Swim England

Registered charity 1175603 · since 2017swimming.org·England·Updated 29 October 2026

Key takeaways

If your work concerns disabled people's swimming, the NCC-SDP small-grants fund is the one that fits, provided your project is innovative and can produce impact, insight and learning that others across aquatics can use.
The funder says it favours life-changing support for a few people over one-off participation for hundreds, so a project built around people with profound or multiple impairments matches what it says it values.
The small grants fund is stated at up to £500, so a modest request is the realistic size.
Its website encourages clubs and projects to apply to the NCC-SDP fund and describes the process as intended to be simple, though no formal application process is published.
Water polo clubs without evidence of a link with local partners or groups should not apply under the TRY Water Polo Programme.

Overview

Swim England is a charity registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales (charity number 1175603).

Swim England's objects are to promote community participation in swimming, open water swimming, diving, synchronised swimming and water polo, to advance physical education, to relieve people with disabilities, and to advance health and the saving of lives through water safety and swimming instruction. Its TRY and START Programmes aim to increase participation in all disciplines. Grants of up to £500 are offered through the TRY Water Polo Programme.

What they fund

Priority Areas

On its website, Swim England publicises the NCC-SDP small-grants fund, which aims to increase disabled people’s involvement in swimming. The fund is described as supporting innovative projects that generate impact, insight and learning that can be used across aquatics. Its stated approach favours work that can make a life-changing difference to a few people over one-off participation involving many; the committee focuses on people with profound or multiple impairments and supports providers to meet their needs. Swim England encourages clubs and projects to apply.

Themes

Disabled people’s swimming

How to apply

Clubs and projects are encouraged to apply to the NCC-SDP fund; the process is described as intended to be simple and to reduce the administrative burden.

Who can apply:

TRY Water Polo Programme: Water polo clubs wishing to apply must show evidence of a link with local partners or groups.

Application success factors

What the charity says:

Projects should be innovative and provide impact, insight and learning that can be applied across the aquatics sector.
Projects that provide life-changing support to a few individuals are more likely to succeed than one-off participation for hundreds.

Where they fund

Registered area of operation (Charity Commission)

England

Similar funders

Funders supporting work similar to Swim England.

Wembley Stadium FoundationFixed deadlinesGave £499k The Hargreaves FoundationRollingGave £1.7M Access SportFixed deadlinesGave £108k The Gillian Stevenson Charitable Trust CIOFixed deadlinesGave £55,795 Voice4Change EnglandRollingGave £610k The Arctic One Foundation - Get InvolvedRollingGave £48,046 Energise MeMixed deadlinesGave £248k The Tim Henman FoundationRollingGave £64,369 Personal Best FoundationRollingGave £7,588 Community Foundation North EastMixed deadlinesGave £8.9M

Five years of accounts

Financial year	Income	Expenditure	Grants paid	Accounts document
year to 31 December 2020	£12,441,000	£12,655,000	—	Accounts for year to 31 December 2020
year to 31 December 2021	£13,442,000	£10,116,000	—	Accounts for year to 31 December 2021
year to 31 December 2022	£19,509,000	£15,642,000	—	Accounts for year to 31 December 2022
year to 31 December 2023	£18,777,000	£17,844,000	—	Accounts for year to 31 December 2023
year to 31 December 2024	£19,770,000	£19,982,000	—	Accounts for year to 31 December 2024

— No grants figure for those years.

Figures from the charity’s filed accounts and its register entry. The document icon links to the charity’s entry on the Charity Commission register, where its filed accounts can be found.