Play Her Way Innovation Program 2025/26 - Tier 1

The Play Her Way 2024-2028 is the NSW Government's plan to facilitate opportunities for more NSW women and girls to get involved and stay involved in sport.  

The Strategy has a focus on leadership and culture, participation, and partnerships and investment within the overarching focus of inclusion, and is built upon the foundational pillars She Belongs, She Plays and She Wins.

Each pillar represents a different strategic focus to address gender inequality and increase participation of women and girls in sport – both on and off the field.

The NSW Government has allocated up to $500,000 across two tiers for the Play Her Way Innovation Program in 2025/26.

• Tier 1 - Grants between $3,000 and $5,000
  • Career Activations
    • Projects that promote information on range of roles and career pathways in sport.

• Tier 2 - Grants between $10,000 and $45,000
  • Career Pathway Support
    • Projects that aim to support young women to advance on their sport career pathway.
  • Participation
    • Projects that aim to reduce barriers to participation for women and girls and create innovative, inclusive sport experiences that reflect what women and girls want.
  • Capability
    • Projects that aim to build the capability of Organisations to increase the participation of women and girls both on and off the field, and projects that build gender inclusive sporting cultures and environments.

There is no reserved allocation for each funding tier.

An applicant may make multiple applications; however, the maximum amount of funding that can be awarded to any one organisation is $50,000.

The Think Tank online information session for this program is scheduled for 11:00am on Thursday, 16 April 2026.

The Program Guidelines outline the key objectives, eligibility criteria, assessment process and timeframes for the Play Her Way Innovation Program 2025/26.

Purpose

The Play Her Way Innovation Program (the Program) provides support to eligible State Sporting Organisations and State Sporting Organisations for People with Disability to develop and deliver bold new initiatives to enhance career pathways, build cultures of diversity and inclusion and increase participation of women and girls in sport, both on and off the field.

Eligible Organisations are encouraged to partner with other organisations, including those with specific experience working with women and girls and under-represented communities.

Key objectives

The Program aims to increase opportunities for women and girls, both on and off the field, throughout NSW.

The key objectives of the Program are to:

• Increase the number of women and girls participating in sport
• Improve the retention of adolescent girls
• Increase the number of women working in the sport sector
• Improve gender inclusive sporting cultures and environments
• Increase the capability of the sector to respond to emerging trends and challenges

The Applicant acknowledges and agrees that:

• submission of this application does not guarantee funding will be granted for any project, and the Department expressly reserves its right to accept or reject this application at its discretion;
• it must bear the costs of preparing and submitting this application and the Department does not accept any liability for such costs, whether or not this application is ultimately accepted or rejected; and
• it has read the Funding Guidelines for the Program and has fully informed itself of the relevant program requirements.

By submitting this application form, the Applicant acknowledges and agrees that:

• if this project application is successful, the relevant details of the project will be made public, including details such as the names of the organisation (Applicant) and any partnering organisation (state government agency or non-government organisation), project title, project description, location, anticipated time for completion and amount awarded;
• the Department will use reasonable endeavours to ensure that any information received in or in respect of this application which is clearly marked ‘Commercial-in-confidence’ or ‘Confidential’ is treated as confidential, however, such documents will remain subject to the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (NSW) (GIPA Act); and
• in some circumstances the Department may release information contained in this application form and other relevant information in relation to this application in response to a request lodged under the GIPA Act or otherwise as required or permitted by law.

Successful applicants will be required to report against the Play Her Way Innovation Program Evaluation Framework and any evaluation conditions outlined in the Funding Agreement.

All successful applicants will be required to:

• Attend an online evaluation workshop that will support the monitoring and evaluation of the projects
• Provide pre and post organisational data and progress reports against project milestones
• Develop a case study to share and promote successful approaches and/or strategies

• Participate in a semi-structured qualitative interview to explore changes in organisation capability and capacity to reduce gender inequities

Successful applicants will be supported with evaluation requirements in partnership with Sydney University’s SPRINTER (SPort & Recreation INTervention & Epidemiology Research) program.

A post project evaluation report may be requested on an ad-hoc basis for a period of up to two years after the completion of the project in order to gather further detail on the medium to longer term outcomes and impact of the project.

To be eligible for funding, your application must:

• be submitted by an eligible applicant
• be submitted through SmartyGrants
• be for a project located in NSW
• be for an eligible project
• request a grant amount appropriate for the relevant tier

Projects must be delivered by December 2027.

To be eligible for funding you must:

• be an NSW Office of Sport recognised State Sporting Organisations (SSOs) or State Sporting Organisations for People with Disability (SSODs). The current list of recognised SSOs/SSODs are shown at Appendix A of the Program Guidelines.
• include a declaration by the applicant organisation that if successful they will provide Public Liability Insurance with a minimum $5 million cover.

Eligible Organisations are encouraged to partner with other organisations, including those with specific experience working with women and girls and under-represented communities.

Ineligible applicants are any organisation types not listed in the ‘Eligible Applicants’ section, and include (but are not limited to):

• any organisation not recognised as an SSO/SSOD by the Office of Sport
• sporting clubs and associations
• individuals and groups of individuals
• schools, universities and TAFE’s
• parents and Citizens (P&C) Associations
• NSW Institute of Sport, Australian Sports Commission (incorporating the Australian Institute of Sport) and Regional Academies of Sport
• State and Federal Government departments and agencies
• an organisation named: (i) by the National Redress Scheme for Institutional Child Sexual Abuse on its list of institutions that have not joined or signified their intent not to join the Scheme; or (ii) in the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that has not yet joined the National Redress Scheme

The Office of Sport will undertake an eligibility check on all grant applications, including any late applications which have been accepted for assessment and make recommendations to the Grant Assessment Panel on ineligible applications. The Grant Assessment Panel will make the final determination on eligibility.