Support us

At Charles Sturt University, we believe in the transformative power of collective action. Our support funds are dedicated to addressing specific challenges and opportunities within our communities.

These funds play a crucial role in:

Advancing Research: Fueling innovative studies that tackle pressing issues in healthcare, agriculture, environmental sustainability, and more.

Supporting Projects: Enabling initiatives that drive community development, advancement, and enrichment across our regions.

Empowering Students: Providing scholarships and resources to ensure that financial barriers do not hinder educational aspirations.

By contributing to these funds, you become an integral part of a community committed to creating positive change. Your support helps us build a more inclusive, equitable, and innovative future for all.

Explore our active support areas below and discover how you can make a meaningful impact.

Create opportunity | Strengthen communities | Protect our future | Empower First Nations Voices

Many of these funds are established as memorials by families, friends, or colleagues to honour loved ones, creating lasting legacies that reflect their passions and values. For more information or to discuss establishing a new support fund, please contact us

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Opportunity for all

These scholarships and support programs provide life-changing opportunities for students from underrepresented backgrounds, including First Nations students, LGBTQI+ communities, refugees, and those with lived experience of the justice system.

By removing financial and systemic barriers, we ensure that all students - no matter where they come from - can access a world-class education, build a brighter future, and contribute to the strength of our communities. With your support, we can make education truly inclusive and transformative.

Regional Impact Fund

We believe that, with the right support, every individual can make a positive difference in their community and our world. The Charles Sturt Foundation’s Regional Impact Scholarship Fund fulfils two important objectives: helping regional students overcome barriers to higher education success and addressing critical skill shortages in rural and regional Australia. The fund is home to the student food pantry initiative as well as a range of scholarships for regional students.

Hon Michael Kirby, AC CMG - Empowerment Scholarship Fund

The Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG Empowerment Scholarship, a collaborative initiative between the Charles Sturt Foundation and the Charles Sturt Ally Network, is designed to help LGBTQIA+ students overcome barriers and thrive in their educational journey.

More about the Empowerment Scholarship

Reformer New Start Scholarship

The New Start Reformer Scholarship at Charles Sturt University is a powerful initiative aimed at supporting students who have experienced incarceration, providing them with the opportunity to rebuild their lives through education. Established by Louie Liu, a registered physiotherapist and two-time Charles Sturt alumnus, the scholarship reflects his own remarkable journey of transformation - from a life of crime to a career in healthcare.

Zia Haydari Commemorative Scholarship

Afghan refugee Zia Haydari faced substantial barriers to completing a Bachelor of Social Work, navigating complex residency issues and a tough battle with brain cancer. Established following his passing in 2024, the Zia Haydari Commemorative Scholarship supports social work students who, like Zia, are overcoming challenges with determination to complete their studies.

Project: Children's Voices Centre

In a world designed for adults, children’s perspectives in shaping a more inclusive, accessible and equitable world often remain unheard.

More about the Centre

Project: Student Food Pantry

No student should have to choose between their education and their next meal. Food insecurity affects 40% of students on Australian university campuses, forcing them to sacrifice nutrition and negatively
impacting their mental health, academic performance and overall wellbeing.

Resilient communites

With your support, we can create stronger, healthier, and more resilient communities—where people can thrive in the face of challenges, from climate change to digital transformation.

At Charles Sturt University, we are investing in groundbreaking research that addresses critical issues in healthcare, artificial intelligence, and rural digital infrastructure security. We are training the next generation of skilled professionals—teachers, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and police officers—to meet the urgent workforce needs of regional Australia. And we are fostering innovation through cutting-edge facilities like our rural interprofessional health simulation centre, ensuring that regional and metropolitan communities alike have access to the expertise and services they need.

By supporting these initiatives, you are helping to build a future where opportunity is accessible, communities are prepared, and people are empowered to shape a better world.

Alumni Veterinary Student Fund

Real-world experience is fundamental in equipping veterinary science students to become tomorrow’s industry leaders - but managing extended unpaid work placement can be tough.
Together with our alumni, you can help the next generation of veterinary professionals cover costs associated with work placements, allowing them to focus on gaining essential practical skills.

Bathurst Teacher's College Alumni Fund

The BTCAA Foundation Scholarship supports the development of outstanding future educators. Awarded to a student who is a family member of a Bathurst Teachers College graduate, the scholarship helps deserving students with the costs associated with study, enhancing intergenerational links and enhancing
the future of the profession.

Blair Milan Memorial Scholarship Fund

Celebrating the life and legacy of talented actor Blair Milan, the Blair Milan Memorial Scholarship Fund supports aspiring performers to continue his passion for the arts.

Equally Well Fund

People living with mental illness face devastating physical health inequities. They are more likely to die early—often 14 to 23 years earlier—mostly due to preventable physical illnesses like heart and respiratory disease. The impact is even more severe for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Your support of Equally Well helps close this deadly health gap. By funding collaborative, nationwide initiatives, you’ll improve access to quality healthcare and support the right to wellness for every Australian.

