Outreach Fund

Eligibility

The grant scheme is open to all (individuals and organisations). This includes, but is not limited to, members of the Royal Society of Chemistry, member-led groups, researchers in academia or industry, museums, community groups, not-for-profit organisations, arts groups and libraries. To be eligible for the grant scheme, applications must satisfy the following criteria:

• Applicants should seek to engage with members of the Royal Society of Chemistry and member groups (e.g. to inform the chemistry content, to develop long-term sustainability plans, to engage volnteers to take part in the activities). However the lead applicant is not required to be a member.
• Small grants are restricted to two per individual/group/institution. Those wishing to apply for larger numbers of events, for example, should submit a single application for a coherent programme to the large grant scheme.
• Previous recipients of any of our grants, including the Outreach Fund, are welcome to apply for funding. This can be scale-up a project that already exists or to fund the development of an original project. The assessment panel will take into account both plans to ensure sustainability of the project and the quality of all evaluations received for any projects for which we have awarded previous funding.
• Applicants should not resubmit an unsuccessful application unless invited to do so.
• Funding is only available for projects within the UK or Republic of Ireland.

Criteria

All applications will be judged on the following criteria and should clearly demonstrate:

• that the project has a significant aspect which is related to the chemical sciences
• that the project has a clearly identified target audience
• that the intended impact on the audience has been defined
• that evaluation plans are built into the project

Applications for schools engagement activities should demonstrate how the proposed activities will:

• enrich student's chemistry education and not solely deliver the curriculum 
• provide students with opportunities to explore chemistry through local contexts, AND/OR
• demonstrate career opportunities and develop employability skills, AND/OR
• provide opportunities which would not normally be accessible to the students taking part, e.g for hard-to-reach student audiences.

Applications for public engagement activities should demonstrate how the proposed activities will:

• increase chemists' visibility as approachable people AND/OR
• increase the publics' confidence in discussing chemistry AND/OR
• demonstrate the relevance of chemistry to everyday interests and concerns.

In addition, all projects involving member and volunteer engagement activities in order to deliver the schools or public engagement activities above, should also:

• provide members with new opportunties to directly interact with the public
• allow members to communicate chemistry, and their roles within chemistry, with passion.

Restrictions on funding

Outreach Fund grants will not be awarded to:

• cover the cost of textbooks or equipment required to deliver the core curriculum in schools
• cover the cost of hardware, apparatus or equipment such as microscopes, digital cameras or computers etc., unless it is shown to be integral to the project, will be used beyond the project lifetime to communicate chemistry and does not make up the majority of the project costs
• projects intending solely to develop or deliver teacher CPD
• projects whose primary aim is to generate a financial surplus
• projects where our support does not significantly enhance the activity
• projects which are part of an education institution's usual programme of activities, including Open Days and Taster Days
• cover the cost of Crest entry fees for schools
• projects which are part of a science communication organisation's existing programme of activities
• cover the cost of consultancy fees for science communicators or for commercially available science shows

Please note, if applying for any consultancy or salary costs these will need to be fully justified. We will not support salary costs for staff already paid by their organisation. 

For any queries or to discuss a project please do get in touch with us using the contact details in the side bar.