The Together Fund
Overview
The Together Fund was a continuation of the Tackling Inequalities Fund that was set up in April 2020 as part of Sport England's support package to help the sport and physical activity sector through the coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis.
It saw another £20 million of National Lottery funding committed to help the groups that, they could see were being disproportionately affected by the pandemic and it was significantly impacting their ability to be physically active.
Since 2020, Active Dorset has helped to support over 50 local organisations investing over £200,000 to allow them to find new ways to support people to be active, with focus on communities where we saw largest inequalities exist.
Now the Together Fund has come to an end, we reflect on the programme, and the impact that the funding has had across Dorset.
Headline figures
Projects
Over the course of the programme, we helped to fund 48 projects across Dorset. We worked with these organisations to understand their needs and their local communities to develop projects that supported their audiences to move more.
It has been a great opportunity for our residents to be involved in this project and has rebuilt a community post covid.It has given our residents the opportunity to take control of their health and wellbeing.
This has been so incredibly successful, we are seeing people who have never exercised before and who are overweight, many have mental health issues and the feedback has been so positive.
Project insights
As part of our Community of Practice event in November 2023, we asked each organisation to share the first 3 words that came to mind when they thought about their projects.
The 89 responses indicated that the top five insights were:
Community
Engagement
Rewarding
Fun
Successful
Participants
The Together Fund has shown the positive impact that being active can have on people's lives. Many participants started a new habit, sustained their activity and became active members of their local activity communities.
Chill has turned my life around for the better. I am such a changed person, not just for attend the course, but the sense of community they offer and The additional support they give us to continue with our open water swimming.
It has has given me the knowledge of activities to do to help manage the fatigue and pain by increasing my tolerance for activity.
The resurface sessions have increased both of my childrens confidence in different ways and had a massive positive impact on their overall mental health and well-being!
I have learnt a lot about myself and health by going the club. By using a wheelchair to do sport I have realised how much more I am able to achieve. This enables me to be in less pain and be more active.I have built much more confidence in myself and my health conditions by making friends with people who are dealing with the same symptoms and conditions as me.
It has got me back into exercising. I feel motivated to continue in small chunks.
Project case studies
Our learning
Evaluation - The evaluation process and some of the forms used to collect feedback from project and participants needed adapting for certain audiences, the format and language used was not accessible for everyone. For example; those for which English is not their first language, adults and children and young people with learning needs, children and young carers.
Funding application process - Lots of organisations we worked with welcomed the simplicity of the application process and the support provided to develop successful funding applications.
Engaging target audiences - Projects sought to reach a variety of different target groups, we learned that for some projects who didn't already work with their target audience, they would have benefitted from additional planning and connections to develop signposting and routes to their activities and projects. Some projects used a variety of different ways to incentivise their target audience to attend and improve adherence.
Connections with organisations in our place - Through the Together Fund programme we have developed more diverse relationships with organisations across our county, many of whom were new to use. These relationships have helped us develop a deeper understanding of our places and communities and a better understanding what barriers they face to being active.
