BAC

BAC Benevolent Fund

Aim

Until recently there has been no safety net for athletes retiring from sport due to injury or in the event of extreme hardship or special need. As an integral part of it’s role in providing benefits and services to athletes in the UK, the BAC has set up a Benevolent fund to cover these eventualities.

Background

After discussions with a number of bodies representing professional athletes, who already have benevolent funds in place, it became apparent that gaining charitable status for this type of fund would be essential, but also quite difficult to achieve. After discussions with Sports Aid, it became clear that a partnership with them, to administer and manage the fund, would be the most logical solution, and would be the easiest way to gain charitable status for the fund.

Structure

The fund sits in a ring fenced account within the existing Sports Aid fund. Income is being generated from:

• BAC Membership – A proportion of the money generated from the Membership scheme will be placed into the fund.
• Commercial sponsorship – A number of BAC partners have committed to contributing to the fund a proportion of any profits they generate from their association with the BAC
• Direct contributions – A number of prominent athletes have already committed themselves to contributing a proportion of their income from appearances to the fund.
• Benevolent fund events – The BAC will be organising a number of fundraising events to generate income and awareness of the fund

Claims

It is possible to claim for the following situations:

• Injury – if an athlete has to retire from their sport due to a career ending injury
• Hardship – athletes who find themselves in financial difficulty may be able to get help either financially or to cover costs of professional help
• Education – athletes who need to go back to university or have to go through career retraining after sport will be able to access support from the fund.
• One off need – there may be other exceptional circumstances which place athletes in a position of need. The panel will look at each case and judge it on its merits.

In each case the claims will need to have third party testimony to be considered.

The Panel

This is made up from representatives of the various stakeholders of the fund as well as a number of professionals co-opted on for their specific experience. The panel at present is:

• BAC X2
• Sports Aid
• Medical Professional
• Legal Professional

The panel meets on a bi-annual basis, with the ability to convene at short notice by teleconference or email if the need arises.