Oxford University raises £1bn 3

Fundraising | Celina Ribeiro | 29 Oct 2010

Philanthropy will be “fundamental” to the future of Oxford University, its vice-chancellor has said, as the institution announces it has now raised £1bn.

Just over two years after officially launching the ‘Oxford Thinking’ campaign, the university has hit the fundraising milestone. The campaign was launched in May 2008, with more than £575m already in the bank from fundraising activity which began in summer 2004.

The university has raised more than £230m in the last year alone.

Professor Andrew Hamilton, vice-chancellor of Oxford, said that the resilience of supporters during the downturn showed promise for philanthropy in the future.

“It is clear from the comprehensive spending review and the Browne Review recommendations that, under any future funding regime, Oxford is going to have to do all it can to find additional resources,” he said.

“Philanthropy has a key role in this endeavour. Though we are well on the way to achieving our initial goal of £1.25bn, it is very clear that the extraordinary generosity o f our donors will become even more important in the future.”

Having reached the £1bn mark, the campaign chair Dame Vivien Duffield has announced she is stepping down from her position.

Oxford is the second university to reach the £1bn fundraising total this year, after Cambridge announced it had achieved the feat in June.

Place a comment

Stolen
1 Nov 2010

The venerable Oxford University churns out politicians decade after decade.

Alas that it turns out so few men of trust.

[Reply]

Esray Murug
1 Nov 2010

I couldn't agree more - whilst the poor are having their benefits cut and made homeless, hundreds of thousands being made unemployed, and state schools and unis closed down - £1bn is donated to improve yet further the education of a minority elite.

Progress; two steps forward, one back.

[Reply]

Share The Wealth
29 Oct 2010

While I'm all for hearing that people are still investing in education, I can't help but be sickened that Oxford has raised £1bn when the university that I went to was forced to close all of its student union facilities because the funding wasn't available. The ability of Oxford to raise so much is admirable but the reflection on society, that chooses to heap reward and essentially aid towards the least needy causes shows a lack of imagination and the prevalence of snobbery in our nation. If you want to make a real difference to society, fund the universities that need it most.

[Reply]

Comments

[Cancel] | Reply to:

Name *

Email *

Organisation

Job Title

Comments *

Verification *

* Please read our Community Standards

Close »

Community Standards

The civilsociety.co.uk community and comments board is intended as a platform for informed and civilised debate.

We hope to encourage a broad range of views, however, there are standards that we expect commentators to uphold. We reserve the right to delete or amend any comments that do not adhere to these standards.

We welcome:

Robust but respectful debate
Strongly held opinions
Intelligent relevant discussion
The sharing of relevant experiences
New participants

We will not publish:

Rude, threatening, offensive, obscene or abusive language, or links to such material
Links to commercial organisations or spam postings. The comments board is not an advertising platform
The posting of contact details for yourself or others
Comments intended for malicious purpose or mindless abuse
Comments purporting to be from another person or organisation under false pretences
Gratuitous criticism, commentary or self-promotion
Any material which breaches copyright or privacy laws, or could be considered libellous
The use of the comments board for the pursuit or extension of personal disputes

Be aware:

Views expressed on the comments board are left at users’ discretion and are in no way views held or supported by Civil Society Media
Comments left by others may not be accurate, do not rely on them as fact
You may be misunderstood - sarcasm and humour can easily be taken out of context, try to be clear

Please:

Enjoy the opportunity to express your opinion and respect the right of others to express theirs
Confine your remarks to issues rather than personalities

Together we can keep our community a polite, respectful and intelligent platform for discussion.