The body, which promotes and invests in community sport, said the money will be invested via the Commonwealth Games Council for England (CGCE) and will help ensure they can send a strong England team to the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
Team England is set to be the second-largest team after hosts Australia, comprising competitors and officials competing in all 16 sports on the games programme.
Roger Draper, chief executive of Sport England, said: “After substantial investment in the team, in the sports themselves, and in the network of high performance facilities across the country, we now look to our athletes to deliver medal success.
"As we look ahead to 2012 we hope this will inspire many youngsters across the country to get active and achieve their potential.”
This funding is in addition to Sport England’s earlier £1.5million investment in the CGCE towards its Games preparations, including training for team managers and the establishment of a holding camp in Australia prior to the start of the Games.
Ann Hogbin, Team England’s chef de mission for the Melbourne Games, said: “Whilst we will continue to seek commercial partners, this grant from Sport England can now be used alongside the Commonwealth Games Council for England’s own resources to ensure that we can take all appropriately-qualified athletes to the Games and give them the best possible chance of success."
