For too long now, and especially since COVID, we’ve felt independent martial arts is underfunded and not nearly recognised enough for the hundreds of thousands of students supported every year.

We’ve tried to rectify this by raising the profile of independent martial arts with Sport England and other national organisations but there is not nearly enough help coming quick enough to help support grassroots clubs through the current cost of living crisis. With this in mind, we’re pleased to commit to the new BMABA Grassroots Martial Arts Grant Programme (GMAGP).

What’s the idea?

Essentially, we don’t feel there’s anywhere near enough support for martial arts clubs outside of the NGB circuit. We find this really disappointing, as independent martial arts can provide some of the best quality training on the market and it does so on a self-funded basis. To help our member’s grow their clubs, invest in their communities and try new ideas to promote grassroots martial arts, we’re launching a Grant Programme to make cash and benefits in kind donations to clubs to help ensure everyone – from the smallest sole trader to the larger academies – thrive.

How much will be available?

We’re putting the finishing touches to our strategic plan so there may be some small deviations but we’ve finalised a great deal of the grant process now. As we’re self-funding the entire grants programme from our own revenue (we’re a social enterprise, so we re-invest our profits into the Association but we ourself are 100% self-funded) we want to try and offer a consistent grant that helps as many clubs as possible.

Our initial plan is to offer grants of between £50 up to £500 to clubs. This will be on a monthly application basis, so if clubs aren’t successful initially they can keep re-applying. We also believe by placing the funding pool at a maximum of £500 per grant, we can help more clubs by offering more diverse funding opportunities.

Overtime, we plan to increase the maximum amount to £1,000 and beyond.

From day 1, we will also consider at our discretion additional grants beyond the £500 limit, or recurring grants (that form part of a larger grant) such as £500 per month for a defined period, where we feel there is immediate need or the possibility to effect social change without detracting funding opportunities from other clubs.

Who’s Funding This & How Much Will It Cost Clubs?

We are self-funding 100% of any grant funds. There’s no charitable donations in the mix, and no funding from external organisations. We’ll use our trading profits to reinvest back into the community – the main aim of a social enterprise. It will not cost clubs a penny to apply for a grant, nor to receive one.

What Clubs Are Eligible?

All registered BMABA members will be eligible. We’re still refining the criteria, but effectively the grant will be open to all active instructors and clubs.

What Sort Of Projects Will Be Funded? And What Stipulations Will Be In Place?

Because 100% of the grant money is being self-generated by us, we can apply our discretion to decide how best to distribute funding for the maximum impact across martial arts. We really believe in the positive effects of martial arts and we’ll support funding applications in three primary areas;

• Grassroots Growth – This broad category will be open to any club that has big plans to scale up their club and attract more people into quality, safe martial arts. Provided the club is registered with our free Club Colours Award and can demonstrate proper financial management (we have free club management awards and template cashflow documents etc to support this) we’re happy to consider grants between £50 and £500 for just about anything – from equipment like mats, focus pads and gloves through to marketing grants, help funding deposits for venues, inter-club competitions and just about anything else. 
  
• Catastrophe Support – Where good clubs fall on hard times, we’d like to step in and provide the essential lifetime we know the ‘big boys’ won’t. We saw this during COVID, where thousands of pounds were issued in grants for purposes such as trimming cricket pitches ready for the resume of cricket, whilst Sport England declined to fund the Fighting Chance Foundation’s core programmes, such as #PunchLikeAGirl and Fighting Chance Scholarship Programme following an emergency request for help. If clubs can demonstrate good prior management and a viable business plan but face hardship due to unforeseen costs (including things like fires, thefts, unfair landlord evictions, frivolous claims etc) we’ll be happy to accept applications for grants.
• Charitable Goals – This is our primary aim. Anything that helps target a specific need within a community. This will be hugely different from one community to the next. It could be providing self defence lessons in schools for all children, or focusing on classes for women and girls. Perhaps it’s funding research to help narrow discrimination in martial arts, or it could be a donation to fund the scholarship of a disadvantaged but gifted martial arts student. Anything that delivers a tangible, measurable charitable impact to local communities will be immediately eligible.

What Sort Of Projects Won’t Be Funded?

We’re currently open to considering all funding reasoning but may refine this as the grant programme evolves based on how we can most effectively deliver change. We know clubs need grants for all sorts of reasons – from providing funds to help the most impoverished in our community access training to capital grants to help with new equipment or moving to bigger premises.

We have a few initial ‘no goes’ however;

• Other Association’s Funding – We won’t fund shortfalls where other association’s don’t support members. For example, where another governing body chooses to launch a competition in America without providing any financial aid to clubs in traveling out. We won’t subsidise travel for national squads or international events where the hosting organisation makes a tidy profit, but leaves their clubs to find their own airfair. We find this practice abhorrent.
• Commercial Ventures – Whilst we’re happy to fund capital outlays such as contributions toward bigger premises or new equipment, which may have an indirect commercial benefit, we will only do so when there is a social enterprise ‘kickback’. This might be, for example, in return for pledging a free student’s training (on a means tested basis) for a year. This will encourage social enterprising – the act of businesses ‘paying back’ the cash advance through a social benefit, and we’re very happy to consider this. We won’t fund pure capital growth however – such as helping a for profit company to simply increase it’s profits.
• Membership & Insurance  – Clubs can’t use the funds to pay for their membership and insurance renewals.
• Staff Wages & Misc – As part of the commercial ventures exemption, we won’t fund things like salaries, rent or purchase of buildings.
• Club Responsibilities – We don’t want to pick up the tab for extravagantly setup or egocentrically designed award nights, gradings or club events. We’ll consider events and competitions that have a genuine charitable core, but we won’t subsidise vanity shows for clubs that don’t want to spend their own money.

Our Vision & Social Responsibility

We want to see the excess profits BMABA generates put to the best possible use. Re-injecting this money back into the communities it comes from, we can make a real and lasting change where it’s needed most. We will be targeting clubs and setups that are often too small or unorganised to attract funding – such as sole traders or very small businesses – to help effect a real social change. We’ll also provide mentoring along the way – before and after – to ensure clubs are well placed to ‘springboard’ off the back of any grants made.