Community Fund

For a better Island Life

At Southern Vectis, we’re proud to support our local community.

Together we are a small but strong Island community doing big things, and as a company we understand that to make things happen, local groups and charities need our support.

As well as providing good quality bus services across the Isle of Wight to our communities needs, Every year we’ve been quietly donating buses, money, travel and resource to those who need it, to help keep the Island a well connected, supportive and inclusive place to live for all – particularly for vulnerable people and families, local children and the elderly.

We take greener travel and preservation of the Island seriously, regularly updating our fleet with new greener and cleaner innovations and spreading the word about the benefits of bus travel on air pollution and the environment.

We’re also keen supporters of local events that make our Island a unique and vibrant place to live, bringing the community together.

To make this funding and support fairer and available to groups who have not yet benefited from our support, we launched the Southern Vectis Community Fund in 2019.

WHAT IS THE COMMUNITY FUND

Our Community Fund is a dedicated resource for supporting local causes, charities and organisations, whether it is monetary support, marketing help, free travel or the use of a bus for an event required.

The Community Fund is open for application for everyone, whether you’re a charity, a sports team, a school or one of the local events that makes our Island a vibrant place to live.

We encourage anyone who needs a helping hand, however big or small, to apply.

The Community Fund is open for applications all year round, with our funding and support donated during two months of the year – in May and November. Please bear this in mind when applying.

For each of the these months we have £500 to donate to one or many worthy causes, as well as support in kind.

Community Funding will be allocated to worthy cause by an impartial board from the wider Go South Coast team. Successful applicants will be contacted, while those not successful this time encouraged to apply for the next set of funding available.

The Community Fund is a Go South Coast initiative, with all six bus operators opening applications in 2019.

HOW TO APPLY

Tell us who you are, about your cause, what you need from Southern Vectis and the difference this support would make to your cause or organisation.

Whether your request is for a raffle prize or a new sports team kit, our board will take all serious applications into consideration. Please go into as much detail as you can about your cause and how we can help to make a difference.

We hope that the Community Fund application process will offer a fair support process and see new individuals and groups coming forward who may not have wanted to ask for help previously.

By applying for the community fund, applicants must agree and acknowledge that Southern Vectis must be given the opportunity to take a press photograph at the applicant's premises/with their cause/group in order to issue a press release that they will be obliged to provide a comment for. They agree that this will be used on the Southern Vectis website and social media channels.

Apply online today

Some Causes we've helped

We have supported many projects through the community fund including:

St Helens Primary School Library Bus 

The May 2024 Communtiy Fund was awarded to St Helens Primary School and the fund will help them make much needed improvements to their specially-created library bus which we donated to them in 2017.

Babybox 

Baby Box Isle of Wight provide free baby food, nappies, clothes, equipment and toiletries to families across the Isle of Wight who are in need of those items. The Southern Vectis Community Fund will help multiple children in the local community, and will make a huge difference to the lives of their families.

VIVA Carnival 

In May 2023 a group that gives local disabled and non-disabled people the opportunity to create, rehearse and perform together were The Community Fund recipients allowing them to be able to purchase new branded t-shirts. Valuing Individuals Valuing All (VIVA) aims to make its performances accessible to all - allowing everyone to take part in carnival arts.

Isle of Wight Repair Cafe

The monthly Repair Cafe project, based at Quay Arts Centre in Newport, is run by a group of volunteers who fix broken objects that might otherwise end up on the scrap heap. The volunteers repair a whole range of items - from domestic household goods like toasters, kettles and lamps to people’s treasured possessions. They were awarded vouchers to use at Hurst to purchase items to fix objects. 

 Pan Together

Pan Together was chosen as one of our Community Fund recipients and we delivered a whole selection of items from their larder list to help them provide supplies to local families. The donation of household essentials will make a tangible difference to the lives of 30 to 40 local families.