What is Student Group Funding?
As a Students' Union, we support over 130 student-led groups, delivering a huge breadth of activity on campus and in the local area. We recognise that funding from the Union is an important enabler for activity, alongside your membership fees, sponsorship and other sources of income.
Student Group funding is an opportunity to apply for funding from the Communities team, to support student-led projects, initiatives and development within student groups. It is available for activities within set criteria, and there are two opportunities to apply in the academic year, to make sure that your group has the opportunity to plan and deliver activity throughout the year.
The funding is designed to help your society or sports club develop and meet its objectives by providing funds to support groups with expenditure and other expenses. It is designed to supplement the bulk of your funds that will be raised through memberships, sponsorships and fundraising.
What can be funded?
Groups should be looking to cover their day to day running costs such as facility hire, instructor fees, etc. using their income from membership. You may want to increase your membership price to cover this, or get creative with fundraising events to make up any gaps.
This funding opportunity is for the additional unforeseen expenses and development opportunities – ways you can take your group to another level and reach new audiences.
All groups are eligible to apply for Student Group Funding, and the limit you can apply for is announced before each window by the Communities Team. Not all applications will be successful. All applications will be reviewed against set criteria and may be rejected, part-funded or fully funded. Your group's existing balance will be taken into account when reviewing your application.
Funding applied for and not spent that academic year will not be carried over.
How does my group apply for funding?
Your group will need to complete an application. These will be sent out by your communities co-ordinator via email prior to each funding window. All applications will be reviewed by the SU and your group's committee will receive the outcome once the window for applications is closed.
What your group can and can't apply for
What we can consider contributing towards
Where membership and fundraising is significantly insufficient to cover:
- Facility and room booking costs
- Guest speakers & Instructors
- Essential equipment
- Affiliations to national governing bodies
- Opportunities
- Ways to attract new members
What we cannot support funding for
- Food or drink (including alcohol)
- Socials
- Accommodation
- Merchandise
- Individual Kit or equipment (e.g. personalised kit)
- Charitable donations (As The SU is a charity itself)
- Activities that have already taken place
Criteria for applications
- Proposed item / activity / opportunity must be necessary and appropriate for the group and must not be normally covered by memberships or fundraising.
- Item/activity/opportunity must link to group aims and objectives as outlined in their constitution.
- There should be significant involvement of the group/ members / new members.
- Reasonable research must have been undertaken to provide a variety of options at different price points.
- The item/ activity / opportunity should aim to meet The SU Mission "To have a positive impact on every member’s personal student journey" and align with SU core values: Inclusive, Collaborative, Empowering.
- The item/ activity / opportunity should aim to deliver long term, sustainable benefits, new skills, networking opportunities etc. to members.
- Where a single piece of equipment makes up the majority of the project costs, it must be shown to be integral and vital to the group and have a clear legacy beyond the lifetime of the project.
- Opportunities should be exciting, imaginative and relevant to students involved, and inclusive to the group as a whole.
- The project must provide clear benefits for the students that they could not obtain without acquiring the funds from The SU.
- The project / activity / opportunity must prioritise environmental & sustainable practices where it is practical to do so.
Completing your group's application
When completing your application please refer to your budget and account balance as well as expenditure for the year ahead. We understand that there will still be unknowns going into the next year, but it is important to think about your plans and predict as realistically as possible your spending and membership.
Income
Your main sources of income will be your membership fees, but most of these will have come in already. You should consider how many new members you would like to attract this term, how many members you have had join in previous years and what your group's capacity would be, e.g. teams, classes or sessions which have a number cap. You may need to consider altering your membership prices or addding new types of membership for the remainder of the year depending on the activity you would like to offer.
In addition to your membership fees, you can bring in other income for your group in the form of fundraising (for your group), getting sponsorship or selling merchandise to raise funds.
Expenditure
Depending on what your group's core activity is, your expenditure may vary a lot, but the main categories that you should consider are facility costs, transport, coaching or instructors and any equipment you may need. There may be other items of expenditure which will vary with your group, but make sure to include anything you are planning to spend group money on.
The fund is closed for applications at present but will reopen in September 2025.