sportscotland benefits from funding from the National Lottery fund and the Scottish Government which we invest in Scottish sport, primarily through local authorities and governing bodies.
Lottery funds are on the decrease, and as such our investment decisions over the next four years will need to be made with fewer resources.
It isn’t all bad news. The Scottish Government has increased investment in sport and the Big Lottery Fund (previously the New Opportunities Fund) is channelling Lottery funds toward school-based sports facilities and activities programmes
We must, however make sure that our funds are applied to greatest effect. This will mean taking tougher decisions and an even more strategic approach to the way we distribute funds
As part of this strategic thinking, we’ve recently looked closely at how we fund, who we fund and what we fund
How we fund
In consultation with our partners we have decided to bring together our investment into a single pot to facilitate a simplified application and decision-making process.
We have moved from an environment of programmes to categories of investment, and investment can now be concentrated on our identified partners’ needs, regardless of the source of the funding Investment will be focussed on two broad areas
Who we fund
We will be working particularly closely with partners such as local authorities and governing bodies of sport that have fully developed strategies reflecting the Sport 21 priorities.
There are a small number of schemes that encourage direct application from members of the public such as Sportsmatch and Awards for All.
What we fund
Our current investment priorities are focussed in the following areas:
- School support
- Club and community development
- Coaching
- Volunteering
- Player improvement
- Medal success
- Facilities (Building for Sport Programme)
- Organisational development of Scottish Governing Bodies of Sport
We have furthermore gone through a process of selecting those sports that we believe are most suited to deliver against The National Strategy for Sport's targets and contribute to increased participation in sport.
To help us make the difficult decision of which sports to include, we have developed a range of criteria:
- Success: sports in which Scottish athletes and teams have a realistic opportunity to succeed.
- Value: sports that the Scottish people value.
Impact: sports on which the Achieving Excellence team and the Institute Network could make a significant impact in terms of performance.
- Health: those sports in which the recreational participation leads to significant physical health benefits for the participant.
