Alumni Impact Fund - for students

To apply for the Alumni Impact Fund, you need to complete an application form with details of your project.

Before applying we encourage students to confirm the timeline and feasibility of the project. This also includes speaking to and securing support from a relevant member of staff. Please make this clear on your application.

Students can bid for up to £2,000. However, larger amounts will be considered in exceptional circumstances so please do speak to us in this instance.

Once applications have been shortlisted, the selected candidates will be invited to pitch their ideas to a panel of alumni and senior University staff. The panel will then decide which projects will receive funding.

All successful applicants will be asked to provide a "Thank You" to our alumni donors and a full report of their project once completed. 

Applicants must speak to and get approval from their Guild/Sport or department staff member before applying and they must include their name on the application form. This is to ensure that the project can take place, if successful.

Undergraduate students who apply to the Alumni Impact Fund are able to claim points towards The Birmingham Award. 

To be considered for funding, the project should be exciting and of benefit to the wider student community.

Terms and conditions:

• The project must be new and innovative and may provide the basis for future activity
• This money has been charitably donated to the University by alumni, and all funded projects must reflect the spirit of this generosity and the ethos of the University
• We reserve the right to consider the likely expectations of charitable donors about the use of their donation, and will not fund projects that could negatively impact on our future fundraising 
• Funding cannot be used with the sole aim of directly supporting another charitable cause, for instance as a direct donation to another charity
• Funding cannot be used to cover the cost of catering, alcohol, organise a ball or a religious event
• Funding cannot be used to start-up a business or app development
• Funding cannot be used to purchase spaces on campus
• Funding cannot be used to support research as part of your degree
• Only one application will be funded per group/team/individual
• If you were awarded funding through Alumni Impact Fund in 2023/24 and did not complete your project, you are not eligible to apply in 2024/25

Monday 30 September: Applications open

Wednesday 9 October: Online Alumni Impact Fund information session. At this session you can:

• Find out more about the Fund
• Get tips on how to fill out your application effectively

Register your attendance by completing this form 

9am Monday 28 October: Applications close

Friday 1 November: Shortlisting panel

Week commencing Monday 12 November: Successful applicants will be invited to an in-person pitching panel

Week commencing Monday 18 November: Applicants notified of outcome

Please apply via this form

Students can view the application questions via this PDF to help prepare for your application. Please make sure the final submission is via the linked form.

To ensure that the funding is distributed, all applicants (individual/Sports Club/Guild Society) require a member of staff to act as an advocate who can oversee the project's funding and expenditure.

As a staff advocate you will:

• Be able to provide a supporting statement saying this project can take place, if successful, and that you’ve read the terms and conditions
• Be a University budget holder and signatory
• Hold any successful grants in your budget element 2 code
• Oversee and authorise expenditure
• Be responsible for ensuring the project meets University health and safety requirements and risk regulations, and University financial regulations

Below are a few projects that were funded in 2023/34

Engineers Without Borders

This group used alumni funding to create free STEM workshops to inspire a new generation of students to pursue STEM disciplines within the local community, both to local schools and youth groups.

'The alumni funding has been transformative. It has allowed us to continue running our current workshops by providing the funds to purchase more materials. Additionally, it gave us the opportunity to develop a whole new workshop, which we couldn't have done with our limited funds before, aimed at addressing relevant topics such as climate change.'

'Our workshops are fully inclusive, and we are working with a school trust to deliver them to students from underrepresented backgrounds who might not otherwise have considered the opportunities awaiting them in STEM.' 

An Orphan's Dream

You Lyu produced ‘An Orphan’s Dream’ as part of his PhD research which is an intercultural physical theatre piece. He reimagined a traditional Chinese opera ‘The Orphan of Zhao’ with contemporary themes, combining British physical theatre with stylised Chinese movements. Alumni funding allowed his cast of five UoB students to perform the production in a Coventry theatre. 

‘Without the help and support of alumni funding, this performance could not have happened. Securing this funding allowed me to hire the theatre and, additionally, theatre staff helped us promote the piece positively. I am truly appreciative of their support.’

Women's basketball

This sports club won £850 of funding to buy new equipment and run a 3x3 basketball tournament. This club wanted to run this activity because women are underrepresented in 3x3 basketball and the sport is quite inaccessible, often being reserved only for high level players.

'Without the alumni funding, the club would not be able to host this tournament at all. The club was financially struggling and also struggling to keep players engaged after the season was over in early march. With the funding, it allowed players of the club to look forward to something, keeping them engaged throughout the off-season. The funding also allowed us to purchase new equipment such as basketballs, which were last bought over a decade ago.'

If you like to discuss your project or have any questions then please, contact Lydia Buffery.