Funding

Disability Item Fund (opens soon in 2025)

The Disability Item Fund will provide financial assistance for students to purchase disability items that would help with university and everyday life. This could include items such as stim toys, weighted blanket, books, sensory items, ear defenders, disability pride items, sunflower lanyard, radar key, non-slip matting, and more.

Amount

The Disability Item Fund of £4,000 can be applied for:

• Up to £50 by an individual

Examples of item

Examples of items that can be applied for include (but not limited to) are stim toys, weighted blanket, books, sensory items, ear defenders, disability pride items, sunflower lanyard, radar key, non-slip matting and more.

Key Dates

• Applications open 20th Jan 2025
• Applications close 16th Feb 2025

Terms & Conditions

Please read the terms & conditions for the Disability Item Fund before making your application as this may delay the process or void your application

• Be a current student at The University of Warwick.
• Be in need of financial support to purchase disability support item(s).
• Be able to provide links to the item(s) you wish to purchase with the fund that come to a total monetary value (including shipping and any VAT imports to the UK) of up to £50.
• Be able to come in and purchase these item(s) from the Warwick Students’ Union HQ Building by the end of the 2024-25 academic year. For exact location, see the Warwick Interactive Map.

There is NO requirement to evidence a disability or be registered with the Disability Services as we acknowledge that there are substantial barriers to diagnosis.

Guidance on Choosing Items

• This fund is to support students who want to purchase disability items that would help with university and everyday life.
• Item(s) could include stim toys, weighted blanket, books, sensory items, ear defenders, disability pride items, sunflower lanyard, radar key, non-slip matting, and more. (See Examples and Retailers below.)
• Your item(s) must be available in an online store with delivery – we cannot physically go and collect items in-person.
• You can list multiple items, as long as you do not exceed £50 in total. However, if you do, please make sure you rank items in order of importance (which ones you’d prefer most to least.)
• Please make sure you check sizing guides. It may not be possible for exchanges to be made if the clothing doesn’t fit or the item is not eligible for exchange.
• If the item(s) you want is currently out of stock, you can request a gift card if the shop you wish to purchase from sells them. If the item you want goes out of stock between your application and our purchasing, we will contact you to seek an alternative, whether this be a gift card, a different colour, or another item entirely.
• If the item(s) you want exceeds £50, and the store you are looking to purchase it from sells gift cards, we can part-fund via purchase of a gift card. Please include this in your application if applicable. Please note, there is no other way for us to part-fund for logistical reasons.

Examples & Retailers

• Stim toys – stimology.co.uk
• Disability pride items – disabilityhorizons.com
• Sunflower lanyard - hdsunflower.com
• Radar key – disabilityrightsuk.org
• Ear defenders – amazon.co.uk

This is not an exhaustive list of examples / retailers

Data Usage

The data provided for the Disability Item Fund application form will be used:

• To assess applications and award money to applicants
• To prepare a report at the end of the project that will be shared with stakeholders of the Warwick Innovation Fund and Warwick Students’ Union. No data that allows any individual to be personally identified will be included in this report (including names, student IDs, emails.)

If you wish to withdraw your application and have your submitted data deleted at any time, please email campaigns@warwicksu.com with the subject line ‘Disability Item Fund – Data Withdrawal’

Application

There are 4 sections in the application form:

• Data Usage Agreement (compulsory) - so that we can process your application for the Disability Item Fund
• Personal Details (compulsory) - so we can contact you and so that we can confirm you’re eligible to apply to the fund. We will use official @warwicksu.com email addresses to communicate with applicants.
• Demographic Questions (optional) - so that we get an idea of who is applying to the fund and why
• Item(s) Request (compulsory) - so that we know what we’re ordering for your application. If multiple items are requested, please rank them in order of importance (which ones you’d prefer most to least.)

Innovation Fund

The Disability Item Fund has been made possible by the support of alumni and donors through the Warwick Innovation Fund.  Visit the Innovation Fund webpage to find out more information

Gender Expression Fund (opens soon in 2025)

The Gender Expression Fund: a community-led fund that transgender, non-binary and gender non-conforming students can use to buy up to £50 of gender-affirming items, such as (but not limited to): new clothes/underwear, chest binders, breast forms, packers, wigs, sports/swimwear, makeup/nail polish, pronoun badges, pride merchandise, and books.

