What is the fund?
The sustainable projects fund aims to advance sustainability at the LSE and increase the engagement of LSE students and staff in making the campus more sustainable. Any project broadly defined as achieving these goals is eligible for funding.
The Sustainable Projects Fund place emphasis on projects that tackle some of the following issues:
- Carbon management
- Biodiversity
- Waste reduction
- Sustainable
- Water/Energy use
- Education and awareness
- Wellbeing
For example, the fund has played an integral role in the introduction of Smart Mugs on campus, the Plaza Cafe Green Roof, the creation of beekeeping society and the beehives LSE maintains, ensuring all printers are set to print double-sided sheets by default, collaborating with a private enterprise to monitor pollution levels on the construction site for the Marshall building, funding the ongoing awareness campaign ‘LS-Sea’, and retrofitting Passfield halls with sensor toilets to conserve water.
The fund and amounts you can apply for
The Sustainable Projects Fund is funded with revenue from the Water Bottle Tax. This tax was introduced on campus in 2008.
The Sustainable Projects Fund
There is no maximum limit to the amount of funding a project can receive. However, projects under £5,000 are most feasible.
There is flexibility in how projects can be funded. For example, to make the 2018/2019 multi-stakeholder pollution monitoring scheme feasible, funding has been in collaboration with the Estates Department and the construction company MACE. We recommend applicants reach out and speak to the Sustainable Futures Committee who work to ensure the projects have the best chance of succeeding.
Composition of the Funding Panel
Shortlisted projects will be presented by applicants to a panel in March 2020. The panel is comprised of:
- Sustainable Futures executive committee
- Head of Estates
- Head of Facilities
- Pro-Director of Education
- Head of Sustainability
- Sustainability Team
- Representatives from the Sustainable Futures Society
The process
How do I apply?
You can find the full application process on the LSESU Sustainable Futures Society website.
Please contact Sustainable Futures to apply.
Fund timeline
Application Open: TBC
November: Workshops and Submissions
Deadline For Applications: 19th January 2024
Panel Selection: February (Date to be announced)
Deliver your project: March - July
How are winners selected?
Applications are judged by a panel, chaired by the Head of Estates, in March 2024. The panel consider the scope, impact and cost of the project when looking at applications.
Workshops
The society run 'mentoring' sessions throughout the year to help you develop your application ideas. More information will be provided in the upcoming weeks on these sessions.
How to spend your project money
Once projects have been awarded you can immediately start to spend the funds you have been allocated. You can sepdn it in three ways. The process for each way is outlined below:
Spend the money yourself, then claim it back
If you purchase something for your project, you can claim the money back as long as it was with in the project proposal/budget. You must fill in a payment request form and email it (with a copy of the receipt) to the sustainable futures committee on s.futures@lsesu.com. They will then review it and sign it off if it is within budget, then pass it to the Students' Union for Payment.
Download payment request form
Provide the Union with an invoice to pay
You can also pay someone directly from your project fund by submitting an invoice. Get an invoice from the company you want us to pay and submit it to the sustainable futures society on s.futures@lsesu.com. They will then approve your invoice and send it to the Societies Team for payment. Payment usually takes up to 10 working days.
All invoices must:
- Be correctly addressed to LSE Students' Union, Saw Swee Hock Student Centre, 1 Sheffield Street, London, WC2A 2AP
- Include the suppliers details (name, address, e-mail)
- Have an invoice date
- Have an invoice number
- Include a VAT number (if applicable)
- Include details and dates of services
- Have a correct total on invoice
- Include the suppliers bank account details
Purchases using the union credit card
In the rare occassion you cannot pay for something as a project team or get an invoice for payment, we have a societies team credit card that has a small limit. If you feel you need to us this option, please reach out to the sustainable futures society on s.futures@lsesu.com to set up a meeting with project team and the Societies Team to arrange this.
SFS Committee - Project Tracking & Approving
As the SFS committee, you will first need to approve project spends before the Union actions the payment. Please see in the information below on how to approve the spends for them to get paid and information on the project tracker which we will need to provide for LSE at the end of the finacial year to keep getting the grant money for students.
Approving a project spend
When a project spends or wants to spend money, you must approve it before we can make payment. Once you are happy with the invoice/payment request form, please forward/email it to su.arcstaff@lse.ac.uk including information on what project the payment is for. You must also complete the information on the tracker so we know who approved what.
Before sending us a payment reuqest form, plaese ensure you check all the information is completed properly, that you as the SFS committee/approver sign the treasurer box and that there is a receipt included. Without these things, we will not be able to process the payment.
Tracking
We have a project tracker which has information on all of the projects, their spends and where they are at so you can report this back to LSE as and when they ask. You can only access it by signing into the sustainable futures committee email via Google.
View the Project Tracker