The BMABA Club Grants Programme aims to put cash payments and crucial benefit in kind provisions back into the pocket of UK independent martial arts clubs under our banner, with a focus on creating long-term sustainable impact on grassroots participation, tackling key social issues and transforming the UK martial arts landscape for the better.

As a social enterprise we've always stood firmly behind the notion of ensuring BMABA is financially viable in its own right and independent from any third party support. That's lucky, as we've never recieved any support from Sport England or any other funding bodies, despite our broad range of industry leading work in grassroots participation and safeguarding!

Following our huge financial support package provided at BMABA's own expense during COVID, designed to provide free student cover and/or membership extensions to all clubs during lockdown, we saw the profound impact our financial 'muscle' could have for the benefit of the independent martial arts market. This was especially highlighted in stark contrast to the non-existent help that failed to arise from UK Sporting Agencies such as Sport England and so on for almost all non-NGB clubs.

With this in mind, in 2023 we BETA tested a new grants programme, offering up to an initial £500 cash grant payment with the possibility of long-term £6,000 annual funding support for long-term projects and causes. Following a hugely successful test of software and processes in March 2024, the BMABA Club Grants Programme was launched.

For the most part, BMABA will provide a direct cash (BACS) payment to the nominated club bank account for the monetary value awarded, up to £500 for the Grants Scheme. Alternatively, we will also provide benefits in kind if it's deemed to be of the greatest impact. Benefits in kind could include grants for technology provisions (such as websites and software), the direct purchase of equipment and kit, or something else as deemed appropriate by the executive panel.

Clubs will need to formally apply, outlining how much they require, why its needed and how it will make an impact at local club level.

At the close of each month, the BMABA Executive Team and trustees will assess and award funding to a select handful of applications. The decision making process is outlined fully below.

After the grant has been paid to the club (or the benefit in kind grant has been provisioned) the process is complete and the club may not re-apply for atleast 12 months thereafter.

BMABA will ask for feedback from the club as to impact and reach, and we may specify that you must show the 'Funded by BMABA' emblem on your website for up to 12 months also.

If clubs are not successful in their funding bid, they will be able to re-submit the same application each month without any further need to re-submit in full or they may restart their application to refine its contents, or to target a new area of funding.

All funds provided to clubs are from our direct revenue raised. We do not receive a penny of financial support from any Government organisation, DCMS, Sport England, Sport Wales, Sport Scotland, Sport NI, UK Sports, SCiMA nor any other charities, individuals or funding bodies. It is entirely taken from our 'profits' - the revenue left after we've paid the association's fees, costs and obligations, as part of our rock-solid commitment to re-investing into back into our community.

We will fund any BMABA member that;

There are some more nuanced terms for specific funds, but these are straight forward and relate to the type of grant you apply for.

As demand vastly outstrips supply every month, we're very considered and targeted about what we will and won't fund. Sadly, lots of very worth-while applications for funding will need to be declined on a monthly basis purely because of the overwhelming volume of great causes and impacts applying for support. To try and streamline how we classify funds, we've broken down what we will fund into four categories;

The Club Development Fund (CDF) is primarily designed to help clubs expand. It doesn't hinge on purely charitable outcomes, but we do expect clubs to grow in a way that is supportive to the local community and also in a way that ensures atleast 1 student in 30 is provisioned a charitable space free of charge under our Fighting Chance Scholarship Programme for up to 18 months following on from a grant.

There's no mandatory requirement to force the funded student space, but we would expect you to advertise the opportunity for a means-tested placement so it is available should the need exist in the community. If somebody comes forward who meets the eligibility, you will be obligated to permit free training within your club for the 18 month duration of the agreement subject to the standard process for the Scholarship Programme. Your club has the final vote in this, so you won't be forced to accept somebody you do not feel is appropriate however we will scrutinise the decision. BMABA will cover the cost of any uniform and insurances on an 'at cost' basis. If nobody eligible comes forward, you are not obliged to provide any free training and there is no further obligation upon your club.

In exchange for providing us with the scholarship provision, you're free to use the funds as you wish. This may be the purchase of equipment, kitting out an office, purchasing new computer equipment and printers, contributions toward the cost of a company vehicle, buying new mats - it's entirely up to you.

The only exception is that the funds can not be used to pay for salaries, wages, dividends or other direct income to the owners of the club. We also won't cover operational costs - like marketing, advertising, outsourced agents (like social media agencies) and so on. It has to be 'capital investment' - cash that goes toward purchasing 'larger' things that will make a more profound one-off impact to the club, rather than things like advertising which should be a long-term recurring budget spend.

It can be used to fund freelance or external instructors, examiners and referees subject to specific guidelines and our 'what we won't fund' criteria listed below.

Much as the term suggests, this is designed to help support clubs in crisis. It can be used to provide emergency financial relief where, for example, the threat of closure looms due to unexpected circumstances such as a venue being closed abruptly, or the long term sickness of a key instructor thus reducing class schedules.

There's no specific definition of what constitutes an emergency but we would expect clubs to be in acute financial distress. Crucially, they must be able to demonstrate that any funding received would see the club likely to stand a reasonable chance of surviving the medium to long term, provided the acute issue at hand can be resolved or overcome.

The ECF is not to fund clubs which we deem to be non-viable financially, or in financial distress due to a lack of investment, advertising or entrepreneurial input, so the executive team will be looking for specific, direct issues that have caused emergency, short-term difficulties.

