Finance & Fund Raising

Further Information

Please refer to the Committee's Google Drive / CMYC Vault / Finance Funding and Grants. 

This includes an extract from the Commodore's July Committee Report covering the RYA webinar on the subject from 23 June 2025.

Dredging Fund Support

From an email exchange between VC Finance and our accountants:

- - - - -

From: Philip Cooper <philipc@placedobson.co.uk>
Sent: 19 May 2026 09:18
To: Jerry Gandhi <jerry.gandhi@capservices.co.uk>
Cc: Daran RPDFoundation <foundation@placedobson.co.uk>; Darren Harding <darren@placedobson.co.uk>
Subject: RE: RPD03458 Monthly Statement

Hello Jerry

Nice to talk to you yesterday evening.  Sorry it was an after hours call and I’ll sort out the credit note this week.

You mentioned the dredging of the lake during our conversation and the cost of that.  I made it sound like a long term project but that it could have the ultimate result in the lake just not being useable if the problem was not addressed.

Clearly some sort of funding and assistance is likely to be needed as and when the time comes and with that in mind, I mentioned this to our director, Darren.  He suggested that I introduce you to Daran Bennett and our RPD foundation as a potential contact source who might be able to assist and provide some guidance.  At least you may not be left having to deal with it on your own!

As with most clubs and associations, committee members and officers may change from time to time so do please retain this information somewhere so that any successor would have the contact or know to get back in touch.

Regards

Philip Cooper | Senior manager

1-7 Station Road, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 1HT

Direct Dial: 01293 901723 | Office Telephone: 01293 521191 | F 01293 614422 | E philipc@placedobson.co.uk| W www.placedobson.co.uk

Facebook: /RichardPlaceDobson | LinkedIn: Richard Place Dobson

Tandridge Council - Discretionary Relief April 2026 to March 2029

As you may know we have held special discretionary relief with Tandridge Council that means we are exempt from paying Council Tax - or rather what we pay has relief back to a nil payment.

That relief is valid for 3 years and ours expired March 2026.  I had applied for this to be renewed last year and that has been successful - see attached.  We do need to re-apply for this from Mid 2028 again but for now we have been "re-approved" for the next 3 years. 

A reminder is in the Committee Calendar.

Jerry Gandhi (VC Admin & Finance)

RYA Funding Guidance

RYA recommends visiting their web page for advice and guidance on funding HERE, along with reading the article HERE that introduces their new team of funding support officers who you will be able to speak to.  RYA Funding Support Offices are a free resource to RYA Affiliated Clubs and will be able to talk through the options.

The above links are: 

• https://www.rya.org.uk/club-centre-support/affiliates/funding-opportunities

• https://www.rya.org.uk/news/rya-support-to-secure-club-funding

RYA Contact

Steve Mitchell

Regional Manager - London & South East

Royal Yachting Association

M: 07748 804802 | E: steve.mitchell@rya.org.uk

Also Howard Nelson and Tom Davenport (contracted on part time basis with RYA) provide support with Preparing a project, Finding the right funds, Writing/filming applications.

Any questions, ask funding.support@rya.org.uk

Valid Oct 2024

Funding Finder

Search 'RYA Funding Finder' (possibly once logged in to RYA website), Create a personal login, Search + filter results, Save funds and Download results.

Funding Suggestions

• Sunsail Funding the Future

  • Richard made an application July 2024 for money towards a CMYC designed Dredging solution (pump), without success.

• Gatwick Airport Community Trust (GACT) - deadline 31 March

  • We are proud to support schemes that are targeted towards the development of young people, the arts, sporting facilities, environmental improvement and conservation, improvements to community facilities, volunteering, the elderly and the disabled. The normal level of grants is from £1,000 to £5,000. https://gact.org.uk/ 

  • Richard applied to GACT for £5000 towards a path extension on 26 March 2025.

• Request to participate in the Tesco blue token scheme (pre-Open Day to also advertise)

  • might only be applicable to Schools (as of Nov 24)

• Add Click-through services on the Club's Website. easyfundraising.org.uk has been suggested as it is used with a local Guide group.

• Get local business sponsorship. (by advertising on our website or Facebook?)

