How Grow Sport Supports Your Club's Grant Funding Journey

29 Jul

Every year, sports clubs and schools across Ireland leave capital funding on the table. Not because their projects lack merit, but because the application process is unforgiving of gaps: a missing letter of support, a weak participation narrative, a governance document nobody thought to update. At Grow Sport, we exist to close those gaps, for every sport, every code, and every stage of readiness.

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Here's how we do it….

We start by checking if you're fundable

Before we draft a single document, we assess your club against the fundamentals assessors actually score, things like ownership status, governance, membership trends and your inclusion story. It tells us where your application is already strong and where we need to build the case before we write a word.

We know how CSFF assessors think

We've supported applications across pitch works, floodlighting, dressing rooms, clubhouses, courts, equipment and accessibility projects, and we've seen first-hand where applications succeed and where they fall down. Assessors score on demonstrated need, community impact, participation growth, accessibility, governance and financial sustainability. The applications that fail usually share the same faults, and we make sure yours doesn't.

We coordinate every letter of support

Strong applications rely on the right mix of stakeholder letters, and missing even one can weaken the whole submission. We manage this process for you, from your National Governing Body through to local schools, community groups and your Local Sports Partnership, so nothing falls through the cracks.

We build the financial and participation case

A credible application needs more than a good project. It needs a well-evidenced financial plan and a participation model that stands up to scrutiny. We build both, along with the full supporting document set assessors expect to see.

We chase the points other applications leave behind

Inclusion and sustainability are areas where many applications underperform. We help clubs build a genuine inclusion strategy and a sustainability plan that reflects current scoring priorities, turning these into real points rather than afterthoughts.

We stay with you end to end

Our process takes clubs from initial consultation right through to submission and post-award support, typically within a matter of weeks depending on how quickly your NGB, architect and quantity surveyor engage.

What it costs

Our annual support fee is €950 + VAT, covering your consultation, readiness assessment, funding strategy and application preparation, plus support across other live schemes as they arise. We also charge a 5% success fee on the grant awarded, payable only if your application succeeds. No award, no success fee.