Physical Activity Fund

To support delivery of Get Active – a physical activity strategy for North Somerset and the associated action plan, funding has been made available to create the physical activity fund.  The purpose of the fund is to enable local organisations to apply for funding, to support delivery of the strategies shared outcomes and specific actions. For further information about the strategy please see documents at the bottom of the page, there is also an animation which explains more.

Watch the strategy animation

The total fund is £63,000, and we are inviting proposals for actions, programmes or interventions that will help to achieve aims of the strategy.  Individual proposals may have a value of up to £2,000.

There will be three rounds of funding available with the £63,000 being equally split across the three rounds, therefore funding it not based on a first come, first served basis.

You can apply to the fund if your project can meet all of the following criteria:

1. You are a: voluntary organisation, sports club, physical activity group, community group, charity or not for profit organisation.

2. The project will benefit the residents of North Somerset and will target one or more of the following inactive demographic groups as evidenced by the 2023/24 Active Lives Survey, these include:

• Disability and long-term health conditions: Activity is less common for disabled people or those living with a long-term health condition (48%) than those without (69%)
• Ethnically diverse communities: There are differences in activity levels based on ethnic background, those of Black and Asian ethnicity background (excluding Chinese) are less likely to be active than other ethnic groups
• Socio-economic groups: Those in routine / semi-routine jobs and those who are long-term unemployed or have never worked (NS-SEC 6-8*) are the least likely to be active

3. You have Public Liability Insurance no less than £5 million in place before the project begins.*

4. You have safeguarding policies for vulnerable adults and/or children (according to your target population) and will comply with all legislation, official guidance and codes of practice relating to safeguarding. Visit North Somerset Safeguarding Adults Board (NSSAB) or North Somerset Safeguarding Children Partnership (NSSCP) for more information.

5. You have your own bank account**

6. You can show how the project will support delivery of an action/s listed in the action plan for Get Active – a physical activity strategy for North Somerset.

7. You can show how the project is shaped by the needs, concerns and priorities of members of the group/community.

8. You can show how the project will increase the physical activity levels of participants/local residents

9. The project will include a method of evaluation to measure key outcomes.

Similarly, the interventions need to demonstrate best use of resources and sustainability going forward to create a long-lasting improvement to physical activity levels in North Somerset.

Priority will be given to those organisations/groups who have not already received funding (grant or commissioned) from the Council for other Health and Wellbeing outcomes.

*we recognise that smaller community groups may not be able to meet insurance requirements. If this is the case, please contact getactive@n-somerset.gov.uk to discuss your project. You may be able to apply through a larger organisation such as a town or parish council. We will evaluate all applications that are unable to meet this requirement on a case-by-case basis.

**if your organisation does not have a bank account, another organisation can look after the funds for you. Please provide written authorisation from that organisation in addition to your application.

– Find out how funded projects should be measured to judge their impact

It is important to build evaluation into your project from the beginning so you can understand what the overall impact of the project has been on physical activity and other health related outcomes.

Doing this will help to identify areas of success and areas for development and change relating to the project.

It is expected that once your programme has ended, an evaluation form will be completed to show the impact of the project.

Support will be offered throughout the funded period to help you evaluate the effectiveness of your project.

– What the funding covers and what it doesn’t allow for

The total available funding is £63,000. You can apply for up to a maximum of £2,000, in exceptional circumstances further funding maybe agreed.

The fund can cover whole of your project or be used in combination with other funding streams. Please make it clear in your bid if you are combining this funding with other sources and state what those other sources are.

The fund can cover short-term running and delivery costs such as: training, resources, venue hire, crèche, staffing or volunteering costs, transport, purchasing of equipment.

What we do not fund

• general appeals
• the direct replacement of statutory funding
• political groups or activities promoting political beliefs
• religious groups promoting religious beliefs
• projects with no community or charitable element
• medical research, equipment or treatment
• projects that take place before an application can be processed
• activities that raise funds for other organisations
• fundraisers’ salaries
• individuals

– What you’ll need to apply and information about deadlines

You will need to complete a physical activity fund application form and return this by the closing date of the round you are applying to, as listed below:

All funded projects in round one, two and three will need to be completed by Tuesday 31 March 2026.

As well as the completed application form, you will need to provide the following if your application is successful:

• a Supplier Information Form (SIF): we ask for this so that if you are awarded funding, we can pay you without delay. For any fields that do not apply to your organisation, please put ‘N/A’ (note: if you are already set up as a supplier for NSC you do not need to complete this again unless your details have changed since you have last provided for NSC)
• a safeguarding policy

Once these have been completed, send your attachments by email to getactive@n-somerset.gov.uk

– Find out when successful applicants will be informed and information on the project timeline

Round One

Once you have submitted your application, it will be assessed by an evaluation panel. You will hear the outcome of the evaluation process by Friday 28 February 2025.

If you are successful, once our assurance process is complete and all banking details are confirmed, we will pay the fund in full.

– Terms of the funding

Successful applicants will be required to go live with their project or activity no later than Friday 30 May 2025 (for round one projects).

• you must complete an evaluation of the impact of the award e.g. how your project delivered on the outcomes of the fund as outlined in your application; details of how the money was used and how many people benefitted from the project. This is expected on completion of the delivery of the project, or up to 12 months from the payment of the award, whichever is sooner.
• you will also be asked to collect data on each of your service users including: demographic information, origin of referral to your group, and scores on outcome measures agreed e.g. increase in physical activity levels, mental health and wellbeing improvements.
• in addition, you will be asked to complete a minimum of one case study e.g. how your activity, group or project has impacted on participants
• photos and testimonials are welcome