Getting Your Club Ready for the Next Community Sports Facilities Fund
Formerly known as the Sports Capital Programme, the Community Sports Facilities Fund has become one of the most important sources of capital funding for grassroots sport in Ireland, giving clubs the opportunity to apply for government investment in their facilities, equipment, and infrastructure. For a lot of clubs, it’s the difference between talking about what they’d love to do and being able to do it.
Over the last two rounds of the CSFF, our Public Funding team has supported 76 clubs and NGBs through the application process, 72 of those received funding. That’s a 95% success rate, and it represents €12.63 million flowing directly to help build these communities.
In the 2021 round, every single club we worked with received funding, a 100% success rate, with 90.3% of the total amount applied for being awarded. In 2023, 93% of the clubs we supported secured funding, with a 71.5% allocation rate. Those figures reflect something we’ve learned over years of doing this work: the clubs that prepare properly and build the strongest possible case give themselves a real chance.
What does that preparation actually look like? It starts well before the round opens.
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Making sure your registration, ownership documents, planning permissions, quotes and evidence are all in order.
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Then it’s about the application itself, making sure it’s written against the scoring criteria, not just a description of what you want to build but a clear case for why your community needs it, who it will serve, and what impact it will have.
It’s about telling a compelling, honest story about your club, your community and what this funding would make possible.
Beyond the CSFF, our Public Funding team works across a range of programmes. We supported Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board with a €54 million application for their College of the Future campus. We’ve worked with clubs accessing the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund, the Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund, and a range of other public funding streams. The common thread across all of it is the same: understanding what funders are looking for, helping organisations put their best foot forward, and seeing projects through from start to finish.
The next CSFF round is on the horizon. If your club has plans and wants to give itself the best chance of success, we’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Dennis O’Connor at dennis@2into3.com to start the conversation.
