Rapid Impact Fund

Our rapid impact fund summer 2025 will open at the end of April 2025. It will offer funding of £5,000 to mainstream secondary schools and colleges across England to support autistic students to excel and achieve, flourish and succeed.

Support for autistic young people in mainstream education is highly variable. Quick, responsive solutions can make a difference - especially when they have been co-produced with autistic students.

SCF’s rapid impact fund offers small awards to address real issues facing autistic students in a short time frame. Between 2021 and 2024 eight rapid impact rounds helped over 18,000 autistic students in over 455 schools and colleges.

After SCF rapid impact funding, upwards of 98% of schools reported an impact after even 5 months. Quick, practical solutions can make a difference. Read more here.

In this funding round, the focus will be on creative and innovative activities that enable autistic students to excel and achieve, flourish and succeed school or college.

How do I apply?

We recognise that schools and colleges are busy places. We’ve designed a straightforward application process to minimise paperwork and maximise impact for autistic students.

We explain the application process on this page - please read this before making your application.

We look to fund innovative, creative solutions that have been co-produced with autistic students. The following are ideas of what we might fund

Resources

By this we mean things you can purchase or commission to help autistic students. For example:

  • Resources and equipment to support engagement with school or learning, or with well-being. This could be anything, from Lego to laptops; fidget toys to specialist software
  • Educational, psychological or therapeutic programmes and interventions, such as music, art, animal therapy or counselling
  • Training for staff or work with parents, carers or families

Implementation support

By this we mean money to make things happen. For example:

  • Additional staff time to run activities that support inclusion and engagement in education for young people. From art clubs and yoga sessions to breakfast or lunchtime clubs, our funding is led by what young people tell us helps them feel they ‘belong’ in school
  • Initiatives that support transition between key stages, phases or lessons - such as peer mentoring or buddying
  • Additional time for staff to attend or deliver staff development activities such as mentoring or action learning
  • The costs of running an event, or an activity led by autistic young people such as a training film created by autistic students to increase staff understanding of autism

Places and spaces

By this we mean ‘safe’ indoor or outdoor spaces that can be developed or refurbished to help autistic students during unstructured or structured time. For example:

  • The development of outdoor areas such as sensory gardens, vegetable plots, roof gardens and even yurts!
  • Indoor sensory spaces, filled with comfortable seating, soft furnishings and specialist equipment such as cushions, weighted blankets and rugs and calm lighting
  • Refurbishment, for example painting and decorating safe spaces, creating mood murals to remind students how to self-regulate

Read more examples of the activities we have funded.

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See our Funding FAQs for further information.