The LCSD has the sole responsibility for distributing grants to NSAs and other sports organisations for organising sports activities. The subvention covers the general administration, staff costs and programmes expenses of NSAs. Sports organisations use the subvention mainly for organising sports programmes.

In 2005, the department provided subvention of $139.3 million to 57 NSAs and 28 sports organisations. More than 8 530 sports programmes were organised by the NSAs and other organisations, attracting 653 800 participants. Among the most popular programmes were the Youth Football Scheme, the New Generation Table Tennis Training Courses, the Youth Windsurfing Promotion Scheme and the Youth Wushu Training Scheme.

During the year, the NSAs were given subsidies under the scheme to organise international events held locally. The events included the Volleyball World Grand Prix, Hong Kong International Dragon Boat Race, World Hong Kong Luminous Dragon Dance and Lion Dance Championships and ITU Hong Kong International Triathlon. These international events were organised to promote Hong Kong as the Events Capital of Asia.