Learn more

Jacob Berry Memorial Fund

The Jacob Berry Memorial Scholarship Fund celebrates the life and impact of paramedicine alumnus Jacob Berry, who passed away after a tragic biking accident in 2016.
The fund will endow a perpetual scholarship, supporting future paramedicine students studying at the Port Macquarie campus to realise their academic goals.

Jess McLennan Memorial Fund

The Jess McLennan Memorial Prize honours the memory and profound dedication of Charles Sturt University Bachelor of Nursing graduate Jess McLennan. Awarded annually to a nursing student who embodies her passion for community and helping others, it supports future nurses to realise their educational goals and keeps her legacy alive. Donations will help us get this fund to a full scholarship amount in her honour.

Wagga Agricultural Alumni Charles Sturt University Fund

WAACSU: Honouring the Legacy, Growing the Future

For over 75 years, Wagga Agricultural graduates have helped shape Australia’s rural industries. WAACSU continues this proud legacy by supporting the next generation of agriculture students through scholarships and community connection.

Your gift to WAACSU ensures that talented regional students can access the education and opportunities they need to thrive in agriculture. Together, we honour the past and invest in the future of rural Australia.

Support WAACSU today and grow something lasting.

Wagga Wagga Teachers College Alumni Association Fund

The WWTCAA Scholarship Fund is a meaningful pathway for Wagga Wagga Teachers College alumni and the wider community to shape the future of education. Through the collective vision and generosity of many, the fund provides essential financial support to students as they strive to achieve their academic and professional goals.

Project: Shaping tomorrow’s media landscape

Charles Sturt University has a strong reputation for training Australia's leading storytellers and communication experts.

Join us in continuing this legacy and support the voices of the
future. Your contribution will help to safeguard the integrity, diversity and vibrancy of our communication landscape.

Project: Building tomorrow’s healthcare workforce

Addressing critical healthcare workforce shortages is vital to sustaining thriving, healthy communities in our regions and beyond. Charles Sturt is renowned for delivering exceptional healthcare education, but ageing and inadequate educational facilities hinder the transformative potential we seek to realise.

Sustainable Planet

With your support, we can expand our impact—fostering agricultural innovation to address food security and climate challenges, advancing water and environmental research to protect vital natural resources, and developing the National Centre for Biosecurity to safeguard Australia’s agriculture and industries.

By funding research projects and scholarships for future scientists, you are helping to find solutions to some of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges. Together, we can ensure a healthier planet for generations to come.

Dr Julia Howitt Legacy Fund

Established in memory of respected Charles Sturt University environmental science academic Dr Julia Howitt, the Dr Julia Howitt Legacy Scholarship supports deserving science students in their pursuit of knowledge. With your generosity, we can offer this scholarship in perpetuity, empowering future generations
of world-changing scientists.

Help our wetlands - eavesdropping on wetland birds

Rapid decline in the wetland ecosystems that support 40% of the world’s biodiversity places many species at risk of extinction. The innovative Eavesdropping on Wetland Birds research project uses acoustic monitoring technologies to detect wetland bird species and monitor their diversity and breeding, playing a vital role in saving wetlands and protecting our precious biodiversity.

Project: Transforming equine welfare

We are committed to the health and wellbeing of the horses in our care and training the next generation of ethical and skilled equine industry professionals.

Championing First Nations

Our commitment to First Nations peoples is at the heart of everything we do. We believe that true reconciliation begins with action—by investing in the success of First Nations students, graduates, researchers, and staff, we help build a future where knowledge, opportunity, and leadership are shared and celebrated.

Through these dedicated funds, we support scholarships that remove financial barriers for First Nations students, fund research projects that elevate Indigenous knowledge systems, and create pathways for greater representation and leadership in higher education.

With your support, we can empower First Nations students to thrive, ensuring that higher education is a place where culture, tradition, and academic excellence come together to create lasting impact.

Yindyamarra Nguluway Trust Fund

The Yindyamarra Trust is dedicated to revitalising democracy through the timeless Wiradjuri principles of respect, kindness, wisdom, and deep listening. Led by Professor Stan Grant, this initiative fosters thought leadership and spiritual reflection, uniting communities in a time of division. With your support, we can build a more just and connected future.

Wool and Pastoral Sciences Alumni (WAPSA) Scholarship Fund

The WAPSA Scholarship supports First Nations students to pursue degrees in agriculture and land management. Established by alumni and friends of Charles Sturt University’s Wool School, it extends the school’s vast legacy of wool technology and pasture management to enable greater Indigenous participation in these fundamental fields.

Research : Streamweavers

Support First Nations Knowledge for Sustainable River Management

This project, led by Dr. Nick Ruddell and Dr. Holly Randell-Moon, integrates First Nations knowledge and environmental science into middle-school education.

With Indigenous leadership, it empowers students to develop sustainable river management skills, enhance biodiversity awareness, and promote cross-cultural collaboration.

Your support will help shape future environmental leaders.

Download Streamweavers project information

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Your generosity can change a life, a community, a world

You can create an enduring legacy that resonates with your interests and values and makes real world impacts.

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