Well-being Scholarships

group painting class

Program Overview

Well-being Scholarships support Being Well’s vision to create and sustain a culture, community and environment in which well-being is a core value and measure of excellence. Fostering a healthier work workplace, scholarships offer an opportunity to expand well-being offerings to departments and work areas to better meet the unique needs of Yale’s diverse, geographically spread community. Examples of past scholarship programs include chair massages, guided nature walks, escape rooms, group painting classes, lunch-and-learns with Yale experts, and cooking demos. 

Through an application process, scholarship dollars are made available to provide seed funding for departments to implement well-being initiatives that support, encourage and develop the behaviors of Yale faculty and staff around physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being. Applications are reviewed by members of the employee well-being team and approved programs that meet the following criteria are eligible for funding. Submitted applications will be reviewed within 14 business days.

Program Details

The initiative must support at least one of Being Well’s dimensions: physical, mental, emotional, financial, and social well-being. 

At least 5 or more employees must directly benefit from the initiative.  Funding for community-focused program requests is not available. 

Requests for fitness classes (i.e. yoga, tai chi, Zumba) will not be accepted as these programs are coordinated through Payne Whitney Gym and/or need approval from Risk Management.

The requestor coordinates the initiative logistics (i.e., scheduling rooms, promotion) and the department’s business office assists with charging expenses.

The initiative should also be discussed and supported by the department or work area’s manager or supervisor prior to submitting an application.

Initiatives that exclude individuals on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, religion, or are discriminatory in any way are not eligible.

There is a maximum allotment of $35 per employee with a cap of $500 for larger departments.

Funds will only be approved for one initiative per department or work area and should be completed within 90 days of approval and within the current fiscal year. 

Scholarships will be awarded on a quarterly basis based on available funding.  Only one request can be submitted by a department or work unit each fiscal year.  Priority will be given to departments who have not received a scholarship within the past 2 fiscal years. Funding requests for the same initiative from a prior year cannot be granted.  Departments who have received a past scholarship and are requesting funds again in a new fiscal year, must apply for a unique wellness initiative.   

The well-being scholarship applicant will be required to distribute a brief, digital survey to all participants after the activity. Being Well will provide the survey link to the applicant to distribute via email.

While responses are anonymous, the feedback may be used on Being Well or other university websites, newsletters and/or other communications.   

Apply for a Well-being Scholarship

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