Thirteen more funds, events, tools and contracts to help you unlock new income in sport.
The definitive guide to finding opportunities, building partnerships and generating new income in the sports industry.
Hello and Welcome
On The Ball is a fortnightly newsletter sharing opportunities, tools, tricks and templates to help you unlock new income for your business or non-profit in sport. We are democratising sales, business development and fundraising in the industry.
This week we have thirteen(!!) more opportunities for you to consider, from upcoming networking events and exhibitions to grants, funds, incubators and so much more. From here on in we’ll be jam-packed full of the latest funders, guides, events and tools curated specifically for sales, business development and fundraising in sport and the surrounding industries.
But first, a word to our partners
The Antalya WinterLeague Convention is only 40 days away, and our Turkish friends have gathered some of the industry’s most influential voices in Sport Science, Media & Marketing, Transfers and Scouting, Social Impact and Football Development.
The first 40 speakers have been confirmed, providing a range of keynote presentations, panel discussions and B2B networking opportunities from January 9th - January 12th at Nirvana Cosmopolitan, Antalya, Turkey.
TOP TIP: Tickets start at €100, and you can expect to meet a variety of Turkish football clubs and associations, international player unions including the Professional Footballer’s Association, plus the likes of Women in Football and UEFA.
So, let’s get into it:
️⚽️Using sport to empower young people and create a more diverse and equitable society? A new fund from the Co-Op Foundation is offering unrestricted grants worth up to £30k per year for up to five(!) years. The Future Communities fund is focused on organisations in England. Proposals need to be submitted before the 23rd December at 12pm.
🏆Sport Northern Ireland are looking to acquire a Sports Competition and Results Tracking system that will provide a comprehensive database and search facility of competition and results that can be used to analyse the performances of Northern Ireland athletes and teams. The contract is valued at £185,000 (excluding VAT) and proposals are due on the 19th December.
🏎Check out the “RaceCar” growth framework; a simple and practical guide to help organisations scale their marketing efforts and secure new customers, partners and donors. The Framework is built on Coda, and you can therefore easily duplicate and edit it for your own context.
🎾The LTA Tennis Foundation is back following a solid few years of silence, and is committing £1m of funding in 2023 to organisations using tennis for good. Grants are focused on England, Scotland and Wales, and projects must align with the LTA’s mission of improving lives through tennis. Awards of up to £100,000 will be given across three different themes, with deadlines in February, May and August for applications.
💰The October Club have launched a search for their latest charity partner - a lucrative opportunity valued at circa £500,000 for one year. If you have ambitious and potentially transformational plans and turnover between £500k and £2.5m, do consider an application. There are no particular causes they fund or avoid, though the charities they support are typically UK based and normally not in the same field as beneficiaries of the previous two years.
📝Another guide to support your sales and marketing. This time it’s the “Complete Guide to Content Marketing”, featuring eight chapters packed full of insights, how-tos and the latest trends your marketing team should be on top of in 2022 and beyond. The Guide is free, action-focused, and doesn’t require you to submit any contact information in order to access it.
🏃♀️Naming new advisory board members quite literally every day, the Everything in Sport Summit Women’s Edition takes place in March 23 in London at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. It looks like there will be a stellar lineup of speakers and partners, including Microsoft, the FA, Women in Sport, Coutts, EY and so many others. Early bird discounts provide a 33% discount and are priced at £799+VAT. Not cheap, but if you’re planning to attend get your ticket before the end of 2022 or it will cost you dearly.
🏀Courtside Ventures are a private equity firm investing significantly in early-stage founders challenging the traditional definition of sports, digital media, fitness, and gaming. Based in LA and New York but investing globally, their portfolio includes The Athletic, Enso+ and Gameco and plenty of other fast growing entities in sport. Check them out if you’re building a cool business in sport, fitness or esports. Even better if you’re product is basketball appropriate, given their founders interests.
💻The Google.Org Tech for Social Good Impact Challenge launched earlier this month, seeking organisations with the most ambitious and impactful technical projects that they’ve never had the time nor the resources to pursue. Imagine what would be possible if you had a team of Google.org Fellows working pro bono for six months full-time, as well as up to €3M in funding to make your project a reality.
And finally, a few tools and resources you might find useful:
Post your content on Converge, and let them amplify it for you.
Use Tweethunter to build and monetise your Twitter following, fast.
Try ZoomInfo to find contact details and intelligence on prospective customers and partners.
Gain market feedback before or after you launch a new product via Attest
