The Northampton Town FC Community Trust has been awarded £4,420 of National Lottery funding from Sport England’s Community Emergency Fund to support the charity to cover the organisations office and utility costs during the on-going COVID-19 pandemic.
The outbreak of the virus and the consequent shutdown of businesses as of March 23 has left the sport and physical activity sector facing a period of uncertainty.
In response, on March 31 Sport England announced a £195m package to help the sport and physical activity sector through covid-19. Within the package is a £20m Community Emergency Fund, of National Lottery money to deliver immediate funding to those who have a role in supporting the nation to be active but are requiring support due to the impact of coronavirus.
The grant will allow Northampton Town FC Community Trust to cover office rent and utility costs over the coming months and will enable them to continue delivering activities to support the Northamptonshire community during this time.
Phillip Smith, Northampton Town FC Community Trust Chief Executive, said “We are extremely grateful to Sport England for supporting us and helping us to continue delivering activities to support people across Northamptonshire during this challenging time. Like many organisations, core costs such as office rent and utilities still need to be covered despite limitations in ways to currently income generate. These types of grants are extremely important to support organisations and charities such as ours to cover these types of costs in the short term.
Tim Hollingsworth, Sport England’s Chief Executive, said:“As the body responsible for the growth of sport and physical activity participation, we want the vital grassroots organisations that make sport and physical activity happen in this country to not just to come through this crisis but to be in a position to thrive again in the future. The £20m Community Emergency fund, made possible by National Lottery players is part of a multimillion pound package of support we are providing to ease the pressure on a huge number of the organisations who are central to the nation’s health and wellbeing.
“We are proud to be able to provide vital funding to Northampton Town FC Community Trust to help it through these extremely challenging times.”