• RYA Foundation? https://www.rya.org.uk/about-us/our-programmes/rya-foundation/

• Wacky races - fun day with different challenges, “park” your boat by reversing into a buoyed area, tack up the “river”, treasure hunt, etc. maybe charge for an event or whole day, take bets on winners. Sell cakes and drinks, ice creams etc. charge for bbq meal? Monetary penalties? Prizes.

• Ask members (and friends) to “buy an area to be dredged”, similar to buy a brick.

• Quiz night, include some old fashioned extra games for the interval - play your cards right, roll £1 to (donated) whisky bottle, guess weight of cake (donated): heads and tails etc all £1 to play.

• Casino night - could get young instructors to be croupiers, get food from local businesses - you can hire money and cards etc or maybe families have equipment they could loan. Charge for gambling money and give prize for highest amount won

• Race night, would work well if local businesses sponsor races, same as above for food etc. would need a good commentator. 

• Ask for members to offer boat cleaning or similar and donate monies to club. I think the club does already offer something like this?

• Any of the above could include a raffle. We now ask for specific items to be donated which then go into hampers. They look impressive and are good prizes. Could be angled towards sailing or not.

• Jigsaw puzzle sale - could be incorporated into any event or ongoing at the club if room. Most 1000 piece puzzles are £4 - donations of puzzles obviously required.

• Proms by the lake - Copthorne Silver Band might oblige, or Scout band?

• Murder mystery evening.

RYA Foundation

https://www.rya.org.uk/about-us/charities-foundations/rya-foundation/fund

Grant applications can be made to help with:

• Purchases of boats, rigs, and other boating-related equipment and clothing

• Payment for courses such as instructor or coaching qualifications

• Funds for travel expenses, entry fees, accommodation, squad membership, fees/costs and other expenses. 

Sport England Movement Fund

July 2026 - Sport England Movement Fund / RYA webinar. Link below to a recording of the session and one to the slides that we shared when Becky from Sport England was taking questions.

https://zoom.us/rec/share/RMKi0NfeaW0ljDYM7SY2nnUbkhVXXf1JwWnW9orNJLjH4bSEDaRrL6nq3y_Ji1_p.Vou-m6NLYE4tJslB

Sport England Movement Fund Connected Webinar.pdf

If you have any further questions about the Movement Fund, Becky and her team are available through the Sport England Funding Helpline which is open 8am-5pm Monday to Friday. They can be contacted at - 

• 03458 508508

• funding@sportengland.org

• www.sportengland.org

Howard Nelson the RYA Funding Advisor is available to support RYA Affiliated organisations. You can contact him through funding.support@rya.org.uk

Info provided by Gareth Brookes, RYA Head of Regions

About Sport England Movement

"Our focus is to support projects that match our goal of getting more people active, reducing the number of inactive people and tackling inequalities."

If your project aligns with our priorities, we can fund a wide range of costs and items up to £15,000. Priorities are projects providing opportunities for groups facing barriers to activity are of particular interest, such as:

• people living on low incomes

• disabled people or those with long-term health conditions

• older people

• people from culturally diverse communities

• pregnant women and parents with very young children

• girls aged 5-16

• LGBTQ+ people

• people who are in foster care

• people who provide care without pay."

Taken from sportengland.org

Buddle

Resources and support from Sport England, www.buddle.co

Disability Funding

2024 is the year of the Paralympics and it is suggested by a friend of a member that extra funding will be available this year. They suggested good sources included:

• Everybody moves

• Scope

• Sport England

They added that we should not aim to help everyone as that is impossible but we could do more!

Community Amateur Sports Club (CASC)

Changes to the scheme regarding membership participation meant that CMYC was unable to comply and therefore the Committee agreed the withdrawal at the meeting of 2/11/2015.

In "Full accounts 2011", it states: With effect from 30th January 2008 the club is registered with HM Revenue & Customs as a Community Amateur Sports Club (CASC) and as all profits come from the members themselves and are used for the members benefit, corporation tax is not payable.

In Treasurers-Interim-Report-2018 it states: Now that the Club no longer has CASC status we have become liable for Corporation Tax on income of a commercial nature that does not arise from members.

