Up to £20,000 to support STEM education projects in the West Midlands

Applications open for @MillenniumPoint #STEM grant scheme 2021 

Applications are now open for the Millennium Point Charitable Trust Small Grants programme 2021, offering funding from £1,000 to £20,000 to support science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) education projects in the West Midlands.

Eligible applicants include registered charities; voluntary or community organisations; social enterprises, schools/educational establishments and statutory bodies who can apply for the funding for STEM projects starting in September 2021.

Completed applications should be submitted to [email protected] before 5pm on 30th November 2020 and can be downloaded on the Millennium Point website.

Projects can be either activity focused or for purchasing resources and materials which enables STEM-related education to children or communities.

Since 2018, Millennium Point Charitable Trust has donated over £969,000 to successful recipients, funding a diverse range of projects across education, STEM-focused charities, sporting charities and museums.

Abigail Vlahakis, Millennium Point chief executive, said:

“After much anticipation, it is a pleasure to announce the latest round of applications is now open for STEM grants from Millennium Point. Our annual grants funding forms part of Millennium Point’s strategy to support STEM education in the West Midlands.”

“The pandemic demonstrates how STEM touches every facet of our daily lives. It has been instrumental to how we are all navigating through the challenges we are currently facing. Through the grants, we are facilitating positive change by supporting schools and not-for-profits in developing the next generation of STEM talent.”

This year Millennium Point awarded £560,000 to fund over 60 projects across the region. Projects funded include ‘STEM stars’ from Aston Villa Foundation, a programme which engages young people in coding using football; and ‘Sensory STEM’ from Longwill School for the Deaf, Northfield, which will make science more visual and accessible to their pupils through science-based equipment and an enhanced curriculum.

2020 had a record number of applications for the Millennium Point Small Grants initiative 

The Millennium Point Charitable Trust announced the list of successful projects for its Small Grants Programme 2020 (21 Sept), with a record number of applicants bidding for a share of hundreds of thousands of pounds in #STEM funding.

Building on the continued success of the programme, The Millennium Point Charitable Trust received 170 eligible applications from not-for-profit organisations – a 55% increase from 2019.

This year it has donated more than £561,000 to STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) projects and initiatives across the West Midlands.

Recipients of this year’s funding include:

• Shropshire Astronomical Society – Astronomy outreach programme

• Longwill School for Deaf children – Sensory STEM 

• Hospital Education Service – The science of roller coasters

• Aston Villa Foundation – Stem Stars

• Wolves Play Cafe – The world around us and wolves in the woods and more!

The Small Grants programme, which offers grants split across three levels of funding and makes up to £20K available to individual applicants is made possible by the commercial activity that takes place in the 46,450 sqm landmark Millennium Point building. It feeds back into the charitable trust, enabling it to donate and invest in STEM-related organisations, projects and initiatives.

Abbie Vlahakis, interim CEO of Millennium Point said:

“Every year the quality and volume of applications that the Millennium Point Charitable Trust receives through this programme to help fund STEM-related initiatives is phenomenal, and this year is no exception. We were blown away by the breadth of entries and we can’t wait to see how the successful projects unfold in the coming months with additional support.”

Since its launch in 2018, Millennium Point Charitable Trust has donated over £969,000 to successful recipients funding a diverse range of projects across education, STEM-focused charities, sporting charities and museums, facilitating more than £4.8m to STEM related organisations, projects and initiatives in the West Midlands, during 2018.