Bringing Church and School Partnership to Life

Project Touchline is designed to be a gift from churches to schools—supporting children’s wellbeing, character, and sense of belonging through sport, mentoring, and values-based engagement. To make this possible, a range of funding streams can be drawn together. Many schools and churches find that blended funding is the most effective and sustainable approach.

🏫 PE and Sport Premium (Primary Schools)

The government has announced significant changes to the PE and Sport Premium, with the current model beginning to transition towards a new national PE and School Sport Partnerships Network from 2027. An initial £100 million of transitional funding has been introduced to support schools, partnerships and providers during this period of change.

This creates a significant opportunity for schools during the 2026/27 academic year to invest in sustainable, values-led legacy approaches that strengthen wellbeing, culture, character, staff confidence and pupil flourishing beyond short-term provision.

Project Touchline exists to help schools embed Christian values through PE, collective worship, prayer and whole-school culture — creating long-term impact that continues well beyond the programme itself.

“Values are caught, not just taught.”

🏡 Local Charitable Trusts & Community Foundations

Local funding is often the key to

Community Foundations

Across the UK, regional foundations (such as UK Community Foundations) distribute funding to projects that:

• Support young people
• Strengthen communities
• Improve wellbeing and opportunity

These are particularly valuable because they:

• Understand local context
• Are open to church-school partnerships
• Often fund pilot projects

Local Trusts and Grant-Makers

Many towns and counties have smaller charitable trusts that:

• Prioritise local children and families
• Support education and youth work
• Are open to faith-based organisations where impact is clear

👉 These are often accessed through:

• Local councils
• Dioceses
• Community foundation networks

✝️ Christian Grant-Making Trusts

A number of Christian funders are especially interested in churches engaging their communities in meaningful, outward-facing ways.

Key trusts include:

• Benefact Trust
• Joseph Rank Trust
• Church Urban Fund

These organisations typically fund projects that:

• Demonstrate Christian values in action
• Build relationships beyond the church
• Support young people and communities

Positioning matters

Successful applications clearly show that Project Touchline is:

• A gift to the whole school community
• Inclusive and accessible to all pupils
• Rooted in service, not obligation

🌍 National Grant-Making Bodies

Larger funding organisations can support growth and long-term sustainability.

Examples include:

• The National Lottery Community Fund
• Trusthouse Charitable Foundation
• Esmée Fairbairn Foundation

These funders look for projects that:

• Improve wellbeing and life chances
• Address inequality or disadvantage
• Build strong community partnerships

👉 For Project Touchline, this is especially relevant when:

• Expanding across multiple schools
• Demonstrating measurable impact
• Developing a replicable model

🔗 A Blended Funding Approach

The most effective model often brings together several sources:

• School funding (PE and Sport Premium)
• Local grants (community foundations and trusts)
• Church and diocesan support
• National or Christian funders

This approach:

• Reduces reliance on a single source
• Builds shared ownership between church and school
• Enables both pilot projects and long-term growth

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🎯 A Shared Investment in Young People

At its heart, funding Project Touchline is about investing in children and communities.

Through sport, relationship, and values, churches and schools together can:

• Create spaces of belonging
• Encourage positive choices
• Support the whole child—physically, socially, and spiritually