to a maximum of £5000/project
As with the 'Awards for All' grant, the club making the application does not have to contribute financially towards the project

[pennineway.fswo]

duplicate removed

[Powderfinger]

Some great ideas, John. I will discuss them with the comittee at Sutton Coldfield with a view to improving our facilites (new loos and a new kitchen would be our priority). Many thanks, Charlie

[cinstone]

Well done to all involved. Excellent!

Chris.

[pennineway.fswo]

Our new 50 metre range is now complete and this should free up our old 50 yard range for airgun shooters

I have just finished the 'end of project report' for the Awards for All (National Lottery) body and posted it off

It was a pretty easy report to complete and just required a statement of where the money was spent and a few photographs to show completion of the 7 feet high safety walls, the target butts and the covered firing point

Our next big requirement is towns mains water. At present we save all rain water falling on the roof of the club house and indoor range. The odd squirrel that drowns in our storage tank (2 in past year)reminds us of the need for safe drinking water
So I am now going to enquire about the new grants available as we cannot get another grant from 'Awards for All' until 2010
We need £5000 plus - so fingers crossed

2 requirements for these bigger grants are a set of Club Rules or Constitution and a policy regarding Child Protection

The NSRA make specimen documents available to clubs.

If anyone is applying for one of the Awards for All grants and needs advice re. writing a set of Club Rules or a Policy on Child Protection I will help if I can.
If I can do it, anyone can.

The money is there and the Lottery Bodies are more than happy to give it to Shooting Clubs that are structured and that cater for their local communities

Health and Safety issues do (I believe) score well. Also doing something to help those who are not able bodied, enjoy our sport, is considered important So improving access for wheel chair shooters to the clubs facilities should be seriously considered in any new build/project

Just apply for the application form on the lottery web site and give it a go.

The important thing to do, is look at the guidance document and the important criteria that have to be met. Then bear these criteria in mind as you fill in the application form

Consider increasing the number/types of shooting disciplines if necessary to attract more members and broaden the appeal of the club. It can only help your chances

The only other thing you need is a good referee who is aware of your club activities but who is not a member of the club
Good luck
John

[robsmyth]

Good luck with your application, It may please you to know that my shooting club aquired a lottery grant in the region of £110,000, so the funds are definately available.

[pennineway.fswo]

Hi Rob

That really is amazing

Although there is quite a bit of work to do in filling in the application/paperwork, it is a great feeling when the letter comes and says that the application is successful.

Also we should not shrink from asking for large sums of money as long as it is a good project that furthers our sport/hobby and helps the local community.
I hope your post encourages other clubs to have a go

ATB
John

[Greylag]

Hello All,

That's great news at last. I remember quite a few years ago the lottery refused a clay club a grant because it was shooting. I can't remember the details but it was a grant for disabled stands if I remember correctly. Pleased to see that responsible shooting clubs and shooters are at last being recognised as worthy of grants.

Regards

[Hemmers]

Good luck with your application, It may please you to know that my shooting club aquired a lottery grant in the region of £110,000, so the funds are definately available.

Blimey, well done! Which fund was that, obviously not Awards for All as that only goes to £10k.
What are you going to do with that sort of money? Buying land and building an all-new range complex?

[Alycidon]

If you have a junior section then there are also several other govt schemes that can yield funds aimed at getting youngsters to participate in things. Talk to your local town hall for advice, funds for these schemes are limited annually so you have to get an application in early.

Several major companies do a match funding schemes, you need to have a member of your organisation who works for such a company. Essentially they will match the amount of money raised elsewhere from another fundraising effort (not another grant though !!).

First step is to get your memebers to enquire with their employers to see if they have any such schemes. DHL for example have branches everywhere and do have a scheme, so thats a starter for you.

I have raised about 2.5K in the last 18 months for my air cadet squadron just using grants with another £600 or so in the pipeline for this year and £1500 for next year. And we still have the lottery to apply for when we move buildings.

