Hummingbird Fund

Any current student at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, is entitled to apply for a grant.

Examples funded in our first round (December 2020) include projects encouraging community engagement and local impact such as building planters throughout the city to enhance biodiversity and bring people closer to nature, upcycling textile waste in various products, or breaking the taboos of mental illnesses. You can find them here.

• Projects that heavily rely on expertise taken outside of the team (e.g. hiring a software-engineering to develop an app)
• Projects that have commercial or for-profit purposes
• Projects that are discriminatory in any sort
• Projects that involve political campaigns or lobbying efforts
• Projects that have religious purposes

Be judicious about how much money you realistically need for your project. Grantees cannot reapply for additional funds in the same grant year. If you are on a multi-year programme, you may re-apply to the Hummingbird Fund for academic year 2025/2026 to scale-up your project.

Yes, Successful applicants must produce a max. two-page report on the outcomes of their project, and justify their spendings, within 6 and 12 months after receiving the grant. Extracts from the reports may be featured in Alumni Relations communications.

Here you can find information about the Graduate Entrepreneur Fund.

Here you can find an overview of all their Startup Programmes at ECE:  

• For those at the idea phase and exploring the possibilities of starting up their own business or interested in entrepreneurship and innovation in general: check out Erasmus Start It Up and activities organised by ECE Students. 
• For (aspiring) student entrepreneurs specifically:   
  • there is the Talented Student Entrepreneur Programme for student entrepreneurs that already dedicate at least 20 hours per week to their businesses, and; 
  • the Student Founders Programme for any student that is interested in starting their own business.   
• For (early-stage) entrepreneurs in general: there is the Erasmus Business Membership for entrepreneurs interested in joining the community at ECE Campus and the Erasmus Incubation Programme for entrepreneurs interested to learn how to grow their startups and transform it into a successful and sustainable business. 

For non-European students interested in staying in the country after graduation: there is the Startup Visa Facilitator Programme to help establish and grow your company the Netherlands. 

We aim to communicate our decisions within a month.

The next application deadline will be 13 December 2024, at 23:59

Yes – so long as everyone in the group is currently enrolled on a programme at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University.

Your project must be aimed to make a positive change, be not-for-profit or a social entreprise, and help you gain real-world business/management/leadership experience. Examples of the kinds of costs you may need funding for could include: web/digital/software, training, physical materials/equipment, travel.

Applications must be submitted in the format of a video, and by filling in the application package (download here, or via the button on the right of this page).

Videos should be maximum 2 minutes long.

A member of RSM’s Positive Change Initiative, Two RSM alumni, a member of RSM faculty.

The Positive Change Initiative are on hand to help and answer any questions you may have, please contact the email on this page.