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Active Leicester community grant

We want to develop new opportunities for communities throughout Leicester to become more physically active in a variety of ways. We aimed to support projects by providing funds for a one-off amount.

Our aim

We want to support projects that unite communities and bring people together.

We are looking for projects that engage local communities in a variety of different ways, and not only from sports. All projects must meet the key aim to make the inactive active. 

Our priority is to support projects that have a lasting impact and those that are tailored to supporting the communities with highest inactivity throughout Leicester. The funding is a one-off opportunity.

Target groups

Using local intelligence and data, we have identified groups that are currently less active and who face barriers to becoming physically active. These groups are:

  • People in poor physical or mental health or living with a disability or limiting health condition
  • Women and girls
  • Residents with no formal qualifications and tend not to be working
  • Residents who reside in the East of the City and associate with being Black/Black British or Asian/Asian British
  • Older adults, aged 65+
  • Children in areas of the city with high levels of inactivity

In addition, we are also interested in opportunities for families to be active together.

What funding was available?

  • Up to £1,500
  • Up to £5,000

Who could apply

  • Charities
  • Constituted community groups
  • Individuals or groups working in partnership with a constituted community group and/or charity

If you are not a registered charity or a company limited by guarantee, you must have a formal constitution and your organisation must have a UK bank account with at least two signatories who do not live at the same address.

What we will fund

  • Training costs
  • Staff costs
  • Equipment costs
  • Rent/facility hire
  • Utility costs
  • IT costs

All costs should be associated specifically with the project. 

What we won’t fund

  • Repaying debts or money owed
  • Spending which has already occurred or is committed prior to confirmation of any grant award
  • Existing activities and repeat or regular events that you are already be delivering and which do not form part of the proposed project
  • Day-to-day running costs of your organisation (for example, utility bills, council tax, rent, insurance)
  • Fundraising activities for your organisation or any other organisation
  • Any expenditure relating to routine repairs and maintenance
  • Loans or interest payments or any other grant funding repayment
  • Staffing costs, including wages and expenses, except for staff that have been specifically recruited for the purpose of the funded activity. The project will need to demonstrate that any staffing costs included will be used only to cover work on the activity, which is being funded, and why the staffing was required over and above the organisation’s existing staffing base
  • VAT that you can recover

What criteria should we meet?

Bids will be evaluated based on responses in an application form. All bidders will be required to demonstrate that they or their organisation meet the criteria found in the dropdown below:

Criteria 1: Your project supports medium to long term change in increasing the participants activity levels

The project should do more than fund only direct delivery of physical activity sessions for groups. The project should be aimed at supporting people who are currently inactive to become active during the project but also after it ends. This may involve funding training for members of staff or volunteers to deliver activity sessions or for equipment to start a new activity for members of your community. 

Criteria 2: Your project supports at least one of the target groups from the Active Leicester Strategy

The target groups are named earlier in this document. We are also looking for projects that involve families taking part, with activities being suitable for all ages together.  

Criteria 3: The grant funding is used to pay for some or all your project costs. However, funding cannot be used towards the items listed above.

Criteria 4: Your project should be sustainable

Once the project comes to an end, it should be able to enable people to keep physical activity levels consistent. There are lots of reasons that people may not be physically active. The aim is for some of those barriers to be removed by the work of your project and stay removed after the end of the project. For example, the funding may be used to set a project that can then be sustained with minimal funding in the future. 

Criteria 5: The project must provide its services free of charge to its beneficiaries


All projects will be required to demonstrate how they: 

  • Will be sustainable
  • Contribute to improving health outcomes.
  • Run activities that can enable target groups to become physically active.
  • Address barriers that affect people from becoming physically active (stigma, financial barriers etc.).
  • Can work directly with communities in targeted geographical areas.

How to apply

Applications are now closed. They are being assessed and we will let everyone know about the outcomes as soon as we are able.

Active Leicester Strategy

The grants programme is part of the Active Leicester strategy, which was developed this year between Public Health and Sports Services. The Active Leicester strategy seeks to enable the population of Leicester to be able to have access to free initiatives that enable them to become physical active, with a particular focus on areas whose residents are currently are the least active.

Need help?

If you have any questions, please contact [email protected].