Apply for the Community Fund

There is still time to apply for the new Community Fund. The fund has been launched in partnership with the John Sykes Foundation, to support colleagues working on projects which benefit the local community in Reading.

£50,000 is available for use in the coming academic year and forms part of our commitment to being a university for Reading; one engaged with the town and its people. This new Community Fund builds on the University Endowment Fund schemes run over the past five years and, if successful over a two-year pilot, will become an on-going fund, dedicated to supporting research work and other projects in our community.  

The Community Fund is open to applications from all University academic and professional colleagues to support projects they are involved with either as part of their role, or in a voluntary capacity. The project must involve working with and for the benefit of a local Reading community group or individual(s) and should be located within a 5-mile radius of Reading town centre. Proposed activities must also further at least one of the University's charitable objectives of advancing education, learning or research.  The emphasis of the Fund is to provide one-off, smaller awards (in the region of £1,000 p.a.) to projects. However, thanks to the generous financial support from the John Sykes Foundation, we can now consider making larger awards (up to a maximum of £10,000 p.a.) on a one-off or multi-year basis.  

We are seeking colleagues wishing to apply for the next academic year. If you are interested in applying, please read the Community Fund Guidance Notes (Word, 1MB) before completing the attached application form (Word, 1MB). Please return the application form by 30 June 2021.

Successful applicants will be notified in September 2021, following review of all the projects by a selection panel, which includes both our Vice-Chancellor, Robert Van de Noort and John Sykes - the Chair of Trustees.