Published on 28 November 2023

Over the next week your donations to support diabetes research will be doubled!

From 28th November to 5th December DRWF hopes to raise £20,000 to fund a Pump Priming Research Grant.

Every £1 you donate during this period will be match funded by our pledge supporters and Champion philanthropist The Reed Foundation as part of the Big Give Challenge.

A Pump Priming Research Grant helps fund diabetes research projects in the early stages of development, in order to lead to further research or contribute towards early-stage clinical trials.

DRWF hopes to continue to fund diabetes research in the UK in order to understand the causes, complications, prevention, management and treatment of the condition, in addition to provide the support programmes that ensure people with diabetes are “staying well until a cure is found…”

"A world without diabetes. Without sufficient funding, research cannot continue and DRWF is passionate about continuing to support diabetes research."


We need to raise a further £10,000 when the challenge opens up for public donations from 28th November when every donation to this campaign is doubled until 5th December.

Every penny really does count, so why not make a gift during the first week of December and double your donation through the Big Give Christmas Challenge?

“We must keep looking and searching, it is the best method for finding - and perhaps what we tell our patients tomorrow will not be the same as we have to tell them today.” — Professor Mike Edmonds, DRWF Pump Priming award recipient 2009.

"This board represents the best diabetes researchers from across the UK. They all share the passion and values that make DRWF a really wonderful organisation - one which has patients with diabetes at its heart and is suffused with a culture of kindness and research excellence." — Dr Salem, DRWF Advisory Board member

DRWF Big Give Challenge aims include to fund a DRWF Pump Priming award. This would enable an early career Researcher to undertake their own project by using pilot data to test a theory. Without this type of funding, it is impossible to inform a bigger body of work for the future.

This crucial work improves research culture and diversity, as well as training up the next generation of scientists which is an investment for the future of people who are living with diabetes.

An example of how a Pump Priming grant informed further research to ultimately benefit people with diabetes: Dr Kashyap Patel, DRWF Pump Priming award recipient 2018, developed a revised method of diagnosing type 1 diabetes to prevent misdiagnosis. This has now been adopted by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

DRWF aims to benefit people like Claire Levy, who said: “Funding Research into new treatments and new technologies has transformed the lives of people living with all forms of diabetes, including myself as someone with type 2 diabetes.”

Big thanks to our donation doubling Pledgers:

Reed Group logo

The Reed Group

Our Big Give Champion

As a family-run group of companies, established in 1960, the Reed Group has a strong emphasis on corporate responsibility and a track record of social impact, philanthropy and sustainability. Their commitment to social impact is driven by their company purpose: ‘Improving lives through work’.

AgaMatrix

AgaMatrix

AgaMatrix Europe was formed in 2007 and supplies its blood glucose monitoring products across Europe. The WaveSense JAZZ™ was launched in the UK in 2009. Since then it has continued to grow every year, with more and more users choosing to use JAZZ.

HiCom logo

HiCom

Hicom supports Diabetes Research & Wellness Foundation to help everyone with diabetes live life to the full.

Saturn Corporation

Saturn Corporation

Saturn Corporation is a leading provider of data technology solutions to medium and large fundraising and membership organizations around the world. Founded in 1981, Saturn’s technology is powered by the fastest database technology in the market (as recognized by Gartner, the world’s leading technology research and advisory firm).

Holbrooks

Holbrooks

We offer a complete range of print services, from design and proofing through to mailing and delivery and will work with you to ensure you receive the exact service and product you require. Prepress – Press – Finishing – Mailing and Despatch

GlucoRX

GlucoRX

GlucoRx is one of the NHS’ largest supplier of quality diabetes products. They "commit to improving patients’ lives: making a real difference is something that all of our staff are very passionate about. We are also committed to offering significant savings on blood glucose meters and diabetes management solutions without compromising on quality and patient care."


Our annual Pump Priming funding round is designed to support bright researcher with new ideas as they strive to make the kind of life-changing breakthroughs our diabetes community is hoping for.

We are intent on maximising the potential by funding the highest quality clinical and scientific research at the very best research institutions in the UK.

We will grow our network of DRWF-funded researcher and ensure that the results of their work is published in our supporter communications and online.

If the target of £20,000 is not achieved, any funds raised will still be allocated to partially fund a Pump Priming Grant. The funds will be restricted. Any excess funds raised will still be allocated to our Pump Priming Grant programme.

DRWF allocates a total of six Pump Priming Grants annually. The total amount awarded for Pump Priming/Open Funding Grants since inception is £2,069,823.10 – a total of 101 awards. DRWF plans to continue with this programme in the future.

Find out more and donate to support the DRWF Big Give Christmas Challenge

Click here to donate by Tuesday, 5th December

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