Sport England has unveiled its new funding strategy for grassroots sport.

Coming to effect from April 2009, the new strategy sets out all the different investment programmes that will be available to organisations.

Four open access funding streams have been set up, with the total funding available reaching £45m a year.

The largest chunk, £30m, has been earmarked to improve community sports, while £7m has been made available to be distributed in small grants (between £300 and £10,000) to support specific sporting projects across England.

A further £3m will be distributed through Sportsmatch and another £5m will be invested, through a new Innovation Fund, in projects that pilot new ways of supporting grassroots sport.

The agency will also invest £10m per year in projects that promote a sustainable approach to community facilities. The funding will be in addition to the facilities funding awarded to national governing bodies of sport.

“We have designed this strategy to strike a balance between making a long-term commitment to our key partners and ensuring a wider range of organisations – particularly smaller sports clubs – can continue to access Sport England funding," said Jennie Price, chief executive of Sport England.

“It also has a degree of flexibility because we will be identifying different themes each year, and I hope that a wide range of organisations – including some that have not worked with Sport England before – will be putting in bids.”