Our BMABA Fighting Chance Foundation is looking to make as bigger impact as possible within our targeted areas of society. These are linked to our charitable programmes, which are;

Any community or club level programme you have that links into any one (or more) of these key areas is of interest to us. This could be, but is by no means limited to;

These are just a handful of examples. If you can link up funding bids (for example, the above example leading into a Scholarship placement within your main club) we're especially interested. With this type of funding, we're looking for long-term social change and the biggest 'bang for our buck' in terms of immediate social impact.

If your project doesn't fit within any of the above three categories, you can file a Miscellaneous funding application. We place these applications under much more scrutiny as it sits outside of our core channels of focus, but we can and do fund projects that don't have a home in the other categories.

A good example is a £750 grant (over two months) to cover a research paper exploring the impact of sexual abuse within Muay Thai.

As in this example, rigorous assessment of academic qualification was undertaken to ensure the research and funding was properly utilised, and it was conditional on BMABA being in receipt of the research on conclusion but we were happy to fund this under the Misc funding route.

We will have sole discretion on whether or not an application falls within or outside of our core funding remits. We generally specify that;

Whilst there is no definitive list of what we won't fund, here are a few examples;

Applications close at the end of the calendar month. We then review submissions in c. 14-20 business days thereafter, meaning a decision is usually made by the middle of the following month.

For example, if you apply on 5th January, all January applications are considered after month end. It usually takes around 14 days (c. 14th February) to review all applications, and a decision is made within 5 working day so that point. This means you'll usually hear about successful applications within around 20 days from the month end, if not sooner.

We will assess the criteria 'blindly', meaning those looking at applications won't see club or instructor names, nor will they have access to any identifying information; such as gender, race, age, style and so on.

We will be looking to find applications that meet the specified target outlined above in the funding categories, and we'll be collectively discussing the merits, challenges and drawbacks of each application and the intended use of funding.

If a majority agree on shortlisting an application, it will be moved forward to the final stage. At this point, all shortlisted applications will be reviewed once more by the team 3 working days later. You won't be told if you're shortlisted.

In order to grant funding applications, we need to have a majority agreement in favour of a proposed funding grant. Where there are more shortlisted applications than supply, we will need the executive team and trustees to agree upon those that will be ultimately successful within the available funding window.

When we have a collective decision, we will award the grants as we see fit. This may be the full grant amount asked for, an offer of a benefit in kind (if we feel it is more impactful) or a partial funding grant.

We won't be able to provide feedback on unsuccessful applications due to the sheer scale of applications we receive, nor will we necessarily be able to give bespoke or unique feedback on successful applications, as we need to keep applications within the process to ensure you receive funds promptly.

The decision of the panel - whether that be just the executive team or the trustees, or both, depending on availability, is final. There is no ability to appeal, but you may re-apply for the following month's grant if you are unsuccessful.

All applications and any subsequent funding is strictly bound to our application & funding terms and conditions, specified below;

To protect the very limited amount of funding we have available to clubs, we employ a strict application process which ensures clubs can be considered side by side in direct comparison as best possible.

During the application, depending on the funding category you're applying for, we'll ask;

This part of the application is for you to consider and answer in as much 'human' detail as possible. We want to understand why you need the funding and what sort of real impact it might make for your club. What does that mean to your students, and how might it improve grassroots martial arts through you?

In terms of the 'core details' of the application (known as our KYC) we'll ask for;

We don't judge clubs to be too big or too small, or too 'rich' or too 'poor' - these figures just help us understand the viability of your plan. If you ask for £500 for a company van and only have £40 in the bank, we know the van is unlikely to happen with our funding! Likewise, if you have monthly profits of £20,000, we might question how £500 will help buy new computers - but we wouldn't consider this an issue if you're wanting to put together a new scholarship fund, for example.

You won't be judged either way; there's no right or wrong, so please answer these questions carefully and accurate.

You should apply for funding online. We can't accept funding requests by email, webchat or phone. You will be asked to complete a quick anonymous questionnaire before entering the application form. This is used to help us continue to build crucial industry metrics. It is not linked to your account or application and has zero bearing on any decision to award funds.

Once you've applied you should receive an immediate email receipt from the system. Within c. 30 minutes of applying, if you head to your instructor portal, under 'Grants' (often hidden under the '...' menu) you should see your logged application.

If you click into this application, you'll see a brief summary of the data provided. It doesn't include the full application summary but it does confirm the bank account details given (not including the account number or sort code) and some of the key financials.

The two crucial fields to watch are as highlighted below - the Status and Decision Date.

There are four stages to the application life-cycle;

PENDING REVIEW - This is the default state shown after applying, and just shows that your application has not yet been formally assessed.

IN-REVIEW - This is the state used when the application is being considered. It doesn't always go through 'in-review' but if we shortlist the application for further review, or need to revert back for clarity on any information, it may move to this stage.

DECLINED - Declined will be the stage the application moves to if, unfortunately, your application is not successful.

APPROVED - This will be applied if you have been awarded some or all of the funding, or if the team are going to be reaching out with a benefit in kind offer of help. If your application moves to APPROVED and you haven't heard from us, please do reach out to us.

We review applications typically within c. 14 days of the month closing. For example, if you apply on 5th January, all January applications are considered after month end. It usually takes around 14 days (c. 14th February) to review all applications, and a decision is made within 5 working day so that point. This means you'll usually hear about successful applications within around 20 days from the month end, if not sooner.