Sport and Recreation
SportsFunder Frequently Asked Questions

• Applying
  • How do I apply for SportsFunder grants?
  • Why can’t I apply for travel grants?
  • Why can’t I apply for SportsFunder grants?
• Funding Distribution
  • Where are funds going? How much is going where?
  • Why is Team BC getting almost a third of the first $1.5 million – isn’t this exceptional focus on high performance?
  • Is this just more money going towards the Olympics?
  • How were the programs chosen?
  • Does receiving SportsFunder funding affect the money we currently receive from gaming and government?
  • Who decides who gets the money?
• Deadlines
  • What are the timelines for spending and using SportsFunder funds?
• Youth Sport Travel Assistance
  • Only BC School Sport members and provincial sport organization member clubs can apply for travel. Why can’t an individual or team apply for travel assistance directly? And why isn’t all travel eligible – such as out-of-province travel?
  • Can decisions be appealed?
  • Why isn’t there an open application process to access travel funding? How can we sure that PSOs are fair when they allocate funding to clubs and individuals?
  • Why were provincial school sport championships selected and not all provincial sport championships?
  • How can I determine whether the club in my area is receiving or is eligible to receive a SportsFunder Travel Grant?

Applying

1. How do I apply for SportsFunder grants?

SportsFunder funding is being directed to specific organizations which already meet gaming revenue and government funding eligibility criteria. This means individuals or community clubs can not apply directly for SportsFunder.

Instead, eligible provincial sport organizations and BC School Sports will be receiving SportsFunder funding to assist with travel costs for their members.

2. Why can’t I apply for travel grants?

While this funding will be significant it will not be able to support the considerable amount of youth sport travel that is done each year. So, our partners in the travel assistance program – Sport BC, provincial sport organizations and BC School Sports – have selected specific competition and training opportunities which SportsFunder travel assistance can support. The focus will be on providing more resources to those young athletes who face disproportionately higher travel expenses by virtue of where they live or where the competitions are scheduled.

3. Why can’t I apply for SportsFunder grants?

SportsFunder proceeds are gaming revenues and as such are subject to the Gaming Control Act and the Gaming Regulation Act. This means that individuals and families can not apply for SportsFunder grants directly – however, they will benefit as SportsFunder will be supporting the agencies – such as KidSport™, provincial sport organizations, BC School Sports and Coaches Association of BC – that support them. The key goal of SportsFunder is making sport and recreation more accessible to families across British Columbia and supporting the volunteer resources that help sport and recreation thrive in British Columbia. These partner agencies are well-positioned to help us get the resources to the community level.

Funding Distribution

4. Where are funds going? How much is going where?

In 2006/07 $2.177 million benefited amateur sport in B.C.: funding went to KidSport™ ($327,000), Team BC ($545,000 went to 2007 Canada Winter Games athletes and coaches; $115,000 went to 2007 Western Canada Summer Games athletes and $100,000 went to Aboriginal Team BC) for enhanced performance requirements such as equipment, technology, coaching support, sport science and medicine, competition opportunities), Coach Development ($300,000 for certification and professional development), BCRPA’s High Five ($50,000 for accreditation program) and Youth Sport Travel Assistance ($550,000 for youth travel and $190,000 for school travel to provincial championships and selected training and competition travel for members of eligible provincial sport organizations).

5. Why is Team BC getting almost a third of the first $2.177 million – isn’t this exceptional focus on high performance?

Team BC funding has been accelerated to help support the immediate training needs of the 800 athletes from more than 60 communities across the province as they prepare for the 2007 Canada Winter Games and 2007 Western Summer Canada Games.

6. Is this just more money going towards the Olympics?

The estimated $20 million over six years that is going to amateur sport is funding transferred to the Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch and will be directed to sport and recreation programs. This funding will help British Columbia achieve goals inspired by the Olympics – being the most physically active jurisdiction to hold the Winter Olympics and to put more British Columbia athletes on Olympic and Paralympic podia (summer and winter).

7. How were the programs chosen?

These four areas were chosen to enhance our efforts to reach Government’s goals of being the most physically active jurisdiction to host the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games and to put more BC athletes on Olympic and Paralympic podia. Through the development and implementation of BC’s Policy on Sport and Physical Activity [97kb], we’ve consulted extensively with stakeholders in sport, recreation, health and education – travel, coaching development, provincial athlete development and support for low income families were identified as key priorities – ones which were part of the 33 recommendations identified by the sector in its Moving Ahead: from Policy to Action Report [230kb]. We also wanted to spread the benefits of SportsFunder across the province – KidSport™, coaching clinics and courses, regional travel and Team BC are vehicles which allow us to do so. BC Recreation and Parks Association’s High Five program (a standards accreditation for recreation programs for children aged 6 to 12) was selected to receive funding in order to assist recreation leaders in providing safer, high quality recreational opportunities.

8. Does receiving SportsFunder funding affect the money we currently receive from gaming and government?

No. SportsFunder support is an additional resource for the sport and recreation system. Being a recipient of SportsFunder support will not affect resources that are already being provided to the system through gaming revenues or Sport and Recreation Branch funding. Links to Gaming Accounts, eligibility criteria and reporting mechanisms were made in order to take advantage of existing financial and accountability structures.

9. Who decides who gets the money?

The Sport and Recreation Branch is responsible for the overall direction of funding to amateur sport, however, system partners such as Sport BC, Coaches Association of BC, BC School Sports, provincial sport organizations, BC Recreation and Parks Association and the PacificSport Group will be assisting in directing the funds to end-users such as KidSport™ chapters, coaches, school and community clubs. We have worked closely with these partners in the development of SportsFunder to establish distribution mechanisms that will be less administratively-burdensome and provide enough flexibility to help us and our partners address system priorities while establishing appropriate parameters to help ensure the broadest reach within available resources.

