What makes your sporting organisation eligible?
For almost all grants, a sporting organisation (club, league/association, officiating group – referees, umpires or other non for profit organisations servicing the sporting community) needs to be registered as a non-for-profit organisation (effectively not registered as a business). You are likely to find that your sporting organisation is.
A non-for-profit organisation:
- does not mean that you cannot make a profit. It means that your objective is to benefit your members and the community and not owners like a business would.
- means that your legal status is that of a non-for-profit organisation. This means that you are either:
- an Incorporated Organisation (99% of sporting organisations are) within your State or
- an Australian Public Company Limited by Guarantee or
- in some rare cases a Recreation Reserve Committee of Management
You can search for your Incorporation status here:
Noting that your registered name may not be exactly as you know it e.g. St. ABC Football Netball Club may be registered as Saint ABC FC Incorporated, so if you cannot find your organisation, try widening your search with just one word from your name.
To search if you are an Australian Public Company Limited by Guarantee or a Recreation Reserve Committee of Management, click here.
Again noting that your registered name may not be exactly as you know it e.g. St. Peters Hawks Football Netball Club may be registered as Saint Peter’s ABC FC Incorporated, so if you cannot find your organisation, try widening your search with just one word from your name.
What if we are not registered as a non-for-profit organisation?
Many grant providers will still allow you to apply but, given you have no legal status, when applying you will need be auspiced by another non-for-profit organisation. Auspicing is a form of guarantee provided by the legal non-for-profit organisation that you will spend the grant money as applied for. You can often also apply for a grant whilst kicking off the process to be incorporated e.g. a newly forming club.
Do we also need an ABN (Australian Business number) to apply for grants?
Not usually but it is recommended to have one, most sporting organisations do. If you do not have an ABN, some grant providers will simply consider you ineligible to apply, some others will require additional forms to be lodged with your application and others will generally simply give you less credibility.
To search if you have an ABN, click here.
If you don’t have one, obtaining an ABN is easy, quick and free and we highly recommend to obtain one, click here.
PS: And yes, it is confusing that your non-for-profit organisation would have a business number but most non-for-profit sporting organisations have one!!.
What is DGR (deductible gift recipient / charity) status? Are we eligible for more grants?
A handful of non-for-profit sporting organisations are also able to register as a Charity which provides additional benefits e.g. tax deductibility of donations as well as additional obligations. E.g. Riding for Disabled Association or Special Olympics.
If you are a registered charity, you will be eligible for additional grants available only to charities.
To search if you are registered as a Charity, click here or here.
We are a business, i.e. not a non-for-profit, can we apply for grants?
There are grants for businesses but almost always businesses cannot apply directly for those offered to Sporting organisations. Generally non-for-profit Sporting organisations win grants to spend with businesses for items such as equipment, uniforms, scoreboards, education, coaching, etc. So effectively a non-for-profit sporting organisation would need to apply for a grant to spend with your business. The grant application will, like all grant applications we submit, need to be completely focussed on the sporting organisation demonstrating the benefits to them.
We partner with a number of organisations that apply for grants for businesses which can assist you. For further information please contact us.