SDF needs more funds - Wilks

Denzil Wilks, general manager of the Sports Development Founda-tion (SDF), says the organisa-tion is looking into securing new sources of funding to supplement what is received from the Government, as they look to put themselves in a position to provide more assistance to local sporting organisations.

Wilks gave an insight on the allocation of budget to the various entities during an interview at Monday's Stakeholder Forum at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel.

The administrator noted that the SDF is now formalising its budget and is in communication with the various sporting bodies as an exercise in determining the necessary funds needed to carry out its mandate.

Greater impact

He, however, pointed out that the funds received by the SDF from the government usually covers only about 30 per cent of what is required by the various sporting organisations, and that additional funding will be needed if the SDF is to have an even greater impact.

"Most, if not all, government entities are now engaged in budget processes and we, like all others, are very much involved, as our main responsibilities are infrastruc-ture development and support for national sport organisations; and so our budget exercise involves receiving from each organisation, their plans for 2019 and the next three years," said Wilks, who stated that they have received this information from the vast majority of sporting bodies.

"We have received from about 98 per cent of all organisations who have made their submissions, and working along with couple of our directors and the management team, we have sat down and put together quite a bit of numbers in term of what is needed. What we can say is, based on history, it continues to be a situation where it seems that we will only be able to provide between 25 to 30 per cent of every body's needs, based on the request from the national organisations," stated Wilks.

"We are trying to be as strategic as possible in our approach, so we can maximise the use of the funding that is available and see how we can partner with other entities. We are also continuing to examine the possibilities of finding new funding sources, because infrastructure development is just that costly and there is no way that we are able to, as Government, be able to do all that is required," Wilks noted.