Sport is a powerful vehicle for inclusion, health, and community participation for people with disability. From grassroots inclusive sport programmes to high-performance Para sport, funding for disability sport ranges from government investment in Paralympic pathways to gaming trust grants for local disability sports clubs. Understanding this landscape helps disability sport organisations access the resources they need.
The Paralympic movement
The Paralympic Games — the highest-level competition for athletes with disability — are supported by national Paralympic committees. Paralympics New Zealand and Paralympics Australia oversee the high-performance pathways, classification, and international representation for Para athletes.
Funding for Para sport high performance comes primarily through government sport agencies — Sport NZ in New Zealand, Sport Australia in Australia — through the national Paralympic committees and national Paralympic sporting organisations.
Community disability sport
Beyond elite Para sport, disability sport at the community level includes:
- Wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby, and other wheelchair sports
- Blind cricket, blind football, and visually-impaired sport
- Bocce and bocce-related sports for cerebral palsy
- Seated volleyball and sitting volleyball
- Deaf sport and deaflympics-level competition
- Intellectual disability sport (VIRTUS)
- Swimming, athletics, and other multi-impairment sports
Community disability sport clubs need funding for equipment (specialised and often expensive), coaching, competition travel, and facility access.
Sport NZ (New Zealand)
Sport NZ funds disability sport through:
- Paralympics NZ: national level Para sport development and high-performance
- Aktive Auckland: community disability sport inclusion in Auckland
- Regional sport trusts: regional delivery of disability sport programmes
- Targeted disability sport initiatives: specific programmes for disability inclusion in sport
Sport Australia
Sport Australia funds disability sport through:
- Paralympics Australia: high-performance Para sport
- National disability sporting organisations: governing bodies for specific sports for people with disability
- Move It AUS: disability inclusion in community sport
Inclusive sport programmes
Both Sport NZ and Sport Australia have specific initiatives to increase sport participation for people with disability in mainstream sport settings — supporting clubs to be more inclusive, providing training for coaches on disability inclusion, and funding assistive technology access.
Gaming trusts are significant funders of disability sport at the community level:
What gaming trusts fund for disability sport
Application approach
Gaming trust applications for disability sport should emphasise:
- The number of people with disability who will benefit
- The cost of specialised equipment (often much more expensive than mainstream sport)
- The community participation and inclusion benefits
- The sporting development goals (skill development, competitive participation)
Regional community foundations and charitable trusts fund disability sport at local and regional levels:
Applications should demonstrate alignment with funders' disability and sport priorities — which often include inclusion, accessibility, and community participation.
Specialised disability sport equipment — power wheelchairs ($8,000-$30,000+), handcycles ($3,000-$15,000), tandem bicycles, sports wheelchairs, specialised swimming equipment — is significantly more expensive than mainstream sport equipment. Multiple funding sources are typically needed for significant equipment:
Individual Para athletes pursuing high performance need:
- Competition travel funding
- Training costs
- Classification funding (formal classification is required for Para competition)
- Equipment specific to their classification and events
Funding pathways for Para athletes include:
- Paralympics NZ and Paralympics Australia targeted athlete support
- Sport NZ and Sport Australia high-performance funding
- High performance scholarships from tertiary institutions
- Crowdfunding
- Corporate sponsorship (often hard to access for Para athletes)
- Gaming trust and community foundation grants
Many people with disability want to play sport in mainstream settings — not in segregated disability-specific clubs. Inclusion in mainstream sport requires:
- Accessible facilities
- Coaches trained in disability inclusion
- Adapted rules or equipment where appropriate
- Positive club culture toward inclusion
Grants for mainstream sport clubs to improve disability inclusion — accessibility audits, coach training, facility modifications — produce significant inclusion benefits.
Disability inclusion standards
Sport NZ's Rainbow Tick-equivalent for disability inclusion is developing. Some funders now expect evidence of disability inclusion policies and practices from sports organisations they fund.
Equipment cost: disability sport equipment costs are genuinely high — funders should expect and accept realistic equipment budgets for disability sport applications.
Insurance and liability: some clubs face difficulty with public liability insurance for disability sport. Grants that help clubs address this barrier have broad enabling effects.
Athlete costs: disability sport often involves higher personal costs for athletes — specialised equipment, additional travel assistance, modified training requirements. Grants that reduce individual cost barriers increase participation.
Inclusion spectrum: disability sport exists on a spectrum from fully segregated (disability-only clubs) to fully integrated (full inclusion in mainstream settings). Both have value; funders should fund across this spectrum.
Tahua's grants management platform supports disability sport organisations and the foundations funding disability sport — with grant application management, equipment grant tracking, participation outcome measurement, and the reporting tools that help funders invest effectively in sport for all.