SportsFunder Program Information and
Guidelines
The SportsFunder
lottery is the first British Columbia Lotteries Corporation
product which supports a specific cause by providing
support to amateur sport in four areas: KidSport™,
Youth Sport Travel Assistance, Team BC and Coach
Development. Proceeds will be directed to amateur
sport through the Sport and Recreation Branch,
Ministry of Tourism, Sport and the Arts, in
partnership with the Gaming Policy and Enforcement
Branch, Ministry of Solicitor General and Public
Safety and sport and recreation partners throughout
British Columbia.
SportsFunder will benefit children and youth
participants, Team BC athletes, recreation providers
and coaches.
SportsFunder will be released in phases.
In 2006/07, $2.177 million benefited amateur
sport in B.C.- KidSport™ BC ($327,000), Team BC
($660,000), Aboriginal Team BC ($100,000), Youth Sport Travel Assistance ($550,000
for in-province travel; $190,000 for student athlete
travel for BC School Sport provincial
championships), $300,000 for coach development and
$50,000 for High Five (BC Recreation and Parks
Association’s standards education program for
providers of recreation for children aged 6 to 12).
Additional funding to these programs will be
distributed as SportsFunder revenue is earned.
Because SportsFunder revenue is subject to the
Gaming Control Act and regulations,
SportsFunder is not a “direct access” program
whereby individuals, clubs and teams can apply for
funding directly through one central fund.
SportsFunder, rather directs revenue to specific
partner organizations that will make SportsFunder
revenue accessible either through directed grants,
subsidies or an application process. These
organizations include Sport BC, BC School Sports,
Pacific Sport and the Coaches Association of BC.
Organizations receiving SportsFunder support must
meet specific program criteria (see section 2), be
accountable for the funds they receive and comply
with the Gaming Control Act,
Gaming Control Regulation and conditions of the
funding. These organizations include Provincial
Sport Organizations, KidSport™ and Parents Advisory
Councils. Please refer to the
Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch of the
Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General for
more information on gaming revenue eligibility.
The following information outlines how
SportsFunder revenue will be used to benefit amateur
sport in communities across British Columbia and how
each program area will access funding.
BC Lottery Corporation – sells and markets
the SportsFunder suite of programs including
SportsFunder Instant, 50/50 and Pull Tabs.
Sport and Recreation Branch, Ministry of
Tourism, Sport and the Arts – in partnership with
selected stakeholder agencies, the Branch
administers the SportsFunder program, determines the
program elements, directs and determines funding
levels and oversees the program accountability in
terms of the use of funds.
Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch, Ministry
of Solicitor General and Public Safety – makes
payments to eligible and approved organizations and
oversees financial and legislative accountability in
terms of the use of funds.
The
KidSport™ Fund is the charitable arm of Sport BC
that is designed to remove the financial obstacles
that prevent some children from playing
sport. Grants are provided for children whose
families cannot afford sport registration fees and
would otherwise not be able to participate in a
season of sport. SportsFunder support to KidSport™
allows more kids to participate by providing
KidSport™ BC and community KidSport™ chapters with
additional funding. A KidSport™ grant distribution
agency is eligible for SportsFunder support provided
this support is not its sole source of funding.
Individuals requiring KidSport™ support can
access SportsFunder support to KidSport™ through the
usual means – an adult sponsor applies on behalf of
the child to the local (or KidSport™ BC if a
community does not have a KidSport™ chapter)
KidSport™ chapter for a grant, subject to the
KidSport™ eligibility criteria and adjudication
process.
SportsFunder Youth Sport Travel Assistance
support will be directed to provincial sport
organizations and BC School Sports member sports to
help offset in-province travel expenses for athletes
who face disproportionate costs by virtue of their
geographical location. Because of the far-reaching
scope of sport travel in any given year, parameters
of support and the administration of funding have
been determined for two different types of travel –
School Sport Travel Assistance and Provincial Sport
Organization (PSO) Youth Travel Assistance.
- School Sport
Travel Assistance
SportsFunder travel assistance support will
be administered by BC School Sports to support
travel to and from its member sports’ provincial
championships. In compliance with Gaming
regulations, funding will be directed to
Parent’s Advisory Councils through
pre-determined funding levels developed by
BC School Sports (BCSS).
Because SportsFunder travel support will not
be able to accommodate all school travel needs,
BC School Sports will administer an external
application process for BCSS member sports based
on policies developed by BCSS and funding levels
based on location, size and travel needs of
provincial championships. BC Schools Sport
members will apply to BC School Sports for
access to SportsFunder School Sport Travel
Assistance.