There is also a historic update on this topic. MT writes: We signed up in December 2008 and opted out in 2016. The reason for joining was that it gave us Rate Relief and exemption from Corporation Tax.  The background to leaving is given in the attached document. It was fortunate that we managed to secure Rate Relief in 2016 as Tandridge had changed its policy.

Notes from RYA Connect Conference 2025

At the RYA Connected Conference there was mention of CASC. They believe that there is still a participation requirement. One way to overcome the participation rule is to split the club into ‘Sailing’ members and ‘Supporters’. Roger Belton said that Felpham SC had done this and it had led to some feeling of division within the club, he wasn’t sure that it was worthwhile.

For CMYC this would go against the One Club ambition. It would also be likely to cause further issues with Duties.

Notes above from Jeff, added by RW

This was a ‘hot topic’ in 2015 when the rules for CASC eligibility were tightened.  The stumbling block was a new requirement for the club to be able to demonstrate active involvement of a minimum of 50% of members over the course of a calendar year.  We withdrew from CASC status as we could not find a robust means of demonstrating this.  At the time, we thought this would result in a significant financial hit because of losing beneficial treatment on our rates costs.  In the event, Mike Thompson successfully appealed subsequently to Tandridge who agreed to subsidise our rates costs to a similar degree. There is a document from the RYA that formed our guidance at the time that is now on the Committee's Google Drive (search for CASC).  Of course this was ten years ago, so all this may now have changed.

Notes above from Andrew K, given reference in the Committee Minutes. Added by RW (Dec 2025)

Additional Information Sources

From the funding session at the Nov 24 RYA Connected Conference, with the corresponding presentation and guide located in the Committee's Google Drive: CMYC Vault / Finance and Funding / 2411 RYA Conference - Finding Funding.pdf:

• Your local Active Partnership may have their own grant schemes that you could access or may be able to help signpost you to other funders. Find your local Active Partnership here - https://activepartnerships.org/the-network/

• It is worth connecting with the community foundation for your area as they will be able to signpost you to and may even manage funds on behalf of charities.  https://www.ukcommunityfoundations.org/our-network

• You can request access to the RYA Funding Finder here - https://www.cognitoforms.com/RYA2/AccessRequestForm. This can also be accessed through the RYA Affiliation Portal.

• More information about the RYA Foundation can be found here - https://www.rya.org.uk/about-us/charities-foundations/rya-foundation

• Sport England continue to be a useful source of funding - https://www.sportengland.org/funding-and-campaigns/our-funding

• RYA Funding Support Officers Howard and Tom can be contacted at - funding.support@rya.org.uk

• I mentioned that many funders like you to have explored other sources of funding. This could mean using some of your own funds, applying for other grants or perhaps using crowd funding or similar. Sport England have some useful resources around other sources of funding which are worth exploring - https://buddle.co/learning-and-support-resources/money-matters

From:

Gareth Brookes

Head of Regions

Royal Yachting Association

M:  07876 330 136

E:  gareth.brookes@rya.org.uk

Funding News (RYA 15 Jan 25)

Details of all the latest funding news and funds with short deadlines can be found here: https://click.pstmrk.it/3s/vaac.aidecrm.co.uk%2Fdownload%2FBYhzu6zXFmembZDzfUaEGvqADceM63cXoHWWQcZ7/3hBa/gre6AQ/AQ/3af420f8-3419-48b4-a424-716ca83ef140/17/5fcWsV5bnB

In case you missed it, read the latest edition of VAAC's Funding Focus: https://click.pstmrk.it/3s/vaac.aidecrm.co.uk%2Fdownload%2F0Dy67fSBfj3a0VM7AnqOvoiv4I4nDdDgaU1u1p1T/3hBa/gre6AQ/AQ/3af420f8-3419-48b4-a424-716ca83ef140/18/48DxH16RMe

•  Community Resilience Fund 2023/24 Budget Allocation and Prioritisation: https://click.pstmrk.it/3s/vaac.aidecrm.co.uk%2Fdownload%2Fl5CoVwjY9Ek9iMs3zf8v0olKcd6JNri42sdaP45O/3hBa/gre6AQ/AQ/3af420f8-3419-48b4-a424-716ca83ef140/19/ulTyoYIl8D

