Club News
There is a lot of money available to bowling clubs that are prepared to put a bit of effort into making solid bids. One of the best opportunities for receiving financial support for your club schemes is through landfill companies.
These companies are given tax-avoidance incentives to distribute money to worthy causes and many of them target local groups and organisations as recipients of these funds to help their relationships with local communities most affected by the disruption that such services can bring. In addition they are especially keen on schemes which are seen as environmentally friendly such as new heating systems for clubs, improvements to neglected land or improved watering and green maintenance schemes.
But there are some rules around such bidding processes. It is no good bidding for cash that a company hasn't identified sports clubs as being among the preferred beneficiaries. It can sometimes be difficult to understand the bidding process and you can spend a lot of time constructing a bid that has no chance of success just because you haven't understood the bidding boundaries.
An overseeing organisation called Entrust is used by many of these landfill organisations to support such bids as well as filtering out poorly thought-through schemes. Entrust provides support for bidders and one of those support arms is about training bidders to make a solid proposal that has a better chance of being successful. This training support starts with a free online training course to clarify and understand the bidding process. The next new-bidders training session provided by Entrust is scheduled for Thursday 15 February 2024. It is completely free of charge and is online via a Zoom access connection. It only lasts 90 minutes.
There are more details and a booking form below but before then you might want to read some of the literature available from Entrust to get an overview of the process. You can also take the time between now and the February session to gain internal support from your club members in identifying schemes that they would really like to see benefit from an influx of funding. Without club support, any bid will flounder. These are substantial amounts of money that are available and could be the turning points in your club's history. Such schemes will not fund day-to-day expenses. They are more about new schemes with start-up costs such as clubhouse extensions or replacements or major green improvements.
A grant is a sum of money to complete an approved scheme. It is not a loan that has to be repaid it is a gift that can only be spent on the approved project or improvement programme.
There is nothing to stop you drafting a bid at any time to prepare in advance for the timetable for bids being received. Further details on how to do that are also below from Entrust.
Training from Entrust
Our upcoming Basic Training dates are:
Thursday 15th February 2024: 10:00—11:30GMT.
Our Basic Training sessions are entirely free to attend and are held online via Zoom, and usually last around 1.5 hours in duration. They are perfect for those wanting to understand the LCF and the obligations of enrolled Environmental Bodies (EB), as well as how to manage projects and complete statutory reporting forms. You can book to attend on our training booking page.
We have a number of guides and training resources on our website which support EBs in all of their LCF activities and responsibilities. These can be accessed on the 'Resources and How To Guides' page of the website. Our introductory videos and online training module can be accessed on the 'Entrust Training' page.
We continually review our training resources, if you would like a guide on a specific topic and you can't find what you need please call our Helpline on 01926 488 300 for support and guidance.
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