Guidance for Victorian Football Associations
Grant Funding - Sport and Recreation Victoria
Community Sport Sector Short-term Survival Package

On 25 May 2020 applications opened for Sport and Recreation Victoria’s (SRV) Community Sport Sector Short-term Survival Package grants. Sports associations are eligible for grants of up to $15,000 to help cover ‘immediate financial needs’ as COVID-19 restrictions ease and we look to return to football.

Football Victoria (FV) has reviewed the grant guidelines and put together the following guidance to assist associations that wish to apply for this financial assistance. While we hope that this guidance will help you to put together a strong application, FV is not able to guarantee the success of any application.

  • Associations can access the application form here.
  • SRV provides additional information and FAQs here.

Applications for grants close on Monday 15 June 2020 or earlier if fully allocated before the closing date.

Information to have available when completing your application:

  • Incorporated association name and number: you can find this on the Consumer Affairs Victoria portal
  • Australian Business Number (ABN): you can find this by searching ABN Lookup
  • Registered address: this will be your association’s primary place of business and is ordinarily the address used to register as an incorporated association and/or for an ABN
  • Postal address (optional): you may choose to provide a different postal address
  • Authorised person: a person within your association who holds a position of authority and can engage with SRV, as necessary. This may be the person completing the application
  • Annual budget: a budget document showing pre-COVID-19 income and expenditure
  • Re-forecast budget: assuming restrictions continue for the period March to August 2020 (6 months), including membership fees, canteen takings, sponsorship funds, competition fees
  • Number of paid employees (if applicable): you will need the number of employees on your payroll, and the full time equivalent (FTE), where a full-time employee working 35 hours (or more) per week is 1.0. For example, if you have two full-time employees, and four part-time employees working 7 hours per week each, that would be an FTE of 2.4
  • Bank account details: approved payments will be made to the nominated account

The application process has 8 steps as follows:

Step 1: Are you eligible to apply?

A series of ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions, where you must confirm whether your association:

  • is financially affiliated with, or can demonstrate the support of, an SRV-recognised State Sporting Association – FV is an SRV-recognised State Sporting Organisation
  • maintains annual financial statements
  • adheres to and enforces the Fair Play Code
  • has implemented and maintains policies relating to member protection and child safety standards
  • complies with the expectations of the Victorian Anti-Doping Policy
  • has met reporting requirements on any grants previously received from SRV

We would expect all associations to be able to answer yes to all of these questions.

Step 2: Applicant details

Provide information about your association, including address, authorised person and ABN (associations that don’t have an ABN are only eligible for up to $7,500 in funding).

Step 3: Organisation details

Provide information about your association’s sporting affiliation and location, including:

  • usual length of the season (Feb/Mar – September)
  • number of seasons competed per year (1)
  • State Sporting Association Affiliation (Football Victoria)
  • the LGA your association is aligned with
  • the LGA or landowner you hire facilities from
  • your association’s usual annual membership/registered participant numbers

Step 4: Reasons for application

There are three key parts to this step, we have divided it into sub-steps for ease of reference. You have up to 200 words to answer each of the following questions. Consider your association’s situation and whether any of our sample answers apply:

Step 4.1 – impact on your organisation

Q - Describe how the shutdown restrictions have impacted your organisation

Consider usual sources of revenue that have been affected, difficulties your association has encountered, and any additional costs your association has incurred. Consider including the dollar amounts where known. These may include but are not limited to:

“The revenue impact on the association has been significant and has included…”

“The expenditure impact on the association has been significant and has included…”

Reduced registrations (eg down by X%)

Cost of additional cleaning requirements

Loss of sponsorship funds (eg 3 major sponsors lost)

Inability to defer costs eg rent

Refunds to members

Continuing salary costs (full-time & part-time staff)

Non-operation of hospitality (eg canteen closed)

Cost of additional health & safety requirements

Reduced ticketing sales

Increased insurance costs

Reduced fundraising

Legal costs


It is crucial that you are able to demonstrate the need for the funding and that without the funding, certain aspects of the association won’t be able to continue (i.e. that the funding is supporting your survival).

Q - How will this funding support your organisation?

Consider what immediate costs your association faces to ensure it can function as restrictions ease.

Some examples of uses of the funding that you may choose to include in your application are:

  • Purchase of sanitising/cleaning materials or services (eg deep clean of facilities)
  • Rent/pitch hire
  • Utilities
  • Insurance
  • Essential salary costs

The grant cannot be used for expenses including match/coach/player payments, future affiliation fees (beyond August 2020), equipment or uniforms, fixed playing surfaces/structures (e.g. goal posts), repairs to equipment, structures and playing surfaces. For a full list, please see page 16 of the grant guidelines.

Step 4.2 – operating capacity of your organisation

Associations must select the operating capacity of their organisation – this will determine the amount of funding you can apply for. There are three options:

  • Volunteer-run association: with no fixed staff costs can apply for up to $7,500
  • Association with a payroll less than $650,000: can apply for up to $10,000 based on proof of           fixed costs exceeding funding available under the Business Support Fund and JobKeeper
  • Association with a payroll greater than $650,000: can apply for up to $15,000 based on proof of      fixed costs exceeding funding available under the JobKeeper program

Associations are then asked to specify the amount of funding that they are applying for, based on their operating capacity. If you are an association with paid employees, you are asked to provide the number of employees and FTE of these employees.

Step 4.3 – eligibility attestation

Several questions that help SRV confirm eligibility for the amount of funding requested including the percentage loss in revenue experienced by your association during the eligibility period of 1 March to 31 August 2020. An association that can demonstrate a:

  • Loss in revenue of 50% or more: will be eligible to receive the maximum amount available to an organisation of its size
  • Loss in revenue of between 25% and 50%: will be eligible to receive 75% of the maximum amount available to an organisation of its size
  • Loss in revenue of less than 25%: will be eligible to receive 50% of the maximum amount available to an organisation of its size

Step 5: Financial analysis

This step requires you to provide categorised income and expenditure from your annual budget pre-COVID-19 and from your annual revised forecast (assuming restrictions are in place from March to August 2020):

Income

Expenses

Membership

Canteen expenses

Canteen

Utilities

Sponsorship

Venue usage fees

Competition fees

Office rental

Uniform fees

Affiliation fees (i.e. fees payable to FV)

Other income

Umpire payments

Reforecast only – Govt stimulus income (eg JobKeeper)

Coach payments

 

Player payments

 

Employee costs


Step 6: Bank account details

Provide details where the association would prefer funds deposited.

Step 7: Supporting documentation

Provide documents that support your application for grant funds, including:

  • your association’s original budget for 2020
  • your association’s reforecast budget/cashflow for 2020, showing expected loss of income
  • a letter from FV endorsing your application – available upon request from FV

Step 8: Declaration and agreement

Read the grant conditions and confirm you have provided true and accurate information and are authorised to apply on behalf of the association.


Associations are encouraged to consider other Federal, State and Local Government grant and funding options during the COVID-19 pandemic. Further details can be found here.