Local Sport Grant Program (LSGP) 2025

To be eligible for funding you must be:

• An incorporated, not-for-profit grassroots sport club or association whose primary focus is to:
  • organise sporting activities and;
  • deliver on-going sporting programs and/or;
  • develop member’s skills
• Aligned with a recognised sport listed in Appendix A

Sporting clubs associated with licensed organisations can apply provided the project directly benefits the sport, not the administration processes of the licenced club or upgrades of the licensed premises.

Sports organisations or clubs associated with a school, church or university can apply providing they are a not-for-profit club incorporated in their own right.

Eligible applicants with an ABN must ensure that the incorporation details and ABN details are for the same organisation.

Incorporated, not-for-profit grassroots sport clubs and associations whose primary focus is to organise sporting activities; deliver on-going sporting programs; and/or develop member’s skills

To be considered eligible, the project must be submitted through the Office of Sport SmartyGrants website.

Eligible projects include but are not limited to:

Projects that contribute to quality sporting experiences:

• Training programs that will lead to volunteer coaches, officials and club administrators gaining required education and accreditation, e.g., a club could apply for funds to run a coach accreditation course.
• Facilitation of new programs that will increase the interest and skill level of players/participants within the community e.g., a series of ‘come-and-try’ days or engaging a specialist skills coach for a one-off event.
• Projects that improve a club’s capability and capacity to increase community presence and the ability to communicate with existing participants/members, e.g., upgrade or develop a new website for the club, or developing a club strategic plan to increase participation.
• Promotional materials and/or items that are related to promoting your programs or club to increase registrations, e,g., flyers and/or online promotions, or the development of a communication plan.
• Requests for the cost of equipment required for training and/or playing sport or technology directly related to delivering the sport e.g., microphones, speakers, video technology and/or umpire technology to assist the delivery and development of your sport.

Improve access to sporting events by reducing barriers to participation:

• Events that promote participation in sport and physical activity and provide a focal point for community building and engagement, e.g., a club could host a specific event/tournament within their community. An event must be conducted on a specified day or consecutive days at a specified location.
• Events that primarily involve sporting competition or mass participation in an organised sport, e.g., an exhibition sporting match, hosting a gala day, regional or state championships.
• Regional clubs host a sporting event that attracts tourists and visitors to the region.
• Subsidise event registration for teams to attend a one-off competition within NSW.
• Subsidised travel costs to assist teams to travel from rural/ remote areas to participate in competition located more than 100km from their home ground or subsidised travel for specialist coaches to travel to rural/remote areas.

Travel interstate will only be considered for clubs close to state borders where access to competition is not available within a reasonable distance in NSW, e.g., hire of a bus for weekly competition at away ground games.

An event does not include regular on-going weekly/monthly sporting competition/activities.

The event date must be included in the application. Events are not to be scheduled prior to March 2026.

Create, upgrade or repair sports facilities:

• Enhance existing facilities, e.g., upgrades to create universally designed amenities, canteens, installation of watering systems, solar panels, safety netting, lighting, installed electronic scoreboards or upgrade of playing surfaces.
• Provide ancillary facilities at established facilities, e.g., fixed or non-fixed sun protection shelters, goals or goal posts, grandstands.
• Buying or upgrading non-fixed equipment, that is directly related to the delivery of the sport, e.g., line markers and non-fixed scoreboards.

Projects in this category must have Development Approval (DA) consent from the relevant Council, or can demonstrate that such approval is not required, and have evidence of landowner’s consent.

Projects must be completed by September 2027. 

The project must be completed by 30 September 2027.

• Increase regular and on-going participation in sport. 
• Increase participation opportunities for under-represented groups including women and girls, people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities, people with disability, First Nations peoples and LGBTQIA+ people. 
• Reduce barriers and improve access to participation in sport. 
• Assist sport clubs to provide quality experiences to their members and meet community needs. 
• Increase financial sustainability and improve facilities of community level sporting clubs.