A

[pennineway.fswo]

Awards for All are not funding new construction but The Small Grants Scheme is offering grants up to £10000 that does include new construction work

I have just applied for a £1000 cash4clubs grant. This is easy to apply for with a web based application

If applying for this grant remember to cut and paste your info. into a saved Word doc if you do not complete it in one sitting.
I made the mistake of saving what I thought would be my application, only to find on opening the doc. some days later that all I had saved was a blank application form

Awards for All is also web based but you register with a password and all your info is saved

i will post here if the cash4 clubs application is successful
John

[Dartside]

Would this grant be available to a scout group ? I am a recently qualified instructor & need to buy rifles & everything else needed to run a range

[pennineway.fswo]

cash 4 clubs offer grants every 2 months of £250/£500/£1000

I would think you are in a good position to apply for equipment for scouts

Last year I applied for a grant for local scout groups in Leicestershire to use our indoor 25yd range once a week over a 12 week period and the application was successful. Only £500 but it all helps to run the club

My recent application to cash4 clubs to pay for resurfacing our car park was not successful, but I have just put in another application for money to buy bench rest equipment, tables etc. Fingers crossed
John

[DedIdick]

We've just had word that our application for a grant to improve our range & facilities has been approved. £9000:D, we had asked for the full £10k but they won't fund the purchase of 2nd hand equipment so they knocked off the item in question. Still it's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. There's always next year or the year after.

Don't be put off from applying for these grants, the money's there and Awards for All Scotland have been very helpfull guiding us through the stumbling blocks.

[pennineway.fswo]

Well done that man.
ATB
John

[pennineway.fswo]

I am not sure how many clubs are aware, but grants are being made available for up to £50,000 for clubs to cover new facilities or improvements to current club buildings etc. The grants are from Sport England (Inspired Facilities)

Shooting is one of the sports that is listed as eligible for grants although it is one of the high risk sports
I believe that this grant aid will be available for another 2 years or so, and although there is a lot of work involved in putting a bid together, it is worth applying if you have a new project in mind

Our club at Groby now has splendid indoor and outdoor rimfire and air rifle LSR and BR facilities but our 10 metre range is quite poor and we need a new building to house a new airgun range, so I will give it a try.Our County Sports Partnership (Leics and Rutland Sport) have agreed to help and advise me.

Well done to those clubs that have been successful in their applications to date.
It's a shame there will be little if any legacy for our sport after the Olympic games, hopefully if a few clubs get some cash for new shooting facilities it will ease the blow a little.
ATB
John

[pennineway.fswo]

I applied for this grant £47000 to build a new 10 metre range at Leics and District SBR&PClub and put on a towns water supply to the club house.
Unfortunately the application was not successful and I was more than disappointed when told we had not got it

These applications are very time consuming and I probably spent 70-80 hrs working on the application

The reason given was that the 'Need' part of the application would have been stronger if it had been supported by questionnaires completed by local schools and other organisations to show that they needed this new facility and would use it. (not easy to do particularly with schools).

Basically it was a new range to replace our existing one in the club room and was being built to improve facilities for existing members.

I had put so much work into the application that I at first decided not to bother applying for further grant aid.

However, I noticed yet another opportunity to get money from the local authority under the 'Legacy Scheme' and so I applied for £7500 (the max) to help us put on the water supply
This was partly successful and we have been offered £3600 towards the project

So 6 grants applied for in 6 years and 3 have been successful.
Pity about the big one:(

Club members will lend and/or donate the money for the new 10M range and I will then apply for a grant to restore and improve our clubroom facilities (we have already been donated a full size snooker table)

[Hemmers]

If you've applied for 6 grants you've probably come across them, but I just thought I'd check you've talked to your County Sports Partnership (http://www.lrsport.org/). They can give an "in" to schools. Stuff coming from them gets a lot more credibility than a scary local "gun club" writing to schools asking if their kids would like to come shooting said scary guns. There should be one for every county (so we fall under SASSOT (http://www.sportacrossstaffordshire.co.uk) in Staffordshire. Quality of websites may vary from county to county!)

[pennineway.fswo]

Hi Hemmers

Yes I had several meetings with our County Sports people based at Loughborough University who reviewed the application prior to submission. They advised us to retry for the grant and offered further help with schools and youth associations

However we are desperate to get this new range up and running and a further application would have further delayed the project with no guarantee of success so we are starting the build now with loans and donations from our members.

Back in 2007 the 80 members of the club got together and funded a £80000 indoor 25yd range. These loans are now virtually paid back so I have no doubt that in 18 months time we will have our new range completed or somewhere near.

Fortunately we have a mobile phone mast company renting part of our land which raises a £5000 each year so this also will help us fund the project

The demand for membership continues to grow strongly without us promoting our facilities which shows that target shooting is popular. In fact unless we build our new range we may have to consider limitations on membership numbers.
John