National Grants

Competitions and National Grants

The BFA are offering a number of Grants to promote freediving in the UK. These are aimed at assisting competitions to be viable, not to make a profit, and the following grants can be applied for:

Pool Competition Grant (maximum 250.00 GBP Grant)

Depth Competition Grant (maximum 400.00 GBP Grant)

National Championships Grant (Pool or Depth, maximum 250.00 GBP Grant each)

The Grants are discretionary and may be awarded dependent upon the review, and acceptance of an application submitted by the competition organiser.

You can apply for both Competition Grant (pool or depth) and the National Championships Grant for the same event and be awarded one or both grants.

There will be a maximum of one National Pool and one National Depth grant per year.

There are limited funds for the grants, and the total annual amount is agreed by the committee in the AGM each year. Please apply well in advance. The committee will review all grants, and reward as best grows the sport in the UK. We will review each request on a first come first served basis, so please feel free to submit applications later too. Application for a National Championships Grants should be applied for at the time of registering interest of organising such event.

Application process:

The competition organiser must submit the application to the BFA competitions officer (competitions@britishfreediving.org) no later than 3 calendar months prior to the start date of the competition.

The application must contain the following details:

  1. What Grant(s) are being applied for: Pool Competition Grant, Depth Competition Grant, National Pool Championships Grant and National Depth Championships Grant.
  2. Amount being applied for (it doesn’t have to be the full amount, this is aimed at assisting competitions to be financially viable, not to make profit)
  3. Date(s) of the competition
  4. Location of the competition (must be in the UK)
  5. Expected No. of athletes (minimum 10)
  6. Minimum and Maximum no. of athletes that will be accepted to hold the competition.
  7. Allocation of spaces to local club(s) athletes and other athletes.
  8. Proposed marketing / communication plan for publicity of the competition to the British Freediving community.
  9. Breakdown of estimated costs and income from the event.
  10. Summary of sponsorship for the event, including prizes and resource / facilities provided free of charge. (e.g. safety freedivers, pool space, classrooms)
  11. Proposed use of the grant.
  12. Signed copy of the BFA safety agreement.
  13. Agreement that the competition will:
    • Include ” BFA” in the title after the competition name in all communication around the competition, e.g. “The COMPETITION NAME BFA depth competition”
    • The BFA logo will be presented alongside any branding for the competition in equal size.
    • The Grant, the BFA and its website will be referenced in all communication by the organiser (we understand 3rd parties may change this), press releases, websites / collateral for the competition, and should provide suitable details e.g. “The competition was part funded by a BFA grant, see www.britishfreediving.org for more details.” This should be included in any summary sections where a synopsis of the communication is being used. For example:
      • Competition Website
      • Facebook posts
      • Registration documents
      • Email communication with athletes
      • Competition briefing and closing
    • All athletes will be members of the BFA for the calendar year that it takes place. For international athletes membership to an AIDA national is satisfactory.
    • The competition will be announced on the AIDA website a minimum of 1 month prior to the competition start date.

Acceptance Process:

The BFA committee will review the application, and accept (including amount of funds approved for the Grant) or reject the application, notifying the applicant within 1 calendar month. If accepted the BFA will promote the event via a Press Release, the BFA Facebook page and the BFA website creating a news article. If required the BFA can assist with a 1 page website for the competition on the BFA website e.g. http://www.britishfreediving.org/grants/competition_name/

To receive the Grant the organiser needs to provide details of completion of the necessary items detailed in the application and item 13 above to the committee. Once the details have been received and the competition completed then the BFA will provide the Grant to the applicant. General details for the acceptance:

  1. The organiser will need to submit the completed details after the event to review the grant. If the organiser does not submit the post competition form, or the grant is abused they will be banned from the grant application for 5 years.
  2. The organiser can apply for an exception to allow for the funds before the competition, if so please stipulate this in the application with respective reasons.
  3. A Grant budget will be allocated by the committee each year at the AGM. Once finished no more grants will be approved that year. Grants are handled on first come first served basis
  4. If after the competition it is not compliant with the application form terms, a refund may be requested of the organiser, who agree’s to repay the amount requested.
  5. Each organiser can apply for a maximum of one of each grant per year (so a maximum of 4, 1 pool, 1 depth, 1 national pool, 1 national depth).
  6. The grants are not available to competitions being held outside of the United Kingdom.

Additional Details for the National Championships Grant:
The National Championships Grant will have the same requirements as the Competition Grants with the exception of the following:

  1. Agreement that the competition will include ” BFA National Championships” in the title after the competition name in all communication around the competition, e.g. “The COMPETITION NAME BFA National Championships” the competition start date.
  2. For Pools
    • Applications for the National Pool Championship each year must be made to the BFA competitions officer (competitions@britishfreediving.org) by the 31 st October the previous year with the application for the event.
    • Applications will be reviewed by the committee and the successful applicant will be chosen at the AGM (November).
    • If further clarification is required on the details submitted, questions will be provided back to the applicant prior to AGM.
  3. For Depth – we will allow applications at any time.

The BFA reserves the right to amend and remove the Grants at any time, if a Grant is awarded and the Grant process then withdrawn the approved Grant will be honoured.

For more information or if you have any questions please contact competitions@britishfreediving.org.