Ulster Bank’s parent company The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has continued its support of Northern Ireland’s community sport sector by awarding Sport for Development charity, Sported, a Community Grant to expand its work in Northern Ireland.
Sported is a free membership organisation that supports local community sport clubs and groups that use sport as a tool to transform the lives of disadvantaged young people. These clubs play a vital role in building safer and stronger communities across Northern Ireland by providing young people with opportunities to learn new skills and overcome their personal hurdles in life.
The charity helps its members grow and become more sustainable by matching them with skilled business professionals who then mentor the club over a period of four to six months; providing expert consultancy on business issues ranging from business and financial planning, to fundraising and marketing.
The RBS Community Grant will be used by Sported to fund capacity-building member projects and support the charity’s existing business mentoring programme, which trains and then places professionals wishing to volunteer their skills and experience to help their local community sport clubs.
Sported currently supports over 220 Sport for Development clubs in Northern Ireland. Its members operate across a wide range of urban and rural communities, delivering a wide range of sports, from the traditional football, boxing and rugby to more niche sports such as archery, angling and Ju Jitsu.
Pauline McKiernan, Sustainability & Community Affairs Manager at Ulster Bank, said: “A key part of what we do as a Bank is supporting the communities where we live and work. We’re delighted that RBS has awarded this grant to the Sported foundation to support its work with local community sport clubs. These clubs are helping to transform the lives of disadvantaged young people across Northern Ireland.
Brenda Kelly, Northern Ireland Manager for Sported, said: “Sported’s volunteer mentors play a vital role in developing the skills, knowledge and confidence of our members. Thanks to funding from the RBS Community Grant, and to the support of Ulster Bank locally, we will be able to train more mentors, support more clubs and, most importantly, transform even more young lives.”
Sported has volunteering opportunities across Northern Ireland, so if you want to utilise your professional skills to help your community, please visit www.sported.org.uk to find out more.