Ineligible applicants are any organisation types not listed in the ‘Eligible Applicants’ section, and include (but are not limited to):

• Individuals, groups of individuals and unincorporated organisations.
• Incorporated not-for-profit organisations that are not associated with a sport listed at Appendix A.
• Clubs whose activities are considered to be of a recreational nature e.g., e-sports/online, remote/radio-controlled activities, fishing.
• State Sporting Organisations.
• National Sporting Organisations.
• Regional Academies of Sport.
• For profit, commercial organisations.
• Organisations limited by shares.
• Government departments and agencies.
• Educational institutions including schools and their Parents and Citizens (P&C’s), Universities, TAFE, Colleges and childcare centres.
• Local Government Authorities operating under the Local Government Act, 1993.
• Local Government Committees.
• PCYCs/YMCA/Scouts/Girl Guides/Surf Life Saving Clubs or Branches.
• Organisations 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.

The Local Sport Grant Program will not fund the following projects or project components:

• Ongoing and annual operational costs e.g., staff/coach wages and administration costs that relate to the running of the club/organisation including yearly subscriptions/memberships and venue hire.
• Subsidised registrations for players, for regular and on-going (weekly, monthly) competitions.
• Accommodation, food/catering and travel (except where specified as eligible above).
• Appearance fees, prize money and trophies/medals, trophy cabinets.
• Functions such as presentation days, AGMs and celebrations.
• Entertainment.
• Medical equipment (e.g., defibrillators, first aid).
• Private or commercial ventures.
• Events that are organised for the primary purpose of fundraising, including charity fundraising events.
• Individual scholarships/sponsorships.
• Insurance of any type (player, public liability, general liability, etc).
• Retrospective funding e.g., projects that have already commenced and/or purchases completed prior to application submission.
• Events that are scheduled prior to March 2026.
• Purchase or rental of land or premises; vehicles; office equipment (e.g., office furniture, television, computers, iPads, printers, photocopiers etc.).
• Costs associated with preparing and submitting the funding application.
• Costs associated with feasibility, design, or development stages including feasibility studies, business cases and masterplans.
• Projects not based in NSW.
• Subsidy for school sporting activities and events.
• Projects already funded by the NSW Government for the same project or same component of a project

Organisations may only receive NSW Government funding once for the same project or same component of a project from this Program or any other State Government funded grant program. Where the project or components of the project have been funded from any other State Government funded grant program, the Office of Sport reserves the right to not award funding to the project.

Project budgets should not include any ineligible costs, and these will be removed by assessors if included, at the absolute discretion of the Office of Sport.

Website development

•     A regional sports club requests $6,000 to contribute to the upgrade and modernisation of its website to allow for online booking and other improvements. Its current website has not been updated for several years and is difficult and unappealing to navigate.

•     A proportion of the funding will go toward website design and in particular the addition of images demonstrating the range of diversity of the club’s actual membership (the current site only shows images of able-bodied, Caucasian people and predominantly men and boys).

•     A strong case is made by the applicant that the modernisation of the site will broaden the appeal of the club and promote participation and sporting activity within the wider community.

The application includes detailed quotes from appropriate providers, a clear itemised budget, evidence of the source of any other funding required to complete the project and a realistic timeline for when the new site will be live.

Community outreach event

•     A local sports club based in a multicultural area is keen to engage with their wider community and encourage participation particularly from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities. They request $5,000 to support the cost of running a series of ‘come-and-try’ days.

•     Evidence is provided that the club has already engaged directly with key stakeholder groups (CALD community groups in the area) prior to the application to ensure there is sufficient interest in the project and that the needs of participants are met.

Funding is requested for multi-lingual publicity material designed to reach the intended audience in the wider community and participation incentives such as a football or similar item related to the sport. All costs are clearly budgeted and supported by quotes for each element.

Team uniforms and equipment

•     A community sport club wants to create two new female teams for women and girls, however they currently have no equipment in order to do so. They request $4,000 for the purchase of new uniforms, balls and cones.

•     The club currently has few women and girls’ teams and strong evidence is provided of the interest of women and girls to participate if the teams were created.

•     The application details clearly that the purchase of this equipment is only possible through the funding provided by the grant.

Facility upgrade

•     A sport club requests $15,000 as a contribution towards constructing new universally designed change rooms. The current facilities have no facilities for females or people with disability, which means few participants from these groups engage in the sport or any other sport operating from the club house. The organisation makes a strong case that improving the facilities will allow them to support more female and disabled participants and teams.

•     The total cost of the project is $50,000. The applicant provides clear evidence in their application that they have secured funding from other sources to complete this work alongside written permission from the landowner and secured all relevant approvals.

A clear and realistic project timeline is provided as well as a detailed and itemised budget supported by quotes from suppliers and tradespeople for the various elements of the project.