Find Your Active Maldon
Helping residents find their active
Through strong collaboration and match funding from Find Your Active Maldon, we were able to support an additional five local projects during the Find Your Active Small Grants round, something that would not have been possible otherwise.
This joint approach demonstrates the power of partnership working, enabling greater reach, shared resources and stronger support for community organisations across the Maldon district.
Working closely with Maldon District Council, Active Essex helped unlock additional funding that expanded the reach of the Find Your Active Small Grants programme. By aligning local insight with Active Essex’s strategic support, the partnership ensured funding was targeted toward organisations working with communities most in need.
This collaboration has been one of our greatest achievements this year, not only increasing the number of organisations supported, but also strengthening local capacity and confidence across the network.
Active Essex played a key role in supporting the Find Your Active Maldon network by providing guidance and insight as part of the funding panel, helping to shape informed and balanced funding decisions. We also signposted organisations to additional funding opportunities where appropriate and connected them to wider learning and development support. By working closely with the network and drawing on its strong local knowledge, we helped ensure that funding was targeted effectively and reached organisations supporting communities with the greatest need.
This support improved the overall quality of applications and strengthened confidence within the local voluntary and community sector.
Key Learnings
It's important to take time to reflect and understand the learnings from work undertaken, to focus on ways to improve in the future.
The value of strong local partnerships
Working closely with Maldon Council proved essential in reaching the right organisations.
Funding sustainability
Supporting organisations to diversify income streams and plan for long‑term remains.
Monitoring and evaluation
Collecting partner and participant surveys was sometimes difficult.
As a result of Active Essex’s support, local organisations within the Active Maldon network have grown in confidence and capability, with stronger collaboration and more open information sharing across the district. Importantly, the network has also supercharged local events, creating new ways for communities to connect, most notably through Burnham and Maldon Ufest.
These events were linked directly into the Holiday and Food (HAF) Activity Programme, amplifying its reach and impact across Maldon.
Active Essex will continue working in partnership to:
- Reduce inactivity levels across Maldon District
- Support organisations helping people become more physically active
- Strengthen positive attitudes towards physical activity for children and young people
- Build on the legacy of Beat the Street
- Narrow inequalities faced by underrepresented groups through inclusive, community‑led approaches
