Benefits of hardship funds
Establishing a hardship fund has lots of benefits.
They include:
- Giving you a better understanding of your people and their changing needs.
- Showcasing your commitment to inclusion.
- Reducing the financial barriers that prevent participation in sport and volunteering.
- Engaging people who may otherwise drop out.
- Helping to maintain a diverse, healthy, and thriving community of participants and volunteers.
- Investing in your people and adding social value to your community.
Setting up a hardship fund
There are a few things that your committee will need to agree upon, before setting up a hardship fund.
These include:
- Understanding your financial position, so you know what you can afford to offer.
- Deciding on the purpose and scope of your hardship fund - for example, can you cover or subsidise the cost of sessions, membership, kit, equipment, competitions, events, courses and travel?
- If you can’t offer financial support, could you lend out any spare kit or equipment?
- How will you determine the level of support that you'll offer? This could vary depending on people’s circumstances but it’s advisable to set a limit.
- What to call your fund - the phrase ‘hardship fund’ has negative connotations, so explore some alternatives.
Deciding who to support
Setting eligibility criteria is a good way to ensure that you support those in greatest need.
Use your knowledge of members, and your local area, to work out who would benefit the most.
Ask everyone at your organisation for their input too.
Consider:
- People getting certain welfare benefits, children on free school meals or who have a signed referral from their school or college, and people not in employment, education or training.
- Could you also include people on limited incomes?
- Will you ask for proof of eligibility? If so, most people will have concerns about sharing information on their financial situation, and you'll need to provide assurances that everything will be confidential and only seen by the decision makers.
- If you're planning to keep any records, bear in mind data protection laws.
- It can be time consuming to check eligibility - so who'll do this?
Creating an application process
Once you have established your eligibility criteria, you'll need to get it approved by your committee/board and any other relevant people.
You’ll also need to agree on the application process. This can range from informal discussions with individuals, to a more formal process such as a letter or application form. The process should be the same for everyone.
You’ll need to decide whether the fund will be open to applications year-round or if there’ll be deadlines throughout the year.
Not everyone can access documents online so offer paper alternatives.
Advertising your hardship fund
People may be reluctant to ask for support. It’s therefore important that your fund is well advertised and that everyone knows about it. You must also be discreet.
Use all the channels available to you and provide clear information on:
- Who the fund is aimed at.
- What the fund can be used for.
- How support will be received.
- The scope of support available (including any values where applicable).
- Eligibility requirements.
- How and when to apply.
- Timescales for decisions.
- Who to contact for more information.
- Confidentiality – how this will be maintained.
The decision-making process
You should agree the following from the outset:
- Who’ll be involved in the decision-making process and how it will work.
- How you’ll assess applications against the eligibility criteria.
- How you will prioritise applications if your fund is oversubscribed.
- The process for anyone who may want to appeal against your decision.
- The process for validating, formalising, and communicating decisions (it’s good practice to involve at least three people to ensure fairness, consistency and eliminate any conflicts of interest).
Write this process down to formalise it and share it with your committee/board for approval.
Training the decision-making team
Those responsible for making decisions are likely to need some training on the process.
This should cover:
- Recording and dealing with any potential conflicts of interest.
- How to check applications (including any evidence) to determine eligibility.
- How to request further information.
- Where and how to record their assessments.
- How to prioritise applications.
- Where and how to store applications to protect people’s privacy and comply with data protection regulations.
- Who’ll be responsible for approving any decisions and how this will be recorded.
- How to communicate decisions.