• West Sussex County Council Waste Community Grant now open for applications - webinar Tuesday 21st January 6pm applications close Sunday 2nd March 11.59pm: https://click.pstmrk.it/3s/vaac.aidecrm.co.uk%2Fdownload%2FBhdet09xHMnhEefXkO0yydKbRgy7JKXWs6NK3Zyl/3hBa/gre6AQ/AQ/3af420f8-3419-48b4-a424-716ca83ef140/20/k6H-a4P3R3

• South Downs National Park Health and Wellbeing Travel Grants: https://www.southdowns.gov.uk/health-wellbeing/health-and-wellbeing-travel-grants/

Funding the Future 

Sunsail and RYA relaunched their grant scheme in 2024 and CMYC made an application for money towards the pump required to dredge as designed by the Tuesday Volunteer Group.

A second application was made in 2025 for an electric outboard (currently in draft).

Gatwick Airport Community Trust

GACT - Offer grants to local groups. In April 2025 CMYC made an application for the construction of a path linking the Blue Badge car park space to the Clubhouse's front veranda past the disability toilet. 

Additonal Contributions

Jan 25

More news here on funding available for community groups around the Gatwick area. Well worth looking at.

Here is a BBC News article about this: Community groups benefit from Gatwick funding https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c626k6k1qp4o

And the relevant website:

https://sussexcommunityfoundation.org/grants/

Regards, Roger Belton, West Sussex Area Rep for RYA London & South East Region, roger.f.belton@gmail.com, 07866 907075

June 25

A member (Gill G.,) offered the following from the sussexexpress.co.uk The David Hunt Charitable Trust (David is now sadly in a wheelchair but helps at the trust). Apply for an application form by email thedavidhunttrust@gmail.com or by letter c/o Jules Chatterton of Brennann and Chatterton, 113 Sea Road, East Preston, BN16 1NX.

Land and Water (potential dredging contractors) offered; A potential funding stream for which one of our clients (Bromley Council) has used is the Water Restoration Fund - details can be found here: Water Restoration Fund: guidance for applicants - GOV.UK i.e., (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/water-restoration-fund-guidance-for-applicants#full-publication-update-history)

SES Better Future Programme (Aug 2025)

SES Water’s Better Future programme is inviting local community projects to apply for funding to help support people across the region and unlock opportunities to bring positive change across the region.

Better Futures is open to projects within SES Water’s service area from schools, colleges or academies, registered charities and other not-for-profit organisations, constituted groups or clubs, Community Better Futures is open to projects within SES Water’s service area from schools, colleges or academies, registered charities and other not-for-profit organisations, constituted groups or clubs, Community Interest Companies (CICs), and local community groups.

To apply for a share of the community funding, your project needs to involve one or more of the following:

• Nature and the environment - projects and organisations that directly impact and protect nature for the benefit of community health and wellbeing.

• Education - providing new opportunities to help people of all ages grow and develop.

• Community - groups that bring people together to create a sense of purpose within communities.

• Vulnerability - organisations providing care and support to people who need extra help.

The funding can be used for buying and hiring equipment, supporting skills and training, employee salaries for time dedicated to working directly on the project and for professional fees such as hiring builders, groundworkers or an interpretation design agency.

The relevant website address is: https://seswater.co.uk/news/better-futures-programme-invites-new-applications-to-support-local-communities?campaignkw=community

Central Surrey Voluntary Action (CSVA)

Subject: Re: Funding Advice and Searches

Form submitted by Alison A., and Ted T., on 05 Aug 26 (available in Committee's Google Drive) to:

Beverly Mann

Funding and Sustainability Advisor – East Surrey

Central Surrey Voluntary Action and Voluntary Action Surrey East

Supporting the voluntary sector in Elmbridge, Epsom & Ewell, Mole Valley, Reigate and Banstead, Tandridge 

Email: beverly.mann@csva.co.uk

(Working Days: Tuesday, Wednesday,Thursday)

https://www.centralsurreyvoluntaryaction.co.uk, https://vase.org.uk/