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:

  1. 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;
  2. 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
  3. Tackling Climate Change – open to all affiliated clubs.
ECB County Grants Fund

The application process

We’ve put together comprehensive guidance that outlines the application process and how this funding will be administered in Somerset.

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: 24th March – 12th May. Awards will be made by 19th May
  • Round Three: 1st July – 30th September. Awards will be made by 7th October

Guidance and further information

You can read a lot more information about these three themes within the attached guidance notes:

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:

  1. 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.
  2. Local management: The County Grants Fund will be administered locally, with an Independent Review Panel for award decisions.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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

Wells Cricket Club identified the need for a new outdoor net facility to help continue to grow their girl’s and women’s offering, and the work was completed in time for the start of the 2022 season.  They were able to access the funding though the providing enhanced facilities and playing opportunities for Women’s and Girl’s Cricket, and/or Disability Cricket element of the County Grant Fund. For further information about Wells CC project click here.

Long Sutton Cricket Club have replaced their 25 years old practice facility to provide the club with a safer practice area which can be used as additional capacity for their growing women and girl’s section who are looking to progress their hardball opportunities.

Shapwick and Polden Cricket Club recently invested in a new pavilion and wanted to complete the new look with a patio.  This was made possible with the funding available through the County Grant Fund for projects designed to create a welcoming environment for club members.

Get in touch

If you’d like to speak to us about ECB County Grants, please contact us using the short online form below.