ABSTRACT
The funding landscape for sports development is a complex and ever-changing one, yet crucial to the delivery of any objectives related to either increased grass-roots participation or improved performance in sport on the world stage. Jackson and Nesti suggest, first, that ‘many SDOs and deliverers of sport development programmes more prosaically have identified a lack of funding as the major obstacle to achieving equality of opportunity’ (2001: 151), and second, that ‘if there is to be a realistic chance of Sport England’s strategy achieving its objectives, the mission of More People, More Places, More Medals is implicitly underpinned by another catchline of More Money’ (2001: 156–57). The purpose of this chapter is not to provide a detailed overview of all of the sources of funding for sports development, as changes to policy and practice often mean that such information becomes outdated very quickly. Instead, the chapter provides first, a brief overview of the changing environment within which funding has been distributed. Second, some of the sources of funding for both grass-roots and elite sport development are described. Finally, issues related to funding and the sustainability of sports development are discussed. Much of the focus is on funding provided by the public sector, and some important areas, for example the contribution in financial terms of volunteers who contribute to sport (see, for example, Nichols et al. 2004) are not dealt with as part of the chapter.
