Volleyball England (VE) has today been awarded £1.3m by Sport England to support its core programmes until March 2019.
This funding will see VE’s activities being supported for the first half of the 2017-2021 funding cycle. It includes the £420,000 of interim funding which had already been given to the organisation by Sport England in April of this year.
In line with Sport England’s stated ambition to see the relationship between VE and its core market strengthened, VE is now committed to deploying this money across five critical programmes; Insight, Culture, Competitions, Futures and Environment.
In addition, the organisation has committed to overhauling its governance structures, including the appointment of an independent chair and directors to the VE Board. These changes will need to be ratified at the VE Annual General Meeting on July 29 in order for the Sport England funding to be accessed.
If, by March 2019, VE can demonstrate that progress is being made on its five programmes, there is the potential for future Sport England funding to be made available to support these programmes through until 2021. Sport England has also stated its intention to work in partnership with VE to assist with developing its commercial strategy. Read more on this story here.
A critically important time
Much has been written about the importance of Volleyball England's forthcoming Annual General Meeting (AGM), which takes place in Loughborough on July 29. As Janet Inman, VE's interim Chief Executive Officer, pointed out last month, there are critical changes to VE's governance which need to be discussed and ratified at the AGM. The fact that changes need to be made is a non-negotiable condition of Sport England's latest funding award.
Progress on this front has already been made with the drive to recruit independent directors and an independent chairman. In addition, the process of looking to recruit further Board Directors and workstream leads remains in progress as VE looks to reorganise its Board structure. All of these changes are being made so that the organisation is better able to serve its core market of existing volleyball clubs, players and volunteers.
The topic of VE's new commercial reality will no doubt be debated at the AGM as well; a topic which Chief Operating Officer, Stewart Dunne, touched upon earlier this month.
All of the points above make this year's AGM a crucial date in our sporting calendar. Further information on the AGM, its agenda and the conditions under which affiliated clubs are entitled to vote can be found in the AGM information pack. If you can, do please attend - and be a part of helping to define the future of our sport.