The Samworth Brothers Sports Opportunity Fund supports deserving community sports projects close to Samworth Brothers' locations. The Fund was launched in October 2013 and has made over 200 financial awards and commitments to date, totalling over £2 million.

Who is eligible for the Sports Opportunity Fund?

The Samworth Brothers Sports Opportunity Fund has two grant funds;

• a Colleague Sponsored Award fund for projects nominated by Samworth Brothers colleagues.
• a Sports Development Award fund which supports larger projects each year. Multi-year projects of up to three years are also considered. These don't require a Samworth Brothers colleague nomination.

Projects need to fit with the Samworth Brothers Sports Opportunity Fund overall criteria. All applications to the Fund need to fulfil the following criteria:

• Geographic: We support projects in areas where a Samworth Brothers business is an integral and important part of the local community.
• Supporting our local communities through sport: Projects should support the social and economic development of Samworth Brothers local communities by helping young people develop confidence, self-esteem and better life skills through sport.

In our larger grant awards we also look for evidence that our awards will improve access to sport for young people in particularly hard to reach and disadvantaged groups. In particular we're looking to fund projects in sports clubs that will help grow or develop the opportunities in sport that a club can offer young people.

Examples of the types of activities we prefer to fund include:

• projects to extend club coaching capabilities
• the ability to put on new club evenings or new sessions for different age groups or gender
• plans to extend to new locations to reach more young people
• other schemes to improve young person participation.