Partnerships and Funding Opportunities within Active Fans Sessions
Developing partnerships and funding opportunities are critical elements in supporting the creation of your Active Fans programme. Working with partners on the project can have massive benefits for your delivery. This will also enable the programme to be sustainable beyond the 12-week sessions.
Who and what are programme partners?
Programme partners are individuals, groups or organisations in the community that have an impact on the delivery of your Active Fans sessions, or who will be affected by the outcome and objectives of your programme. They are mainly stakeholders with vested interests in the social impact of your sessions.
Creation of a steering committee
The creation of a Steering Committee can provide great benefits for your delivery of Active Fans. It can contribute to the stability of the delivery and the objectives of the programme, ensuring sustainability for a shared vision.
Examples of programme partners are :
- Local government
- Local community football & sport clubs
- Business partners of the club
- Health related services/organisations
- Sport equipment companies
- Sport centers
- Boot camp organisers
The examples of programme partners listed above, represent partnerships that were achieved by the Active Fans partners. These types of companies can be valuable to session delivery, as it will make things easier and greatly increase the possible impact of the programme. Partners can also supply several resources that you may need during your sessions (e.g. equipment, facility, health advice)
Local government
Keeping local government and municipality informed about your delivery of Active Fans can be a real opportunity. Your local municipality can help with the booking of facilities and could arrange for this to be at a reduced rate due to the positive impact it will have on the community. They can also inform you about other organisations that assist your session delivery.
Local community football and sport clubs
Local sport clubs and community football clubs would have a vested interest to be project partners, as they could attract new members for their clubs through the programme. Having a partnership with these can also be valuable due to their resources such as staff members, nutritionists, coaches or sports psychologists.
Club business partners
As mentioned previously, football clubs have business partners who have different types of resources at their disposal. Club partners are also a source of incentives that could motivate your participants. For example, one Active Fans club’s partners offered tickets to see games at the stadium as a part of the programme.
Health related services/organisations
Health companies can be an crucial element of your programme. They can provide additional information related to nutrition and various other aspects. Moreover, you can invite them to assist during Active Fans sessions by providing elements that make for a more rounded session. For example, they can give advice to participants on how to change their eating habits, as well as give them tips on the benefits of certain food groups.
Sport equipment companies
Companies, that are specialised in sport equipment, could also be good partners for your programme for several reasons. They can provide equipment to your participants such as kit, water bottles and session materials.
