Reading List Foundation

The reading list foundation helps exceptional students from lower-income families succeed at university, by paying for their textbooks in their first year. Why is this a particular issue? Many students at university receive some form of financial help from their parents however students from lower-income families often can’t get this additional financial support and as a result, face a higher level of financial pressure. Our initial research showed that 40% of such students had to cut back on textbooks because of financial issues, and even if they prioritised books, 79% had to cut back on some form of essentials. So we help them academically, financially and emotionally - as well as providing a welcome boost to their CV. And in fact 87% of students we helped said it made a big difference to their first year. Where do you cover? We cover state-funded schools and colleges in England, from Newcastle to Penzance. Our origins are in Exeter though, and our heart has always been in the South West, so we support a relatively large number of schools in Devon and Cornwall. How do we choose the schools? Most of our Scholarships are directed to particular schools by donors, but we do have a pool of discretionary funds, where we choose schools ourselves to make sure we have a good geographic spread across England, and a good mix of city and rural schools, grammars and Academies etc. How do we donate? If you go to our website - - there are direct donation links on every page that take you to our VirginMoneyGiving page