-
Provincial Sport Organization (PSO) Youth Sport
Travel Assistance
SportsFunder PSO Youth Sport Travel
Assistance support will be directed to
Provincial Sport Organizations in government’s
PSO Core and Project Funding Program
(administered by
Sport BC) to support their youth (under 18)
members’ travel to and from in-province training
and competition opportunities. PSO youth members
or clubs will contact their respective PSO to
access this funding.
As the SportsFunder allocation for PSO Youth
Member Travel Assistance will not be able to
accommodate all sport travel needs, PSOs will
direct funding through an internal process that
each PSO determines based on their respective
funding allocation, competition and training
structures, needs and priorities. Sport BC /
Sport and Recreation Branch will inform eligible
PSOs of their allocation and these PSOs are
required to develop and communicate to their
members a distribution/access plan (that is
ratified by their board of directors) based on
defensible, transparent and predetermined
standards. All PSOs, however, will be required
to follow broad policies outlined in
SportsFunder
PSO Youth Member Travel Assistance Guiding
Principles
 .
The SportsFunder Team BC Performance Enhancement
component provides athlete development support for
the provincial teams competing at the 2007 Canada
Winter Games and the 2007 Western Canada Summer
Games. The enhanced support provides additional
funding to provincial sport organizations for:
training camps, competitions, equipment, technology,
performance enhancement team and modules
(physiological testing, mental training, strength
and conditioning, nutrition) and will benefit over
800 athletes from more than 60 communities across
the province.
To access SportsFunder’s Team BC performance
enhancement funding, PSOs must submit a performance
plan to the Team BC Performance Director. The Team
BC Performance Director (in consultation with the
Sport and Recreation Branch and Team BC Chef de
Mission) will review the plans and determine how
SportsFunder funds will be allocated to support the
plan. Funding levels will be determined based on the
PSO’s Performance Plan with the funds intended to
provide programs and services to enhance team
performance at the Games. In future phases, funding
will be directed towards Canada Games’ BC coach
honoraria.
Funding will be directed to NCCP certification
and/or education courses for community and school
coaches Funding will not go directly to coaches,
directed by the
Coaches Association of British Columbia to
course host agencies (e.g. provincial sport
organizations, educational institutions) to offset
coaches’ course registration fees.
Special emphasis will be placed on providing
additional educational and certification
opportunities for coaches in outlying regions,
female coaches, Aboriginal coaches and coaches of
Paralympic sports and young children.
Funding will be directed to the BC Recreation and
Parks Association’s
High Five Program – a program that promotes
standards and provides accreditation for recreation
providers that work with children aged 6 to 12.
In general, the process for all program areas
access and distribute SportsFunder funding follows
these steps:
- Sport and Recreation Branch, through
consultation with SportsFunder partner agencies,
assesses, determines and communicates funding
levels to SportsFunder recipients.
- SportsFunder recipients complete and submit
SportsFunder Contribution Agreement
(which will be distributed to recipients) to the
Sport and Recreation Branch. This initiates the
transfer of funds to recipients’ gaming
accounts.
- Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch
transfers SportsFunder funding to recipients’
gaming accounts.
- SportsFunder recipients report program
details (e.g. # of grants distributed, # of
athletes supported, etc) on
SportsFunder Use of Funds Report Form
(which will be distributed to recipients) to the
Sport and Recreation Branch by May 15, 2007. For
travel supported after May 15, PSOs must submit
this report by October 15, 2007.
- SportsFunder recipients report SportsFunder
revenue (financial information) on their annual
Gaming Account Summary Form (available from the
Ministry of Public Safety & Solicitor General)
and submits to the Gaming Policy and Enforcement
Branch by 90 days after the recipient’s fiscal
year end.
Organizations receiving SportsFunder revenue
should reference the Gaming Account Summary Report
Form and the SportsFunder Use of Funds Report Form
to see what information will be needed to be
collected for annual reporting purposes.
SportsFunder funding must be used to benefit
amateur sport in B.C. and must be used within 12
months of their receipt. If the recipient
organization can not disburse its funds within the
required timeline, it must request written approval
from the Sport and Recreation Branch to retain the
funds for a longer period. If the organization is
dissolved before funding is used, unspent funding
must be returned to government’s Consolidated
Revenue Fund.
Recipients must acknowledge the financial
assistance of the Province of British Columbia and
SportsFunder in promotional materials /
correspondence for the funded programs, newsletters,
websites and/or other communications opportunities.
For more information, please
see:
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