National Lotteries Board opens applications for funding sports

The scope of the funding programme is in line with Government policy to support all sporting codes in South Africa.

The NLB allocates a total of close to R2-billion each financial year in funding to various qualifying organisations covering all three sectors including charities, arts and culture organisations and sporting entities.

“We would like to take this opportunity to encourage all interested schools and clubs to forward their application to the NLB as early as possible, observing the funding criteria and procedures to avoid disappointment,” said Charlotte Thabang Mampane, Chief Executive Officer of the NLB.

“Failure to comply with the regulations and prescribed guidelines will result in the application automatically being disqualified.

“We would also like to reiterate the fact that annually the NLB receives requests for funding amounting to more than R70-billion, a figure that is well in excess of the funds available for distribution.”

The NLB will give preference to sports clubs and no-fee Schools (Quintile 1,2 and 3) in poor, previously disadvantaged and rural communities that support capacity building (Training of coaches and technical officials), universal access to facilities and provision or upgrading of access facilities for people with disabilities.

“The Government, through its various departments and agencies such as the NLB, will continue to support sports because it is an indispensable part of social cohesion and enhances physical and mental well-being,” said Mampane.

“Our country owes, to a large degree, our political stability and the social integration process to the near miraculous transition to democracy to the significant role played by sports.

“South Africa has also demonstrated at the Common Wealth Games, held recently in Scotland, that we have a wealth of talent and it is imperative that we support the development of our sporting talent from an early age.”

Applications forms are available at the NLB head offices in Pretoria or online at www.nlb.org.za

The NLB will also conduct capacity building exercises across the country to assist beneficiaries with limited resources to ensure that they meet all the requirements and are able to submit all the mandatory supporting documents such as properly formatted financial statements amongst others, in order to be considered for a grant.