The Rockford Area Convention & Visitors Bureau announced a partnership with Sports Illinois to launch the inaugural Sports Illinois Huddle Host Impact Grant.
The purpose of this annual grant is to provide the Sports Huddle host community’s nonprofit(s) the opportunity to access grant funding from Sports Illinois that is earmarked for positively impacting sports programs locally. Beginning this year—as part of the 2018 Sports Illinois Huddle that is scheduled for May 20-22 in Rockford—RACVB Charitable Foundation has agreed to a matching grant of $1,000, elevating the available grant funding to a maximum total of $2,000.
“We are excited to partner with Sports Illinois to offer this opportunity to area nonprofit organizations. It’s a great way to combine our resources to develop local youth programming, acquire sports equipment upgrades and other related improvements that will continue to gain momentum as we highlight sports tourism in Illinois,” said Lindsay Arellano, RACVB director of sales & servicing and chair of Sports Illinois.
Rockford region applicants are required to be a certified 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and must complete the application in full. Applicants are encouraged to include additional information to demonstrate sports program affiliation, organizational needs and strengths, and how the funding will be utilized. This year’s application period runs from March 5 through April 27, 2018. The completed application should be emailed as a PDF file to larellano@gorockford.com. The 2018 grant recipient(s) will be unveiled during the Sports Illinois Huddle.
About Sports Illinois Huddle
Each year, tournament directors and event rights holders are issued invitations to take part in this two-day conference to connect with Illinois CVBs and Sports Commissions. The Sports Huddle is an appointment-based trade show including exciting guest speakers from the sports industry talking about new trends and ideas, as well as networking opportunities. More information can be found at www.sportsillinois.com.
