Singapore Sports Council Begins Multi Year Funding To National Sports Associations

Singapore Sports Council Begins Multi-Year Funding To National Sports Associations

Singapore, 6 April 2010 - As part of its Annual National Sports Association Grant Exercise (ANGE) for Financial Year (FY) 2010, the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) announced today that 33 National Sports Associations (NSAs) are given in-principle approval for multi-year grants, ranging between two to three years. This announcement follows the SSC's call in September 2009 for NSAs to have foresight and adopt multi-year planning that focuses on medium to long-term strategies. This is the first time that the SSC is granting multi-year funding to NSAs.

2. Commenting on the introduction of multi-year funding for the NSAs, SSC's Chief Executive Officer Oon Jin Teik said, "Sporting success takes years to build and will require multi-year planning. Hence, it is vital that NSAs plan beyond their annual cycle and take a more holistic perspective to grow and develop their sports. The SSC understands that it would be more efficient and useful for NSAs to have greater certainty of the grants that they receive from the SSC to do multi-year planning. For a start the SSC has locked-in indicative funding for 33 NSAs, to facilitate them with their programmes and activities beyond just one year."

3. The in-principle approval for the extended cycle funding is based on the NSAs' multi-year sports plans and programmes. Additionally, the NSAs must have demonstrated that they have the corresponding support structures in place to ensure delivery of these multi-year programmes. NSAs will need to meet basic criteria such as corporate governance and fulfillment of pre-agreed Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), before the funds can be disbursed on a quarterly basis.

4. For ANGE FY 2010, the SSC will be channelling $50.22 million to the NSAs and other sports partners. The amount includes direct and indirect grants of $35.78 million and $14.44 million, respectively, to the NSAs. This is up from FY 2009's grants of $46.98 million (Direct grant: $34.10 million; indirect grant: $12.88 million).

5. Indirect grants to NSAs refer to SSC's sports medicine and sports science services (FY 2010: $4.58 million; FY 2009: $4.95 million) and sports facilities subsidies (FY 2010: $3.54 million; FY 2009: $2.38 million).

6. "The NSAs need to meet basic criteria such as corporate governance and pre-agreed Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to enjoy these grants," said Mr Bob Gambardella, Chief of Sports Development Group and Singapore Sports Institute, SSC. "Key expectations from the NSAs for FY 2010 include achieving continued success at major international games and competitions. In addition, they must improve the quality of high participation programmes, and continue to have emphasis on youth participation for the majority of their programmes and events, as well as attain a greater level of organisational excellence."

Funding Schemes for NSAs to Tap On

7. The NSAs will also be able to tap on other funding schemes under the SSC throughout the year, to help them in the implementation of their programmes.

8. The Matching Grant scheme, an incentive-based strategy to encourage NSAs to tap on commercial revenue, raise their own funds and be self-sustaining, was introduced in FY 2008. The Grant is applicable only to new commercial cash sponsorships that the NSA secures or an increased sponsorship quantum from an existing sponsor.

9. Administered on a first-come-first-served basis, the Matching Grant will be subjected to a maximum cap of $30,000 per NSA per annum, up from $20,000 in FY 2009. For FY 2009, 17 NSAs benefitted from the Grant. Based on the funding allocation in FY 2010, 47 NSAs qualify for this Grant. This Matching Grant is over and above the FY 2010 annual grants that the NSAs will receive.

10. In the area of youth sports development, NSAs can tap on the Sports Education Programme (SEP) for funding opportunities to develop sports in schools. SEP, a collaborative partnership between the SSC and the MOE, aims to advocate the importance of sports education, encourage sports participation in schools and increase sporting opportunities for the young. It also serves as an integrated and structured approach to link sports service providers (inclusive of NSAs) with schools to ensure that innovative and quality sports programmes are delivered.

11. The SSC has put in place Audit Shared Service and the Financial Shared Service for all NSAs to assist them in carrying out their financial governance. For NSAs using these Shared Services, they will be able to enjoy a partial subsidy from the SSC.

Focus on Team Sports - Netball and Football to be supported for World Netball Championships 2011 & SEA Games 2013 and 2015

12. Team Sports have the ability to create opportunities for play and for social cohesion. In view of this, the SSC will be providing additional indirect support to both Netball Singapore and the Football Association of Singapore to assist the national netball team and the men's under-23 football team in their preparations for the World Netball Championships 2011, and the SEA Games 2013 and 2015, respectively.

13. The support will include but not be limited to spexTEAM carding for the members of the respective teams, assistance in priority booking and subsidies for facilities, as well as liaison with other relevant authorities for leave and other related matters which could help in their preparations for the major events.