Finance & Funding

Cambridge SU offers funding directly to registered societies, via SU Society Grants. There are three different types of grant, outlined below, within which societies can apply for up to £250 to support their activities!

Education Grant

This category of grant is for activities that advance the education of students at the University, by providing opportunities for academic and intellectual enrichment, directly related to academic courses of study at the University.

For example, this grant could be used for reimbursing a speaker’s travel costs to attend and speak at a subject society’s event, hiring a room to host an academic workshop or talk, or purchasing printed texts for a reading group.

Community-Building Grant

This category of grant is for activities that facilitate communal and/or community activities to further students’ ‘personal development’; these activities might be primarily social/recreational, cultural, or sporting, but should have as their central purpose building community among students.

For example, this grant could be used for hiring a venue for a cultural/activity-based society to host an event, purchasing small items like a frisbee or board game, or buying arts and crafts supplies for an event.

Liberation & Social causes Grant

This category of grant is for facilitating activities and forums for discussions and debate that further students’ personal development; these activities and forums should facilitate students discussing social and liberation issues, and engaging intellectually with each other, in a way distinct from advancing their academic education, but still conducive to their personal development more broadly.

For example, this grant could be used for hiring a venue for an event for students to discuss social and liberation issues, purchasing flipchart paper, or buying pens and paper to make mind maps.

Eligibility Criteria

• In order to make a grant application:

  • Your society must be registered with the SU

  • You must be a current committee member of the society 

  • Your society must be open to students from any college

• The SU cannot give grants for:

  • Purchasing any illegal items (note though that otherwise, requests are assessed on a case-by-case basis)

  • Purchasing anything or paying for services from the SU itself (e.g., a Freshers’ Fair stall booking)

  • Any expenditure over £250

  • Any money or resources to be donated to other organisations, including charities 

• Each society can only be awarded one grant each term

PDF below has more information on this:

Application Proccess

In order to apply you must:

• Decide the type of grant you wish to apply for
• Read Eligibility Criteria
• Write and submit Society Grant Application (below)

Please ensure you apply a minimum of 14 days before the event or activity for which you are seeking funding. 

Once you have submitted your application, you will receive a confirmation email. The panel decision can take up to 14 days and, once a decision has been made, you will be notified by email whether your application has been successful. 

If your application is successful, payment can take up to 14 days so please ensure you leave enough time for the application to be approved if you need the funding by a certain date. 

Other grants available

Students or student groups can use this application for any new outreach projects they would like to organise in Cambridge.

The Societies Syndicate gives financial assistance to University clubs and societies that are registered with the Proctors’ Office. Please note that grants are not normally awarded to societies that do not charge a membership fee.