Our charity partnerships

Unite Students > Our charity partnerships

Unite Foundation

We partner with and are the principal corporate donor to the wholly independent Unite Foundation, a charity which we set up over a decade ago to provide accommodation scholarships to young people without family support.

Their nationwide scholarship scheme supports estranged and care experienced students with the provision of a rent-free home at university.

Since 2012, we've donated over £16 million to the charity, providing over 800 scholarships to young people.

British Heart Foundation

Unite Students has donated more than £2million worth of items to the British Heart Foundation thanks to its customers and colleagues.

The UK's largest owner, manager, and developer of purpose-built student accommodation has encouraged those living and working in its properties to donate pre-loved items to the BHF, since 2017.

Clothes, accessories, electrical equipment, utensils and books have been donated in the reception areas of properties around the country.

The business has also been trialling pop-up shops to sell donated items back to residents to raise more money for the charity.

The BHF, which funds research into heart and circulatory diseases, sells the clothes from its 'Pack for Good' campaign in its charity shops nationwide.

The Bike Project

It costs just £100 to get each refugee on the road. This covers the cost of the refurbished bike, a helmet, lock, lights, and a road safety training session from a professional cycling instructor.

We're proud to support London based charity ‘The Bike Project’. The charity collect abandoned and unwanted bikes, refurbish them and then (primarily) donates them to refugees as a means of transport.

All our students and employees can get 10% off any purchase from their online store which sells refurbished bikes and cycle accessories.

Streets of Growth

We've partnered with a youth intervention charity, Streets of Growth, at our London property, Hayloft Point, so that disadvantaged young people – sometimes caught up in gang culture – can transition into education or employment.

We provide the charity with two floors at a peppercorn rate which is the charity’s first dedicated HQ. This supports their work in supporting disengaged and marginalised young adults – including tackling knife crime, gang culture and other anti-social behaviour.

They aim to support a transition into education and/or employment, running skills workshops covering a range of area, from digital to construction to fashion and beauty.

Streetwise

We provide Bristol’s Street Intervention Service (SIS), with an office in our city centre property, Chantry Court. We also provide funding for a full-time substance misuse worker.

The initiative by Bristol City Council supports homeless people in the city centre and aims to tackle antisocial behaviour. The team assesses needs in five key areas; accommodation, substance and alcohol misuse, behaviour, finances and health before bringing in support to try to tackle the root causes of anti-social behaviour.

Maha Devi

The UK’s only special needs yoga centre, MahaDevi, is based in our Stapleton House property in London. The yoga centre provides subsidised and free sessions for children with disabilities, often working with hospices to provide yoga therapy to children with life limiting conditions and end of life care.

The centre also has close links with our residents with students attending classes and volunteering along with other members of the community to help redecorate the studio spaces, helping to achieve one of the key objectives for this initiative to provide a genuine way of integrating the students with the local community.

Youth Maps

Local youth homelessness charity 1625 Independent People (1625ip) and Bristol City Council (BCC) are working in partnership with support from Unite Students to deliver an innovative youth homelessness prevention service - Youth Maps - which aims to help young people to stay at home with their families as well as learning to live independently.

Bristol Youth MAPS operates from our Nelson and Drake property in Bristol at a discounted rent rate. It provides a safe and welcoming service that supports young people to develop the skills they need to live independently and with others.

The flagship service in the city centre brings together the expertise and resources of the following agencies into a single central point.

Our charity partnerships