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Active Lives

Opportunities through sport and physical activity

Enabling life-enhancing opportunities for individuals living with disabilities and living in the most deprived areas in the UK.
Using participation in grassroots sport/physical activity as a catalyst to develop personal and life skills, assisting individuals in discovering and fulfilling their potential

How to apply

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The Peter Harrison Foundation will close to new funding applications until further notice from Wednesday, 2 April 2025.

Active Lives funding

Through Active Lives we make grants totalling about £700,000 per year. Due to an extremely high volume of applications we were only able to provide a contribution towards 5% of the applications received in the last funding round.

Therefore, the Trustees have decided to focus our limited resources by prioritising applications which meet all of the following criteria:

work with people living with disabilities in the top 10% of areas of deprivation (Indices of Multiple Deprivation decile 1) AND
from organisations with a track record of working with this population AND
have a robust plan for wider impact of the project through dissemination, training etc

To avoid wasting your time, please ensure you meet our revised eligibility and funding criteria before starting an application.

Type of funding: We will consider applications for capital, project or core funding.

Location of project: Anywhere in the United Kingdom.

Grant amount: We accept applications for £5,001 – £30,000

Grant period: You can apply for a grant spread over 1, 2 or 3 years

Funding criteria

All applications to Active Lives MUST:

Offer high-impact, life-enhancing opportunities for those who live in the top 20% of areas of deprivation (IMD deciles 1-2)*

and

Remove barriers to participation for people with disabilities, especially those living in the most deprived areas (as defined by IMD)*

*Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD):

We use IMD rankings to help us assess levels of deprivation.
Work in the top 10% most deprived areas (IMD decile 1) is our highest priority.
Applications for work in deciles 3 -10 are NOT ELIGIBLE to receive funding unless they are disability focussed. Disability projects in deciles 3 – 10 are eligible but a lower priority for funding.
Regional / nationwide projects MUST demonstrate their current effectiveness in supporting people in areas of high deprivation

You can check the IMD for the areas in which you are working using:

UK: https://data.cdrc.ac.uk/dataset/index-multiple-deprivation-im
England https://imd-by-postcode.opendatacommunities.org/imd/2019
Wales: https://apps.dataunitwales.gov.uk/welshindexofmultipledeprivation/
Scotland: https://simd.scot/#/simd2020/BTTTFTT/9/-4.0000/55.9000/
Northern Ireland: https://deprivation.nisra.gov.uk/

Applications MUST also:

Evidence your organisation’s track record of working with our target populations
Focus on grassroots involvement rather than elite participation in physical activity
Focus on providing qualifications, skills development or confidence building for individuals
Incorporate effective strategies for creating a legacy and wider impact, perhaps through training, partnerships and/or dissemination activities
Demonstrate a high degree of beneficiary involvement across the organisation and those with lived experience

Funding priorities

Applications which evidence that they meet the funding priorities below will have the best chance of being successful.

Meet income level priorities 

In your last set of accounts, your organisation’s annual income was under £5,000,000

Focus on deprivation 

Provide high-impact, life-enhancing opportunities for those who live in the top 10% of areas of deprivation

Are experienced 

Have significant experience using physical activity to engage disabled individuals and/or living in the most deprived areas

Provide high impact opportunities 

Focus on using physical activity to provide opportunities for individuals to build their qualifications, personal skills or self confidence 
Are committed to removing barriers to participation in these life enhancing opportunities for disabled individuals and/or those living in the most deprived areas

Prioritise grassroots and community engagement 

Prioritise grassroots involvement rather than elite participation in physical activity 
Have Trustees, staff and beneficiaries who include people with personal and lived experience of the challenges your community faces 
Understand your community’s needs

Demand excellence 

Support, implement and disseminate best practice
Seek to have a wider impact, perhaps through training, partnerships and/or dissemination activities
Have a strong leadership and can show us the difference your charity has made in your community 
Have good governance in place including signed Safeguarding and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Policies, and efficient financial processes. 
Are best placed to deliver the solution

Have an entrepreneurial mind set 

Operate with ambition, inspiration and determination 
Have a vision for your charity’s future 
Seek to find ways to maximise the impact of your work, including the sharing of information with others

Work with integrity  

Act responsibly, respectfully, reflectively and transparently  
Know your strengths and challenges

Strive for sustainability 

Seek to deliver significant outcomes that leave a legacy 
Have plans for financial and environmental sustainability for the initiative and organisation

Eligibility criteria

Your project / activity must:

take place in the UK
provide opportunities for personal or skills development through participation in physical activity
meet the needs of people who are living with disabilities and / or living in the most deprived areas

Your organisation must:

be either a registered charity or a registered CASC (Community Amateur Sports Club)
have been registered with the charity regulator for two years or more (charity applicants)
have been registered as a CASC for two years or more (CASC applicants)
have produced independently examined or audited accounts for at least one full year of operation

Previous grants and applications:

If you have received a grant from PHF before, it must be at least two years since you submitted your final grant report.
If you have applied to PHF before, it must be at least 1 year since you were notified your last application was unsuccessful.

We do not fund

Organisations who already have an active grant with PHF
Individuals
Community Interest Companies (CICs)
Exempt charities
Requests for retrospective funding
Activities that are primarily the responsibility of central or local government
Overseas projects
Adventure challenges or expeditions in the UK or abroad
Projects that are solely for the promotion of religion
Capital works solely to fulfil building regulations regarding accessibility, without strong evidence of existing engagement with target audiences
Work in IMD deciles 3 -10 unless it is disability focussed. Disability projects in deciles 3 -10 are eligible but a lower priority for funding.