Support us
Fund research that answers only to the evidence
Philanthropic gifts pay for bursaries, training, events and publication — never for influence. Here is exactly how your support is used and protected.
Why give
Research with no strings
Independent, non-partisan policy research is a public good, and students produce a great deal of it — if they have the time, training and means to publish. Your gift funds that work directly, while our model keeps it genuinely independent of the people who pay for it.
Training Access Bursaries
Need-assessed, fixed-rate bursaries so students who could not otherwise afford the time can take part in our Training Programme.
Training
Workshops in writing, methodology and data analysis that raise the quality of the work.
Events & publication
Speaker programmes, networking and the cost of publishing research to the public.
Ways to support
As an institution or an individual
Whether you represent an organisation looking to fund cross-society research or an individual who wants to support student researchers, there is a way to give that fits.
Institutional donors
Organisations that want to fund bursaries, the Training Programme and Think Tank Grants across the Trust's work, or restrict a gift to a particular Chapter or to think tanks at a particular university. Institutional gifts scale the Trust's ability to train the next generation of policy researchers at universities across the UK.
All institutional funding goes through proportionate due diligence, and your identity is never disclosed to the think tanks we support. Giving brings no access to students or their data: our Careers Network is a free service for students, open to any employer on the same terms whether or not it donates.
Individual donors
Individuals who want to fund student researchers at a specific think tank, or the Trust's work as a whole. Gifts of any size are welcome, and you can restrict a gift to a particular Chapter, to bursaries, to the Training Programme or to Think Tank Grants.
To make a gift, please contact our team. Every gift is checked under our Donations Acceptance Policy, kept confidential, and never buys influence over research or access to the students we support.
What your support does
What giving brings, and what it never brings
A gift to the Trust is a gift to the education of student researchers. We are clear about what donors receive so that no one can say the research was bought.
What giving brings
Bursaries that put students who could not otherwise afford the time onto the Training Programme. Grants for conferences, speaker series and open-access publication that would not otherwise happen. A Training Programme delivered by the Trust to its Chapters.
You may be named as a supporter in our Annual Transparency Report, but only if you ask to be. You receive a report of what the Trust raised and what it funded. You can restrict your gift to a cause: a Chapter, bursaries, the Programme or grants.
What giving never brings
No access to students or their data. No introductions, mentoring arrangements, directories or dinners. No sight of research before it is published, and no say in its subject, method or conclusions. No branding on any output.
Our Careers Network is a service for students, open to any employer on identical terms whether or not it donates. The students we fund are never told who our donors are. That is what keeps the research theirs.
What we accept
Any lawful source. No conditions.
We accept support from any lawful donor, in any sector, and we do not publish who our donors are. What we will not accept is any string attached to what students research or conclude. Our Donations Acceptance and Donor Confidentiality Policy sets out the funds and conditions we refuse.
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Unlawful funds
anyone designated under UK sanctions, or funds we know or suspect are the proceeds of crime or terrorist property
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Conditions on research
any gift that expects a think tank to take a position, study a subject, use a method or reach a conclusion
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Early access
any expectation of seeing research before it is published, or any role in reviewing or approving it
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Branding on research
a donor's name or logo on any research output
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Choosing recipients
selecting a think tank, student or activity other than through our published criteria — though you may restrict a gift to a think tank or programme
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Private benefit
any benefit to a donor beyond acknowledgement as a supporter, given only with the donor's consent
Know Your Donor — proportionate checks
Under £1,000
Verify the donor and their legal status, screen against the UK sanctions list, and record the source and amount.
£1,000 or more
Verify identity against two independent sources, check the gift is consistent with the donor's known profile, and check for any condition or expectation attached.
£10,000+, anonymous, overseas, political or state-linked
Establish a legitimate, traceable source of funds, refer the decision to the full board, and take legal advice where any condition or expectation accompanies the gift.
Anonymous donations over £500, and gifts from political bodies or foreign state-linked organisations, are accepted only with full board approval. None is excluded; each is looked at on its own facts.
Donor confidentiality
Why we do not name our donors
It protects you
The research we support is independent of the Trust and of its donors. It may reach conclusions that contradict your industry or your views, and neither you nor we can do anything about that. Confidentiality means you are never publicly associated with, or asked to answer for, research you had no part in and could not influence.
It protects the research
We do not tell the think tanks or the students who funds the Trust. Their work is therefore produced without knowing, or caring, whose gift paid for their training, and the public can judge it on its evidence. Every donor acknowledges this before giving; it is set out in our Donations Acceptance and Donor Confidentiality Policy.
We disclose a donor's identity only with consent, to HMRC for Gift Aid, to our independent examiner or auditor, to a regulator or authority where the law requires, where accounting standards require disclosure of transactions with trustees or people connected with them, in confidence to a students' union where a conflict of interest or a breach of our Donor Code affects its students, or where the trustees resolve on legal advice that disclosure is necessary.
Your gift, their independence
You can choose the cause, never the conclusion
You may restrict a gift to a specific think tank — for example, “restrict this to bursaries at a particular university's policy society.” The funds are legally ring-fenced for that purpose, and the same published bursary criteria and rates apply there as anywhere else. What a donor can never do is direct, preview or influence the research itself. Our non-influence rules and CC9 obligations apply equally to restricted and unrestricted gifts, and the think tank is not told who you are.
Every donor agrees to:
- Never attempt to influence the content, methodology or conclusions of funded research.
- Never request access to research before its formal public release.
- Never use donor status to press the Trust or a think tank toward particular positions.
- Treat every student and Trust representative with courtesy and respect.
Transparency
We show our working
The Trust publishes an Annual Transparency Report setting out the total funds received during the year and the general categories of funding. To respect the privacy of our supporters, individual and institutional donor names are strictly confidential and are not published.
No payment is processed on this site. To make or discuss a gift — including restricting it to a specific think tank — please get in touch and we will take you through the checks and how a restricted gift works.
Ready to support independent student research?
Start a conversation about giving — one-off, ongoing, or restricted to a think tank you care about.