Deadlines

10. What are the timelines for spending and using SportsFunder funds?

Recipients must use funds within one year of receipt of funds. There are two requirements to report on SportsFunder revenue:

1. Gaming Account Summary Report Form – SportsFunder will be added to the form so that recipients of gaming revenue will be required to report on all forms of gaming revenue – e.g. direct access grants, licensed activities, SportsFunder. This is a "financial'' accountability measure to ensure that the monies received by recipients are spent for purpose in which gaming revenue was provided. This is an annual reporting process, due 90 days after the recipients fiscal year end.

For example, a KidSport™ Chapter receiving $50,000 on September 30, 2006, must use the funding by September 30, 2007. If its fiscal year ends December 31, 2006, it must submit a Gaming Account Summary Report for all gaming revenue received by March 2, 2007 – and report on SportsFunder revenue spent in that time period. The remaining SportsFunder revenue will be reported on in the 2008 Gaming Account Summary Report.

• Sample Gaming Account Summary Report Form

2. SportsFunder Use of Funds Report – this report collects program data on how SportsFunder revenue benefits communities across the province. SportsFunder recipients will be required to collect information such as how many athletes, kids or coaches received SportsFunder support, how many communities, etc. as well as providing a general testimonial about how SportsFunder helped their sport and/or community. As the Sport and Recreation Branch would like to collect as much of this data at once to measure against annual SportsFunder ticket sales, the due date for submitting this report is May 15, 2007 (and May 15 in subsequent years). Given that some youth travel will occur after May 15 (e.g. summer sports), Youth Sport Travel after May 15 will be required to be reported on by October 15, 2007.

SportsFunder Use of Funds Reports will be distributed to recipients, however, please visit the SportsFunder Overview webpage to see what data will be required.

Youth Sport Travel Assistance

11. Only BC School Sport members and provincial sport organization member clubs can apply for travel. Why can’t an individual or team apply for travel assistance directly? And why isn’t all travel eligible – such as out-of-province travel?

If we opened the door for everyone to apply for travel assistance, available funding would be exhausted very quickly and there would be limited opportunity to direct funding to those regions whose athletes face disproportionate travel costs. As well, the administrative costs of providing individual support would be prohibitive. We – and our partners – had to make some tough choices about what types of travel would be eligible, simply because available funding can not support the extensive traveling needs of our athletes.

By directing resources to school team travel or PSO club travel, we are encouraging economies of scale and supporting group travel – it’s a sounder investment to provide funding to a Parents Advisory Council or club that can go towards bus transportation or car pooling than smaller individual grants that encourage additional travel expenses.

12. Can decisions be appealed?

No. Contributions to the four funding areas will be a factor of the success of the SportsFunder products in generating revenue. While this funding is significant and will be a welcome boost, it can’t possibly meet the demands of the myriad sport travel that occurs in British Columbia. So, our partners in the travel assistance program – Sport BC, provincial sport organizations and BC School Sports – have selected specific competition and training opportunities in which SportsFunder travel assistance can support. Available funding will be pro-rated based on membership numbers and/or travel needs. School teams (through their PAC) and community clubs will be able to access this funding through BC School Sports or their provincial sport organization, respectively.

13. Why isn’t there an open application process to access travel funding? How can we sure that PSOs are fair when they allocate funding to clubs and individuals?

While Youth Travel Assistance is substantial, it can’t accommodate all travel needs. PSOs then will have to make decisions and direct funding based on their unique competition needs, number of athletes traveling and priorities in servicing various regions of British Columbia.

To access SportsFunder revenue, PSOs must develop, implement and communicate a plan for distribution of their allocated SportsFunder PSO Youth Member Travel Assistance funding. PSOs are free to establish an open application process, particularly if they have a travel program in place and can use SportsFunder support to supplement this program – but for the most part, allocated funding will not be able to support an open application process.

14. Why were provincial school sport championships selected and not all provincial sport championships?

Provincial school sport championships were selected for the BC School Sport allocation of sport travel assistance because this type of travel constitutes a major expense for schools and all BCSS sports and all regions of British Columbia are involved in provincial school sport championships. Student-athletes also tend to travel to provincial school sport championships together, so it made sense to direct funding to this group travel rather than individual support. Team size also remains relatively consistent from year to year, so it is easier to determine travel requirements and allocate available funding accordingly.

To support travel for eligible provincial sport organization members, we found that each PSO had different structures for provincial sport championships, most had more than one championship and the travel requirements were difficult to determine in advance. We also wanted to focus more on regional disparities – to support sport development in the regions and to provide more support to athletes at the community level who may or may not get to the provincial championship level of competition. So we are providing options for provincial sport organizations which give them more flexibility to address changing needs from year to year. PSOs can therefore make their allocation of SportsFunder travel assistance available for provincial championships, regional competitions or training opportunities or a combination of provincial championships and regional travel.

15. How can I determine whether the club in my area is receiving or is eligible to receive a SportsFunder Travel Grant?

The first step is to contact the relevant sport PSO, (if it is a softball club you are enquiring about, call Softball BC) and ask how they are allocating their SportsFunder Travel Grant. This is the sort of information that should be on a PSO website. This should be an easy request for the PSO to answer and it will give you a sense of whether your local club can access funding.

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