The Coles Little Athletics Community Fund (CLACF) is a grant scheme designed to distribute money to Little Athletics Centres to improve the grassroots Little Athletics experience for volunteers, participants, and families by supporting the purchase of sports, safety and volunteering equipment.

Round 9 of the CLACF is funded from funds raised during the 2023 Coles Little Athletics Banana A-Peel campaign, with 10 cents of every kilogram of Cavendish bananas sold at Coles supermarkets between 18 October to 24 October 2023 going to the CLACF.  Coles may also make ad-hoc donations to the CLACF.

It is important that you go to coles.com.au/littleathleticsfund to download and read the full Grant Guidelines and FAQs before applying.  The FAQs contains a step by step guide to registering and applying using the Online Appplication Portal.  If your questions are not answered in the Guidelines or FAQs please email communitysport@coles.com.au before submitting an application.  

To be eligible to apply to the CLACF, an applicant must:

• Be an incorporated association or a company limited by guarantee;
• Be a current member of one of a Little Athletics Australia affiliated Member Associations (State or Territory body) in the financial year of the application; 
• Have used any previous grant from the CLACF (if applicable) in accordance with the CLACF Guidelines; and
• Agree with the terms and conditions set out in the CLACF Guidelines which is available on www.coles.com.au/littleathleticsfund.

Only Centres who are affiliated with a Little Athletics Australia Member Association can apply.  Clubs affiliated with Centres are ineligible to apply. A Centre can submit an application on behalf of a club, however, eligible Centres can only apply for one grant in each round. If you are unsure of your eligibility status, please contact your Little Athletics Member Association or enquire via communitysport@coles.com.au before applying.

Only authorised representatives of a Little Athletics Centre can apply.  Please ensure you have authority from the current committee to submit on their behalf. For each round of the CLACF, eligible Centres can apply for ONE grant.  If a Centre submit multiple grants in a round, only the first application received will be reviewed.  

You will receive an acknowledgement that your application has been received upon submission (please check your Junk or Spam inbox).  If you do not receive this acknowledgement within two working days, please contact communitysport@coles.com.au to confirm your submission. 

Applicants may only use funds from the CLACF for the following purposes:

• Essential athletics equipment: Little Athletics activity equipment required to run the regular LAA program (e.g. collapsible hurdles, high jump mats, discus, shot puts, javelins and measuring tapes, starting blocks, electronic starting guns, stop watches, sand for long jump pit); 
• Core safety or injury prevention: Items to ensure safe participation of LAA participants and volunteers (e.g. first aid kit, defibrillator, shade marquees, portable discus nets, etc). 
• Modified equipment: Purchase of modified equipment to facilitate participation activities for athletes with a disability or beginners (e.g. step hurdles, vortex, Tiny Tots equipment, bean bags, training discuses, soft shot puts). 
• Volunteer support: Equipment to support volunteers to run the regular LAA program more efficiently and effectively (e.g. Timing gates, rakes, speakers and microphones, line marker, trolleys, storage boxes) 
• Other: Items that do not fit in the categories above but will significantly improve the experience of the regular LAA program. Freight and delivery of items can be included in “other”. 

Funds from the CLACF cannot be used for:

• Uniforms;
• Equipment already purchased (i.e. funds cannot be applied retrospectively to cover costs outside of the approved application timeframes.);
• Athletics equipment not related to the offerings of a LAA program (e.g. pole vault, steeplechase hurdles, hammer);
• Equipment that will not remain the property of the LAA Centre; 
• Prizes or rewards (e.g. awards, certificates, badges, medals, ribbons, trophies, gifts); 
• Fees such as affiliation fees, insurance, individual player registrations or one-off or ongoing fees for coaches, officials or instructors, etc. or any other activities expected to be covered by the LAA Centre or participant(s);
• Facilities or capital works, permanent structures that require council or facility management approval such as concrete throwing circles and permanent discus cage
• Individual and personal items (e.g. athlete travel costs to participate in competitions and events, shoes, etc.); 
• Operational costs (e.g. ground hire or maintenance fees, utilities, etc.);
• Consumables (e.g. catering or canteen items);
• Equipment to support a specific or one-off event (e.g. regional carnival);
• Equipment not directly related to the sport of Little Athletics even if it may support the centre (e.g. fridge, BBQ, EFTPOS or square terminal, etc.)
• Marketing or advertising expenses (e.g. creating or hosting a website); 
• Professional development courses (e.g. Board training, coaching or officiating courses, first aid training, etc); or
• Any costs that are not listed on the quote provided in the application.

The maximum allocation per application is $5,000 exc. GST and the minimum allocation per application is $1,000 exc. GST. If the total purchase price of the item(s) exceeds $5,000, the Centre is required to outline how they will fund the additional cost of their item(s) in their application.  

Please make sure all items you set out in your application form are supported by an official financial quotation from the supplier you intend to purchase the product(s) from. The costs of your items in your application must match up to the official financial quotation you attach.  Centres can source a valid quote from any trustworthy registered Australian business.  Items purchased from e-bay (or similar second-hand goods sales forums), or another Little Athletics / Athletics club or Centre will not be considered. 

If successful, the equipment must be purchased within three months of receiving the funds. If you are not sure if the purchase can be made within three months, seek an alternative supplier that can meet the guidelines or request alternative equipment.  You cannot apply for equipment already purchased.  This fund does not cover retrospective purchases. 

Applications will be reviewed after the close of applications, with a decision on the successful applicants to be made within 30 days (i.e. 30 September 2024).  

Centres that have been successful will be required to supply the following items to obtain their grant:

• Provide proof of purchase (i.e. a valid receipt or tax invoice) of the goods purchased from the supplier listed in the application form within three months of receiving the funds;
• Provide a good quality photographic image of the purchase within three months of receiving the funds; 
• Ensure that any LAA participant or other person such as parent, guardian, volunteer or other child appearing in photos or images supplied by the LAA Centre or LAA has consented to the use of their photograph, image, name or quote by Coles and LAA for promotional material in association with the CLACF through the LAA program registration process or otherwise; and
• The Centre and the applicant on its behalf consent to the terms set out in the Guidelines.

Your personal information is being collected by Little Athletics Australia Ltd (ABN 45 761 248 109) (LAA) and Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty Ltd (ABN 45 004 189 708) (Coles) so we may: communicate with LAA Centres and clubs in relation to their application for a grant from the fund; enable ongoing communication if there are subsequent questions about an application; and enable use of photographic images, name and/or quote by Coles and LAA in order to promote the CLACF. We may also share your personal information with third parties who support us in our marketing or promotional activities. Coles and LAA will be unable to consider your application for access to the CLACF if you do not provide this information. 

Coles and LAA will not disclose the information provided by you unless required or authorised by law or in accordance with each party’s privacy policy. 

Your personal information is managed in accordance with each of Coles’ and LAA’s privacy policies, which set out how to access and/or correct your personal information and how to register a complaint. A copy is available at www.coles.com.au/privacy and www.littleathletics.com.au/Resources/Policies under 'Social Media'. 

Please refer to the above privacy policies or contact Coles Customer Care on 1800 061 562 or via email at privacy@coles.com.au, or contact LAA via Phone 03 9682 1511 or email admin@littleathletics.com.au for any privacy related queries.