Mentally Fit York funding
The Mentally Fit York (MFY) fund was created in 2019 as part of the ‘York Unlimited’ campaign, led by the Office for Philanthropic Partnerships (OPPA). The aim of the MFY fund is to transform mental health on a local, national and international scale, through supporting the latest ground-breaking research and initiatives stemming from this.
The fund is now open to applications from:
- Staff members of the Institute of Mental Health Research at York (IMRY) and University of York Departments and Schools.
- Representatives of Colleges and Professional Services at the University of York.
- Individual students at the University of York (but only with a member of a staff acting as a co-applicant/mentor).
- York University Students Union (YUSU) registered student societies.
- Local voluntary/charitable organisations.
- Public organisations (e.g. NHS/schools).
The fund will support projects that fall into one of the following categories:
- Supporting initiatives that aim to protect and improve mental health for all, including minority and diverse groups, within the University and local communities.
- Co-production/co-creation of research projects and research outputs, with students, staff, service users, alumni, donors and the public, that aim to generate or disseminate new evidence, insights and knowledge about mental health.
- Student scholarships for discrete projects, proposed by undergraduate or postgraduate students, which are directly relevant to mental health.
Funding cannot subsidise costs associated with PhD or Masters studies.
Other important information
- You will be required to submit a financial budget/forecast within your application. Please note that Mentally Fit York does not cover contributions to salary costs unless specifically dedicated to a MFY funded project.
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If you are applying from a local voluntary/charitable or public organisation, please contact the Institute for Mental Health Research at York (IMRY) via email at imry@york.ac.uk before applying to discuss your idea and how IMRY can support your application.
Lead applicants from local voluntary/charitable or public organisations should also submit an honorary membership application to IMRY before applying for the award. To do so, please complete this 60 second interview. To download a copy of the form, please click File->Download from the menu. Please do not request edit access.
- All grants awarded must be claimed within 12 months of receiving the grant.
- Grant reports will be required within the first 3 months of receiving the award and at the end of the project.
- If Mentally Fit York is not the right platform for your project, for fundraising to suit your needs, please consider YuStart.
Funding availability for 2024
There are three levels of awards you can apply for:
• Up to £5,000
• Up to £10,000
• Up to £15,000
For each application round, we intend to fund one award at each level, however, the amount of awards available may vary per application round, depending on the funds available.
How are applications assessed?
The fund disbursement group will meet quarterly to assess applications and allocate the available funding, on the proviso that funds are available for disbursement. Applications must be submitted two weeks in advance of the disbursement group meeting.
In 2024, the Disbursement Group meetings will take place on:
• 21 February 2024 (applications to be submitted by 7 February 2024)
• 15 May 2024 (applications to be submitted by 1 May 2024)
• 14 August 2024 (applications to be submitted by 31 July 2024)
• 13 November 2024 (applications to be submitted by 30 October 2024)
Recent successful projects
- £2,000 was awarded to Colleges at York, who partnered with local grassroots men's mental health initiative, 'Menfulness,' on a project to remove barriers preventing the young men of the student body from reaching out for mental health support and to facilitate peer support networks within men’s sports teams.
- £6,000 was awarded to support the implementation of the Department of Psychology’s Resilience Hub, a student support initiative that has been developed to provide students with a range of resilience-building resources that they can independently access.
- Over £6,000 was awarded to support the “future of diabetes care for people with serious mental illness – co-designing a technology-enhanced self-management intervention” - a research project working with people with lived experience of serious mental illness (such as schizophrenia or psychosis), and type 2 diabetes, as well as their carers and healthcare professionals involved in their care, to design a new support programme to help people with serious mental illness manage their diabetes.
Related links
Making your application
Applications for the May round are now open.
For consideration at this round, please complete and submit the application form found below. All applications must be submitted by midnight on 1 May 2024. The Disbursement Group meeting will take place on 15 May 2024. Applicants will be informed of the outcome of their application within 5 working days of the meeting.
Should your application be time critical, or if you have any questions, please contact Charlotte Wainwright in the Office of Philanthropic Partnerships and Alumni (OPPA) on charlotte.wainwright@york.ac.uk