Centre of Excellence Fund - 2023

Centres of Excellence will feature multi-purpose facilities, enabling sports to bridge the gap between elite sport and the general community and expand their community programs andoutcomes. The Fund will assist eligible organisations to develop integrated facilities that include high-performance training and administration areas to assist talent identification and development opportunities. The Fund focuses on infrastructure that delivers the best outcomes for the community and ensures that the bestpossible value for money is achieved.

The primary objectives of the Fund are to:

• Provide elite performance sport infrastructure
• Support talent identification and development pathways (i.e. athletes moving from pre-elite to elite)
• Support the enhancement of dedicated female programs and facilities to improve pathways for women and girls, in line with the NSW Government’s women in sport strategy Her Sport Her Way
• Improve the level of community engagement e.g. an increase in the number of community health and wellbeing education workshops held at a Centre of Excellence

All applications are required to provide a minimum 50% financial co-contribution of the estimated total project cost (e.g. if an applicant’s estimated total project cost is $30 million, they must demonstrate at least a $15 million co-contribution). Financial hardship applications can be made through the application process.

Eligible applicants are:

• NSW Office of Sport recognised State Sporting Organisations (including National Sporting Organisations where the state body is part of a unitary governance model)
• National Sporting Organisations
• NSW Institute of Sport, Australian Sports Commission (incorporating the Australian Institute of Sport) and NSW Regional Academies of Sport  
• Australian Universities with NSW campuses  
• NSW Department of Education operated specialist sports high schools  
• NSW based professional sporting organisations competing in a national or state competition
• NSW based sporting clubs and associations, with the approval of their state or national body
• NSW Local Government Authorities, the Unincorporated Far West Region and the Lord Howe Island Board
• Private enterprises (for-profit organisations).

Applications that adopt a partnership approach will be considered favourably. Applicants are encouraged to engage with all levels of government (i.e. federal, state and local), other State and National Sporting Organisations and Sporting Organisations for People with Disability, NSW based professional sporting organisations, and relevant peak sporting bodies in the development of their project.