The second window for County Grant Fund applications in 2022 has been open since 1st August and will now CLOSE on Friday 23rd September.  This deadline has been extended by one week to allow clubs more time to submit their application.

The Expression of Interest (EoI) period has now closed, however clubs are still able to apply. In the first instance they should contact Nick Goodliffe, Devon Cricket Funding and Facilities Manager (details below) to discuss their project and evaulate viability. 

Clubs who have already submitted their EoI form will be contacted within the next week to advise if there is sufficient viability to progress to the formal application stage.

We cannot commence any detailed consideration of an application until it has been formally submitted through the ECB Investment Management System (IMS) portal, so clubs are reminded to ensure they are registered on IMS and in a position to start their County Grant application.

Please refer to notes below regarding eligibility and priorities for this application round, as with the expected high quantity of applications, its likely this will have significant relevance.

To date, Devon Cricket is pleased to have supported a range of diverse club projects, aimed at either creating welcoming environments, increasing participation in womens, girls and disability cricket, or tackling climate change. Some images of example projects completed by clubs, are shown below.

  

 

For this new application window we are looking for clubs who can develop and deliver quick gain projects, ideally linked (but not exclusive) to energy saving and tackling climate change. The ECB have now published guidance notes "How to Reduce your Energy Consumption" to assist clubs with energy saving solutions and any schemes submitted along those themes will be given high focus, as its expected that club running costs are going to increase significantly over the next 12 months, as the escalatiing cost of energy consumption starts to hit home. 

There is also a need under this round of applications for clubs to be able to deliver their project within 3 months, from date of grant award, so energy saving plans like insulation of roofspace, replacement of appliances with energy saving alternatives (eg. boilers) and draughtproofing plans (eg. replacement windows and doors), are likely to fit well into that category.

It should be noted that any projects which will require planning permission (not yet been applied) are unlikely to meet the deadline date for application submittal. Similarly any projects which will include long lead time materials may not be able to complete within the 3 months deadline.
Any such projects would be better considered for the 2023 application window.

 We would urge clubs to get started as soon as possible on their grant applications to be confident of making the application submittal deadline. 

 

THE COUNTY GRANTS FUND

The full guidance notes for the County Grants Fund, including the application process, levels of funding available and eligibility criteria, are attached here – full ECB guidance notes.

However in summary ………..

The fund has three essential themes:

  • Creating Welcoming Environments
  • Providing Enhanced Facilities and Playing Opportunities for Women’s and Girls’ Cricket and / or Disability Cricket
  • Tackling Climate Change

Clubs can apply for between £1,000 and £10,000. 

HOW WILL THE COUNTY GRANTS FUND BE MANAGED IN DEVON?

There are a few key points we would like to make to clubs at this stage:

  1. Eligibility – Each theme has clear eligibility criteria, as laid out in the guidance notes. The key aim of the fund is to help make clubs more welcoming environments for the whole family and community.  
     
  2. Prioritisation -   Priority will be given to applications from Clubs that are actively engaged with ECB programmes (All Stars, Dynamos, Women’s and Girls’ Cricket and / or Disability Cricket). 
    Through delivering the ECB national programmes, clubs are demonstrating a commitment towards diversifying and expanding their club offers, making them more appealing to a wider demographic.  It is therefore considered a priority that these clubs have facilities which both support and enable an effective delivery of the programmes. 
    Additionally clubs providing evidence to demonstrate that their project has been thoroughly thought out, with wider club consultation, partnership funding and use of the ECB Creating Welcoming Environments resource, will be looked on more favourably.
     
  3. Local management – The County Grants Fund has been set up to be administered locally with autonomy for County Cricket Boards to work with clubs and make decisions on projects that warrant investment. This is welcomed by the DCB as it provides an opportunity to work closely with clubs regarding their projects and overall club development. The DCB are empowered to “support” an application, which then moves to the ECB Case Officer to conduct a final review and make an award offer.
     
  4. Not a replacement for Small Grant Scheme – The County Grants Fund is not a re-badge of the old Small Grants Scheme. The project themes are very different with potentially higher levels of investment. The County Grants Fund will involve more dialogue between each club and the DCB, and will also drive more robust planning to ensure that the investment fits with the wider aspirations of both club and the county. 
     
  5. 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 within the DCB’s annual budget it may not be possible to support every application, with some projects either being deferred to the next funding window, signposted to other sources of funding, or being offered a grant lower than requested. Projects that have been well planned will be considered more favourably than projects that have been rushed. On that basis it is possible that some applications may be deferred to the next funding window, if they are considered to require further development before an award can be offered. 

 

APPLICATION DETAILS .....

Applications will open via the ECB IMS system on Monday 1st August and the full process is explained in the ECB guidance notes

After the initial consultation stage, the DCB will advise the club to complete their application via the ECB IMS portal. 

  1. Applications will be assessed within 15 working days of the submittal date. Over this period clubs will be notified if the project is either ineligible or missing key information. This may result in the application being referred back to clubs for further detail to be uploaded. 
     
  2. All applications will then be reviewed by an internal peer review panel. They will be assessed against a developed criteria and alignment with County Strategy. 
     
  3. With a pre-determined budget, the amount of funding may vary. The amount of grant offered may differ from that requested by the club. 
     
  4. If the application is considered viable it will be supported by DCB and forwarded onto the ECB Case Officer for final scrutinization and award allocation. An offer decision by ECB can take up to 30 working days, but is typically less.
     
  5. A club will have the opportunity to appeal should they want to contest the panels decision.   
     
  6. In exceptional circumstances, if a club has a project that needs to be completed on an urgent basis, and can evidence this, then they can contact us to discuss the potential of funds being released early. 

 

THE NEXT STEPS .....

 

  1. Familiarise yourself with the County Grant Fund guidance notes 
  2. Utilise the ‘Creating Welcoming Environments’ resource, survey and checklist to help develop your project plan (details and links below).  
  3. Define your project need clearly and commence your early stages of obtaining costs. 
  4. Identify your club representative who will lead on your project – remember you will need two contacts for the application process via the IMS portal.
  5. Complete your application on IMS


CREATING WELCOMING ENVIRONMENTS ....

To support the launch of the County Grants Fund, the ECB have released a new Creating Welcoming Environments Guide.

The Creating Welcoming Environments document is intended to provide guidance for cricket clubs to help make cricket facilities more inclusive and welcoming to all, by creating better environments for everyone using them and to encourage a more diverse range of people to join cricket clubs and get involved in the game at a recreational level. Club facilities are an important factor in ensuring that everyone, regardless of age, sex, sexual orientation, race, faith or disability, feels comfortable within the club environment.  

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.

ECB Facilities survey

ECB Facilities review checklist 

CONTACTS

To discuss any of the above further please contact:

County Grant Fund Enquiries – 
Nick Goodliffe - nick.goodliffe@devoncricket.co.uk - 07801 178329

Developing Womens and Girls Cricket – 
Ann-Marie Presswell – ann-marie.presswell@devoncricket.co.uk - 07494 151557

Developing Disability Cricket – 
Lewis Fountain – lewis.fountain@devoncricket.co.uk - 07960 038945

All Stars and Dynamos Cricket - 
Alex Jopling alex.jopling@devoncricket.co.uk - 07507 711595