Amount

The Gender Expression Fund of £4,000 can be applied for:

• Up to £50 by an individual

Examples of Items

Gender-affirming items, such as (but not limited to): new clothes/underwear, chest binders, breast forms, packers, wigs, affirming sports/swimwear, makeup/nail polish, pronoun badges, and more.

For a list of items and retailers, check out this detailed Guides page

Key Dates

• Applications open Monday 6th Jan 2025
• Applications close Sunday 2nd Feb 2025

Terms & Conditions

To access this fund, you must:

• Be a current student at The University of Warwick.
• Identify as transgender, non-binary, or gender-diverse (this includes identities under those umbrellas and identities that are equivalent)
• Be able to provide links to the item(s) you wish to purchase with the fund that come to a total monetary value (including shipping and any VAT import costs to the UK) of no more than £50
• Be able to collect these item(s) (or nominate someone to collect them on your behalf) from the University of Warwick campus by the end of the 2023-24 academic year
• Agree to your data being used per the "Data Usage" statement later on this page

Guidance on Choosing Items

• Your item(s) must be available in an online store with delivery - we cannot physically go and collect items in-person.
• Please select item(s) from a UK store where possible; stores outside the UK will be subject to additional tax and shipping that must be included within the application maximum of £50.
• You can list multiple items, as long as you do not exceed £50 in total. However, if you do, please make sure you rank items in order of "importance" (i.e. which ones you'd want purchased most to least) in the case that we cannot fund everything you want.
• Please make sure you check sizing guides. It may not be possible for exchanges to be made if the clothing doesn’t fit or the item is not eligible for exchange, but we will work with you to try and do this should it be necessary.
• If the item(s) you want is currently out of stock, you can request a gift card if the store you wish to purchase from sells them. If the item you want goes out of stock between your application and our purchasing, we will contact you to seek an alternative, whether this be a gift card, a different colourway, or another item entirely.
• If the item(s) you want exceeds £50, and the store you are looking to purchase it from sells gift cards, we can part-fund via purchase of a gift card. Please include this in your application if applicable. Please note, there is no other way for us to part-fund for logistical reasons.
• If you're not sure where to begin looking for what you're after, we've collected a brief guide to some of the more popular, well-known and trusted brands in the UK. Head on over to Retailers for all the info!
• If you've never done [insert thing related to your transition] before and don't know where to start learning how to do it (safely), we've made a Guides page to hopefully point you to a little help!

Data Usage

The data provided to the application form will be solely accessed by transgender, non-binary and gender-diverse members of the Warwick Pride exec team.

The data provided to the application form will be used for 2 purposes:

• To assess applications and award money to applicants
• To prepare a report at the end of the project that will be shared with stakeholders of the Warwick Innovation Fund and Warwick Students’ Union. No data that allows any individual to be personally identified will be included in this report (including names, student IDs, emails.)

All data submitted to the application form will be wiped following the publication of the report and by the end of the academic year 2023-24.

If you wish to withdraw your application and have your submitted data deleted at any time, you may email warwickprideofficial@gmail.com with the subject line “Gender Expression Fund - Data Withdrawal”

Application

There are 4 sections in the application form:

• Data usage agreement (compulsory) - so that we can process your application
• Personal details (compulsory) - so we can contact you and so that we can confirm you're eligible to apply to the fund
• Demographic questions (optional) - so that we can get an idea of who is applying to the fund and why
• Purchase request (compulsory) - so that we know what we're purchasing for you!

Complete this application

Funding

The Gender Expression Fund for 24/25 and future years is funded by Warwick Students' Union. The Gender Expression Fund is organised by The Warwick Pride Exec and the Warwick SU Trans Students' Officer, Dorian Valentine.

Thank you to the Innovation Fund and its generous donors for providing the funding for the inaugural years of this project.

Well done to Dr. Ares Osborn, past exec for Warwick Pride, who founded the fund and ran it during its first two years.