There are many sources of funding for large scale projects but important funders of sport at a local level are still rowing club members, friends and the local community. Social events, raffles and local companies looking for sponsorship should be a club's first stop when searching for funds.

There are some simple steps that will guide a club to gaining funding.

• What does your club want?
• Why does your club want it?
• When does your club want it?
• How is your club going to get it?

These basic questions will point your club towards getting full and detailed answers to questions asked by prospective donors, questions such as:

• Why do you need x boat?
• Who will it be used by?
• What benefits are there for the club?
• What benefits for the donor?

When looking to gain sponsorship it is more successful to target donors that will have their interests met by the results of the project. A useful reference book to help clubs with their funding issues is The Sports Funding Guide by Nicola Eastwood.

Sport England has a useful list of funding bodies on its website.

Rowing specific funding may also be available from:

• The Rowing Foundation
• The Mark Lees Foundation

Information about non-rowing specific funding opportunities:

• Small Grants Programme (Sport England)
• Sportsmatch funding programme (Sport England)

For more information about what funding sources might be appropriate to your club locally, please speak to your local Participation Development Team Leader.