Enhancing facilities and playing opportunities
The County Grants Fund aims to support affiliated Cricket Clubs with grants between £1k – £10k in one of three specific themes:
- Creating Welcoming Environments – open to clubs who deliver any of the following: National Programmes (All Stars/Dynamos), run competitive women and/or girls cricket, or disability cricket;
- Providing Enhanced Facilities and Playing Opportunities for Women’s and Girls’ Cricket and / or Disability Cricket – open to clubs who run either competitive women and/or girls cricket or disability cricket; and
- Tackling Climate Change – open to all affiliated clubs.

How to apply for the grant funding?
Step 1: Read the application guidance
Before you begin, we recommend that you read the Creating an Application guidance document, which outlines the application process.
Step 2: Complete an expression of interest
All clubs who wish to apply must complete the ECB Expression of Interest Form. it is vitally important that when completing this you have your project costs, partnership funding & any planning requirements in place. You may need to create an account with the ECB’s IMS system if you do not already have an account.
Step 3: Review and contact from SCF
Once your expression of interest has been received, our development team will be in contact with your club to discuss the next steps. We’ll need to understand:
- What your project is;
- Assess its eligibility;
- The impact to cricket in Somerset – National Programmes, Women & Girls & Disability
- Readiness – cost, partnership funding, planning permission.
Step 4: Complete final application
Once SCF Staff are happy your project is able to move forward with a full application then the club will complete the full application on the ECB IMS System.
When can you apply?
For 2023 there are three application windows:
- Round One : Completed
- Round Two: Completed
- Round Three: 26th July – 1st September. Awards will be made by 8th September – Project must be completed including grant spend claimed by 1st December.
Guidance and further information
You can read a lot more information about these three themes within the attached guidance notes:
- County Grant Fund Guidance
- Creating an Application
- Creating Welcoming Environments Guide
- ECB Energy Saving Guide
To assist clubs in assessing where they may need to improve their facilities to make them more welcoming and inclusive, the ECB has developed a couple of self-assessment documents.
Please note:
There are a few key points we would like to make to clubs at this stage:
- Prioritising: Only applications from clubs that are actively engaged with ECB programmes: All Stars, Dynamos, Women’s and Girls’ Cricket and Disability Cricket will be considered.
- Local management: The County Grants Fund will be administered locally, with an Independent Review Panel for award decisions.
- Do not see as a replacement for Small Grant Scheme: The County Grants Fund is absolutely not a re-badge of the old Small Grants Scheme. The project themes are very different but also with potentially higher levels of investment.
- Scale of support: The County Grants Fund has been launched by the ECB as a priority for supporting the recreational game and the ambitions of its Inspiring Generations Strategy. Therefore, there are very positive levels of investment attributed to the fund. However, there are still finite levels of funding available to us which is why we will work closely with cricket clubs to identify appropriate projects which delivery strong outcomes. This may mean that applications are not funded to the maximum requested.
- Clubs who have previously had County Grant Investment: Clubs who have previously had County Grant Investment are able to re apply providing it is not within the same theme as in 2021/22.
Case Studies
Get in touch
If you’d like to speak to us about ECB County Grants, please contact us using the short online form below.