Sport Infrastructure Recovery Fund

About the Sport Infrastructure Recovery Fund

Announced in May 2022, the $55 million Sport Infrastructure Recovery Fund will provide much needed financial support to those in our sport and recreation sector impacted by the NSW severe weather storms and flooding from 22nd February 2022 onwards. Funding under the Sport Infrastructure Recovery Fund will be delivered in two stages:

• Sport Priority Needs Program (stage 1) – Complete.
• Essential Community Sport Assets Program (stage 2)

About the Essential Community Sport Assets Program

The Essential Community Sport Assets Program (ECSAP) is a program under the $207 million Community Local Infrastructure Recovery Package. ECSAP is a key recovery measure of the Sport Infrastructure Recovery Fund to help communities assess, repair, reconstruct and build flood resilience into sport facilities enabling normal activities to return sooner.

The ECSAP is an initiative of the NSW Government.

Important dates

• Applications open – Thursday 3 November 2022
• Applications close – 2pm, Friday 9 December 2022
• Outcomes advised – February 2023 onwards

Key objectives

The Program objectives are:

• Improve the standard of directly damaged community sport facilities to enable the return of sport activities as soon as possible through repair, reconstruction, and betterment
• Increase the utilisation of community sport facilities
• Provide inclusive and accessible community sport facilities to grow participation for women and girls, people with a disability, First Nations peoples and people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities
• Upgrade sport facilities to be more resilient to future extreme climate events / natural disasters.

Funding availability

Up to $43 million in funding for eligible community sport infrastructure projects in 74 eligible LGAs that were included in the Australian Government declared natural disasters from:

• 22 February 2022 onwards: NSW severe weather and flooding disaster. Australian Government Reference Number (AGRN) 1012.
• 27 June 2022 onwards: NSW floods and storms. AGRN 1025.

There are two streams of funding under the Essential Community Sport Assets Program. These are:

Stream one

• Total funds available: $33 million

Stream two

• Total funds available: $10 million

Eligible applicants

Eligible applicants for stream one and two must be from the following Australian Government natural disaster declared LGAs.

Australian Government natural disaster declared LGAs
 

Stream one eligible applicants

• Councils in an Australian Government natural disaster declared LGA – ARGN 1012 and AGRN 1025 (including Joint Organisations or Regional Organisations of Councils where at least one member council is from an Australian Government natural disaster declared LGAs).

Stream two eligible applicants

• NSW Office of Sport recognised NSW State Sporting Organisations (including National Sporting Organisations where the state body is part of a unitary governance model)
• Incorporated, community-based, not-for-profit sporting organisations (clubs and associations whose primary purpose is to organise sporting activities/deliver sport programs)
• Organisations providing sport programs that benefit the community, such as PCYCs, YMCA and YWCA
• Private enterprises (companies established under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), incorporated associations established under the Associations Incorporation Act 2009 (NSW) or incorporated limited partnerships established under the Partnership Act 1892 (NSW).

Ineligible applicants

Ineligible applicants for the ECSAP are any organisation types not listed in the ‘eligible applicants’ section of the guidelines, and include (but are not limited to):

• Individuals
• Schools, TAFEs, and Australian Universities with NSW campuses
• Parents and Citizens (P&C’s) Associations
• Progress Associations
• NSW Institute of Sport, Australian Sports Commission (incorporating the Australian Institute of Sport) and NSW Regional Academies of Sport
• Other community based or religious groups that do not have a primary purpose of sport and/or recreation
• NSW based professional sporting organisations competing in national or state competitions
• NSW Department of Education operated specialist sports high schools
• NSW Government agencies.

An eligible organisation will be deemed not eligible for funding under the ECSAP if they are an organisation named: (i) by the National Redress Scheme for Institutional Child Sexual Abuse on its list of institutions that have not joined or signified their intent not to join the Scheme; or (ii) in the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that has not yet joined the National Redress Scheme.

Types of projects

Projects must:

• Be in an eligible LGA (listed in Appendix A)
• Be submitted by an eligible applicant
• Be for the repair, restoration, or betterment of directly damaged community sport facilities in eligible LGAs that were included in the Australian Government declared natural disasters from:
  • 22 February 2022 onwards: NSW severe weather and flooding disaster (AGRN 1012)
  • 27 June 2022 onwards: NSW floods and storms (AGRN 1025).
• Have a project grant request which is:
  • a minimum of $150,000 and does not exceed $1,000,000 under Stream one 
  • a minimum of $15,000 and does not exceed $500,000 under Stream two
• Not be covered by insurance or any other NSW or Australian Government grant programs or flood recovery initiatives.

Applicants should submit a landowner consent form for the project on the land on which the facility is located. For projects located on public land a signed letter of consent or declaration from the appropriate authorised delegate must be provided.

Where a project is located on private land, or land not owned by council then information on ownership/title and lease tenure is required as part of the project documentation. 

Eligible grant costs include:

• Capital cost of the repair, restoration and/or betterment of sport facilities directly related to storm and flood damage
• Project management costs not exceeding 20 per cent of the requested funding amount
• Detailed damage assessments, feasibility studies, detailed designs and technical reports, and preparation of business cases
• Capital costs that enhance future resilience to extreme climate events/ natural disasters
• Retrospective costs may be eligible in exceptional circumstances on the basis that the works were required to be undertaken to ensure safety and/or accessibility to the public or property. This will be determined by the Office of Sport.

Application process

Step 1: Check your eligibility

Before you apply, please read these guidelines to make sure you understand all requirements, including whether you are eligible to apply.

• You can find the relevant information on the Office of Sport’s website.
• Projects must be submitted through the SmartyGrants website to be considered eligible.

Step 2: Prepare your application

• Applying for the Essential Community Sport Assets Program is a simple process using the SmartyGrants website
• The Office of Sport recommends that applicants familiarise themselves with the online application form ahead of preparing the application and plan ahead of the closing date. You can download a copy of the application form prior to commencing your application.

Step 3: Submit your application

• Complete the application by filling in each of the sections including required documentation.
• Submit the application by 2.00pm on Friday 9 December 2022.
• Successful submissions will be issued with a SmartyGrants system generated acknowledgement email containing a PDF copy of the application which will confirm the time the application was submitted.

Supporting documents

• Program Guidelines
• Frequently Asked Questions
• State/National Sporting Organisation Statement of Support Form 
• Landowner Consent Form
• Budget Template
• Facility Usage Schedule
• Standard Funding Agreement Template
• Sport Infrastructure Recovery Fund Transaction Listing Template
• Example Financial Certification Statement - Grants $50000 Excl GST or under
• Example Financial Certification Statement for - Grants over $50000 Excl GST

Contact Us

Contact Us

Past recipients

Sport Infrastructure Recovery Fund (ECSAP) 2022/2023 Recipients
Sport Infrastructure Recover Fund 2022 Grant Recipients