How this season’s grants have been spent so far
Written By SPFL Trust Media Centre
We’re pleased to provide an update on expenditure against a range of grants available to SPFL clubs and associated community trusts over the last nine months.
This is the second such update, the previous being provided in the autumn.
Over the last nine months, we’re very fortunate to have secured significant donations from three people.
In June 2020 we were pleased to accept two separate donations from James Anderson and a second benefactor who wishes to remain anonymous. The split of these donations is:
- James Anderson – £3,125,000 (£2.5m + Gift Aid)
- Private benefactor – £625,000 (£500,000 + Gift Aid)
In March 2021 we were pleased to reveal a third donor:
- Private benefactor – £375,000 (£300,000 + Gift Aid)
Let’s take a look through the different funds set up…
Covid-19 Club Emergency Fund
£2.1m paid out in £50,000 grants to all 42 SPFL clubs.
At this stage over 81% of the allocated grants have now been spent by clubs, totalling £1,711,023. Clubs still have £388,977 to be spent.
What has money been spent on?
Clubs have to report on how they spend their grant, including associated evidence. They report on a regular basis (usually every two months) until the grant is spent.
We’ve broken down expenditure by very broad category. Note that some clubs will use their grant in more than one way, but this report provides an indication of the primary use of income.
Note that where a club has used income on staffing this is not relating to first team players/coaches.
Other information:
- 18 clubs have now spent their entire grant
- Three clubs (two Scottish Premiership; one Scottish Championship) have yet to submit any return
- With the exception of these three clubs, all others have spent some part of their grant
- Three clubs donated £50,000 to their associated community trust – Aberdeen, Celtic, Kilmarnock
SPFL Trust Trophy Grants (previously Scottish Challenge Cup)
Although the competition was postponed until 2021-22, the SPFL Trust will sponsor the tournament next year, with the exclusive option of a second year.
The competition will be renamed the SPFL Trust Trophy when it launches.
A fee of £90,000 plus VAT will be paid for the 2021-22 season (donor funded) for what promises to be the most community engaged cup competition in Scottish football history.
At the time of the announcement, donor funds totalling £252,000 were made available on a grant basis (higher than had initially been planned).
This was available to both clubs and community trusts. £4,200 was available for the club and the same for its community trust (or community department if no charity exists). Participation in the fund was restricted to any club who would have participated in this season’s tournament had it run.
From the £252,000 funds the following can be reported:
- Community Trusts – 19 out of 20 community trusts applied (all were approved) of whom 13 have drawn down their grant
- Club community departments (no associated charity) – nine out of ten eligible community departments applied (all were approved), of whom seven have drawn down their grant
- Clubs – All 30 Scottish Championship, Scottish League 1 and Scottish League 2 clubs applied (all were approved), of whom 24 out of 30 have drawn down their grant
Covid-19 Community Emergency Fund
This fund was specifically targeted at the 30 community trusts (charities registered with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator) associated with SPFL clubs. £300,000 was paid out in £10,000 grants to all 30 community trusts.
General overview:
- £193,835 has been spent so far with £106,165 left to be spent
- 14 community trusts have spent their grant in full
- Six community trusts have yet to start spend their grants
- All clubs have submitted reporting on the usage of their grant
- 18 community trusts have used their grant on staff costs
A full breakdown on spending by category follows:
Covid-19 Direct Response Grants
This competitive funding stream was open to associated community trusts or SPFL clubs (ATCs) to either retroactively fund work that directly responded to the pandemic or to fund planned work.
These grants were categorised into two ‘streams’ with ATCs able to choose one to apply for.
Stream A featured activity which supported online/digital transformation, social interaction and volunteering. ATCs who chose Stream A were able to apply to all three parts of this fund.
Stream B was based on an innovation fund, where ATCs could demonstrate ‘significant impact’ through a new idea.
In total, 23 grants, totalling £80,400 were paid out, across these categories (note that ‘Significant Impact’ is the only strand in Stream B; all other activity is under Stream A).
So far, £45,297 has been spent from the grants paid out. Ten of the 23 clubs have used the entire value of their grant.
Social Impact Reporting Fund
A new fund has been set up which will enable community trusts and associated SPFL clubs to secure up to £10,000 of grant funding. This is delivered in phases, pending involvement in the SPFL Trust’s new Social Impact Reporting project.
This fund and project will open in April/May 2021.