Be There This Christmas
Help us raise £25,000 to strengthen sports chaplaincy across the UK and Ireland
Sport can bring incredible highs, but it can also come with pressure, disappointment, injury, uncertainty, grief and change. Through all of it, sports chaplains are there.
They provide confidential, independent pastoral and spiritual care to athletes, coaches, staff, officials, volunteers and families across sport.
This Christmas, we’re inviting you to be there with us.
Your support can help Sports Chaplaincy UK & Ireland train and equip more chaplains, reach more sporting communities and strengthen the support behind this growing work.
Our Christmas fundraising goal is £25,000.
DONATE THIS CHRISTMAS
£2,000 can train and equip a sports chaplain
It costs approximately £2,000 to train and equip one sports chaplain. Our £25,000 Christmas appeal will help us continue developing chaplaincy across sport, including training and equipping more chaplains and strengthening the infrastructure needed to support them well.
During 2026, chaplains have continued to serve across different sports, communities and major events throughout the UK and Ireland. Your gift can help train and equip more chaplains to stand alongside people across sport. Through injury, pressure, disappointment, bereavement and the challenges life brings beyond the game.
Help make sure more people in sport have someone there when they need them most.
DONATE THIS CHRISTMAS
Chaplaincy in action
Throughout the year, Sports Chaplaincy UK & Ireland has seen chaplains serving in a huge variety of settings.
Being present at major sporting events
Across events including youth football tournaments and major competitions, teams of chaplains have been present to support players, staff, officials and volunteers. These events create opportunities for conversations, relationships and pastoral support that extend far beyond the competition itself.
Supporting wellbeing
Across the nations, chaplains continue to support people experiencing bereavement, mental wellbeing challenges, injury, uncertainty and personal pressures. They are there to listen without judgement and to walk alongside people through whatever they are facing.
Building relationships within sporting communities
By becoming a consistent part of clubs, teams and sporting communities, chaplains build relationships over time and become someone people know they can turn to. Your support helps those relationships continue.
More than a donation
Christmas giving is important, but we want this campaign to be about more than a single donation. We want to build a community of people, churches, businesses and organisations who believe in the value of chaplaincy and want to help us reach more people through sport.
You might choose to give to the Christmas appeal, become a regular supporter, pray for our chaplains, introduce us to a club or sporting organisation, or simply help more people discover the work of Sports Chaplaincy UK & Ireland.
For businesses and organisations, there are also opportunities to support through fundraising, sponsorship, professional expertise or a longer-term partnership.
However you choose to get involved, we would love you to be part of the journey.
CONTACT US
Be There This Christmas
Every gift, whatever its size, helps us move towards our £25,000 Christmas goal.
It helps us train and equip chaplains. It helps us strengthen the support behind them. And ultimately, it helps ensure that when someone in sport needs a listening ear, a trusted presence or someone simply willing to be there, a chaplain can be.
This Christmas, will you be there with us?
DONATE TO OUR CHRISTMAS APPEAL
06/11/2026